Which term describes the pause or lack of pause at the boundary between two sounds?

• A. Assimilation
• B. Elision
• C. Liaison
• D. Juncture

Answer: (D)

The boundary between sounds in connected speech is described by juncture. Juncture captures how that boundary is realized acoustically: there can be a perceptible pause signaling a clear break between words, or there can be little to no pause, with the sounds running together and the boundary being almost invisible. This distinction helps explain why some word pairs sound distinctly separate while others blend smoothly in fluent speech. The other terms describe different sound changes across boundaries—assimilation involves sounds becoming more like neighbors, elision is the dropping of a sound, and liaison is a linking pronunciation that occurs in certain languages—so juncture specifically addresses whether a pause is present at the boundary.