Juncture, in linguistics, is the manner of moving (transition) or mode of relationship between two

consecutive sounds. It is the relationship between two successive syllables in speech.[1] A juncture
is, formally, a suprasegmental phonemic cue, a means by which a listener can distinguish between
two otherwise identical sequences of sounds that have different meanings.[1

Typology[edit]
There are several kinds of juncture, the most widely used typology of which is:
plus juncture
Also known as open juncture, this is subdivided into internal open juncture and external
open juncture. It is the juncture that occurs at word boundaries.[2] In phonetic transcription
open juncture is transcribed /+/, hence the name plus juncture.[2]
close juncture
Also known as a normal transition, this is a transition between segments (sounds) within a
word.[2]
terminal juncture
Also known as falling,[3] clause terminal or terminal contour,[citation needed] this is the juncture at
the end of a clause or utterance with falling pitch before a silence.[3]
Other less common typologies exist,[2] such as the division (favoured by
American Structuralist linguists in the middle twentieth century) into plus, single
bar, double bar, and double cross junctures, denoted /+/, /|/, /||/,
and /#/ respectively.[4][5][6] These correspond to syllabification and differences in
intonation, single bar being a level pitch before a break, double bar being an upturn in
pitch and a break, and double cross being a downturn in pitch that usually comes at the
end of an utterance.[5][6][7][8]

Examples from English[edit]

In English, a syllable break at the plus juncture sometimes distinguishes otherwise
homophonic phrases.

 "a name" /ə.neɪm/ and "an aim" /ən.eɪm/[9]

 "that stuff" /ðæt.stʌf/ and "that's tough" /ðæts.tʌf/[2][10]
A word boundary preceded or followed by a syllable break is called an external open
juncture. If there is no break, so that words on either side of the juncture are run
together, the boundary is called an internal open juncture.[2]
The distinction between open and close juncture is the difference between
"night rate", /naɪt.reɪt/ with the open juncture between /t/ and /r/, and
"nitrate", /naɪ.treɪt/ with close juncture between /t/ and /r/.[2]

Oronyms[edit]
In recreational linguistics, an oronym is a pair of phrases which are homophonic. When
pronounced without a pause between words (internal open juncture), phrases which
differ in meaning and spelling may share a similar pronunciation. An example is "ice
cream" /aɪs+kriːm/ and "I scream" /aɪ+skriːm/ (which is employed in the chant "I scream;
you scream; we all scream for ice cream" that is familiar to many English-speaking
children.[11]). The label oronym was suggested by Gyles Brandreth and first published in
his book The Joy of Lex(1980). The Two Ronnies comedy sketch "Four Candles" is
entirely built around oronyms, including a taciturn customer's request for "fork handles"
being misheard as "four candles."[12]
An older meaning of the word oronym, used in the context of topographical
nomenclature, is: toponym of a mountain.
What is juncture in phonetics and/or phonology?

From the Wikipedia article on Juncture, I gathered that juncture is a phonological (and/or
phonetic?) phenomenon that allows listeners/speakers of a given language to hear and
produce differences between words and phrases each comprise the same sequence of
phonemes. Juncture, apparently, allows English speakers to produce and hear the
distinction between “nitrate” and “night rate”, “a name” and “an aim,” etc.
I didn’t get enough information from this article. It listed and very briefly defined different
types of juncture, but did not explain them or provide examples of them. It also made too
many unhelpful references to “recreational linguistics.”

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find better articles on the Web. So what is juncture in
phonetics and/or phonology, and what are some examples?

What is the ideal rate of speech?

Are you fast talker? If you are, you may be losing the most important
person in the room: the listener! A good rate of speech ranges between
140 -160 words per minute (wpm). A rate higher than 160 words per
minute can be difficult for the listener to absorb the material. There may be
some areas of the country that speak at faster rates but a slower rate is
preferable. Too slow of a rate may give the listener the perception of slow
thinking, incompetence and being uneducated. If you have a foreign accent
though, speaking slowly is crucial since pronunciation may be a challenge
for the listener. Use a speed that is closer to 140 words per minute.

Have you ever heard the difference between different rates? I encourage you to
“hear” for yourself! I have recorded the same passage for you so that you can
compare. What might be most helpful (especially if you don’t have time to listen to
them all) is just listen to 140, 170 and 200 wpm. Take note of the

Are you fast talker? If you are, you may be losing the most important person in the
room: the listener! A good rate of speech ranges between 140 -160 words per
minute (wpm). A rate higher than 160 words per minute can be difficult for the
listener to absorb the material. There may be some areas of the country that speak at
faster rates but a slower rate is preferable. Too slow of a rate may give the listener the
perception of slow thinking, incompetence and being uneducated. If you have a
foreign accent though, speaking slowly is crucial since pronunciation may be a
challenge for the listener. Use a speed that is closer to 140 words per minute.

