Which term describes a sound change where a final consonant is not pronounced because it is in a cluster with following words?

• A. Elision
• B. Liaison
• C. Intrusion
• D. Lexical set

Answer: (A)

Dropping a consonant in connected speech to smooth the transition between words is elision. When a final consonant would form an awkward cluster with the initial sound of the next word, it is often omitted, so a phrase like “next day” can sound like “nex day.” This finding highlights how pronunciation adapts in natural speech to make speech flow more easily.

Liaison, by contrast, involves pronouncing a normally silent final consonant to link to the next word, usually before a vowel-starting word. Intrusion adds an extra sound between words to aid pronunciation. Lexical set is a way of grouping words by vowel patterns for dialect study, not a process of dropping sounds at word boundaries.