| Lingua Franca Core |
Example |
Lingua Franca Non-Core |
Example |
| Length contrast in vowels |
pill – peel |
Interdental [θ] and [ð] may be substituted by [f] and [v] |
think [fink], this [vis] |
| Quantity of the vowel (the vowel is shorter before an unvoiced consonant) |
kit – kid |
[w] can be replaced by [v] |
why [vai] |
| The [ɜː] vowel sounds like in American English |
girl, first |
Consonant clusters can be simplified by elision |
postman [posmen] |
| The [r] consonant sounds like in American English in any position |
right, arm, door |
A very short schwa vowel may appear between consonants |
product [pә’rɒdʌkәtә] |
| The [t] consonant sounds like in British English, no glottal stop |
Better |
Elision is acceptable in speech flow |
tell him to go [teləm tə gəʊ] |
| Explosive consonants [p], [t], [k] must be aspirated in the initial position in a stressed syllable |
power, table, kite |
Assimilation is acceptable in speech flow |
don’t be silly [dom bə sillə] |
| The stream of speech should be divided into meaningful tone units with nuclear stress being placed appropriately |
“Let’s meet NEXT Saturday” versus “Let’s meet next SATURDAY” |
Contracted forms |
isn’t, I’ll, who’s, they’d, haven’t |