Have you ever heard the difference between different rates? I encourage you to
“hear” for yourself! I have recorded the same passage for you so that you can
compare. What might be most helpful (especially if you don’t have time to listen to
them all) is just listen to 140, 170 and 200 wpm. Take note of the
 What's your speech rate?

- developing a flexible speaking rate

Is your speech rate too fast, too slow or just right?

And what is a normal speaking pace?

The answers are not straight forward.

Speech rate is the term given to the speed at which you speak. It's
calculated in the number of words spoken in a minute. A normal number of
words per minute (wpm) can vary hugely.

Rate Guidelines

Studies show speech rate alters depending on the speaker's culture,

geographical location, subject matter, gender, emotional state, fluency,
profession or audience.

However, despite these variables, there are widely accepted guidelines.

These are:

 Slow speech is usually regarded as less than 110 wpm, or words per minute.
 Conversational speech generally falls between 120 wpm at the slow end, to
160 - 200 wpm in the fast range.
 People who read books for radio or podcasts are often asked to speak at
150-160 wpm.
 Auctioneers or commentators who practice speed speech are usually in the
250 to 400 wpm range.

Juncture is phonological. That means it varies from language to language. It is usually the case that some bonds
between morphemes are tighter than others, producing different effects, rather like a double bond in chemistry.
Though nitrate and night rate (and Nye trait, as well) are all bisyllables with first syllable accented and phonemes
/naytrayt/, they are all pronounced differently by native speakers because of juncture phenomena. – jlawler Aug 29
'13 at 5:02
 How are tight and loose bonds realized in speech? – James Grossmann Aug 29 '13 at 5:54
 1
Various kinds of contact phenomena either happening or not happening or happening in a differnet way. In nitrate,
the syllable bond, which would be the tightest since it's a word-internal consonant cluster and doesn't separate
morphemes, produces, roughly, ['nəʸtʰɹeʸt˺], while night rate, which does separate cluster and morphemes, produces
['nəʸt˺reʸt˺], with no aspiration or affrication and only unreleased T's. Finally, the Nye traitwould be the ['na:ytʰɹeʸt˺],
with aspiration from the cluster, and a different vowel in the first syllable without a following voiceless consonant. –
jlawler Aug 29 '13 at 15:16

Juncture
Juncture "the relationship between one sound and the sounds that immediately precede and
follow it" (Roach 1991: 129) How do we differentiate between the sequences in connected
speech?

Ice cream - I scream

aɪs kriːm - aɪ skriːm

If we say that it is because phonetically they are realized as,

[aɪskʰriːm] [aɪskriːm]

we are saying that there is a PHONEMIC contrast between [k] and [kʰ] which doesn't exist when
we look at words in isolation. Note that the aɪ in ice is shorter than in the first person
pronoun I as it is followed by a voiceless alveolar fricative and the latter is an open syllable. If you
look carefully at the images (the [k] is the white space), you will see that the pronoun I is longer.

Also note that as ice-cream is a compound, the stress is on ice and that in I scream the
sentence stress would normally be on scream.

In the following example both rain and train would normally receive sentence stress. As
we can see in the image for my train, the coloured part is the aspirated [tʰ]. Notice also
that the diphthong in might [aɪ] is shorter than in my for the reasons explained above.

might rain - my train

[maɪt̚ ɹeɪn] - [maɪ tʰɹeɪn]
Juncture examples
Not all the pairs here are easy to distinguish. Luckily, the context will normally give us
enough clues to decide which phrase we are hearing.

all that I'm after today

[ɔːl ðə t̚ aɪm ˈɑ ːftə tə ˈdeɪ]

all the time after today

[ɔːl ðə tʰaɪm ˈɑ ːftə tə ˈdeɪ]
Juncture Exercises
Which phrase do you hear? Write a or b.

1. a. It sprays so be careful b. It’s praise so be careful.

2. a. He said I stink. b. He said “ iced ink”.

3. a. We’ll own a lot b. We loan a lot.

4. a. We may cough soon. b. We make off soon.

5. a. A great ape. b. A grey tape.

6. a. I am keen on your crimes. b. I am keen on York rhymes.

7. a. A lovely plum pie. b. A lovely plump eye

he lies - heal eyes

[hi laɪz̊] - [hiːɬ aɪz̊]

keep sticking - keeps ticking

[kiːp ˈstɪkɪŋ̊] [kiːps ˈtʰɪkɪŋ̊]

Which phrase do you hear? Write a or b.

1. a. It sprays so be careful b. It’s praise so be careful.

2. a. He said I stink. b. He said “ iced ink”.

3. a. We’ll own a lot b. We loan a lot.

4. a. We may cough soon. b. We make off soon.

5. a. A great ape. b. A grey tape.

6. a. I am keen on your crimes. b. I am keen on York rhymes.

7. a. A lovely plum pie. b. A lovely plump eye

Your score is 1/7.