Enchaînement is the linking together of sounds between words, resulting in a lack of word boundaries.
I first learned about Enchaînement in my Spanish Linguistics class. It's a cool phenomenon that can help you sound more natural.
Have you ever been in a conversation with a native speaker an couldn’t keep up with where one word ended and another began? Enchaînement is probably the reason why. Known as encadenamiento in Spanish Linguistics, Enchaînement is the linking together of sounds between words, resulting in a lack of word boundaries. This can affect where the stress is placed in a word and how syllables are formed.
There are three environments where Enchaînement occurs: between vowels, between the same consonants, and between a vowel and a consonant.
When a word ends in a vowel and the next word starts with the same vowel, the two merge and are pronounced as a single, elongated sound unit. If the vowels are different, this can result in a diphthong (un diptongo), two successive vowels within a single syllable, or a hiatus (un hiato), successive vowels in separate syllables. Spanishdict.com has a handy list of possible diphthong and hiatus combinations.
la habitación > la.bi.ta.ción
la idea > la͡i.dea
el día > el.di.a
When a word ends in a consonant and the next word starts with the same consonant, they are also merged and pronounced as a single sound.
los secretos > lo.se.cre.tos
When a word ends in a consonant and the word that follows begins with a vowel, the consonant becomes the head of the resulting syllable.
posibilidades en > po.si.bi.li.da.de.sen
Note: Keep in mind that Spanish prefers open syllables that begin with consonants and that h is silent.
Slowly practice letting your words run into each other syllable by syllable before picking up speed. As you get adjusted to speaking more quickly, your words will flow together and you'll start to sound more natural.
🔊 As listening practice, watch a movie or show (or anything) in Spanish with subtitles on. Listen to what the characters are saying while reading the subtitles. Pause and rewind every once in a while to pick out words you recognize. From there, try to hear the other individual words. Get acclimated to hearing the words run together as opposed to hearing them individually. Mimic the flow the characters use in their sentences.
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