The evidence of everyday speech shows that the patterns of the stream of speech pull words out of shape. That is, the stream of speech changes the soundshapes that are given in the dictionary, often making them unrecognisable to learners. The speaker's choice of which words to highlight has consequences for the sound-shapes of the words around them.

Click on the titles of the 'Favourite Speech Units' below, to go to see a page of evidence and commentary. These pages contain interactive soundfiles ('you see, you click, you hear').

'Where'...
Words recognised when written, are not recognised when heard.