Which term describes the strengthening of a word's final consonant at the boundary before a following vowel?

Which term describes the strengthening of a word's final consonant at the boundary before a following vowel?

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

Answer: (A)

Liaison is the linking of a normally silent final consonant to the following vowel-starting word, so the consonant is pronounced at the boundary to connect the words. This strengthens the transition between words and helps speech sound fluent. A classic example is French, as in vous avez, where the final consonant of vous is pronounced as a z before the next vowel. This differs from elision (when a sound is dropped) and from intrusion (when an extra sound is inserted). Lexical set is about groups of vowels and is not related. So this boundary-strengthening phenomenon is liaison.

Liaison is the linking of a normally silent final consonant to the following vowel-starting word, so the consonant is pronounced at the boundary to connect the words. This strengthens the transition between words and helps speech sound fluent. A classic example is French, as in vous avez, where the final consonant of vous is pronounced as a z before the next vowel. This differs from elision (when a sound is dropped) and from intrusion (when an extra sound is inserted). Lexical set is about groups of vowels and is not related. So this boundary-strengthening phenomenon is liaison.