liaison (n.)

A term used in PHONOLOGY to refer to one type of TRANSITION between sounds, where a sound is introduced at the end of a WORD if the following SYLLABLE has no ONSET. It is a notable feature of French, e.g. the final t of c’est is pronounced when followed by a VOWEL. It may be heard in English where a ‘LINKING /r/’ is often found in words ending with an r in the spelling, when they occur before words beginning with a vowel, e.g. hear  usually becomes  in such phrases as here are.