Joining words together

Joining words together
 

Hi. In English you can say Can not or Can't

I am finding this problem when listening to tutorial cd's

Allí está seems to be All'está

Can someone help here and if this is right, some guidance on this.

Thanks.

Yes, it's very common joining words. In Castilla La-Mancha, for example, you can hear "Lopajque" that means "Lo que pasa es que". But don't write it!! :D

Yes, this type of adaptation of speech sounds between words is normal and common. What you describe as hearing "allí esta" pronounced as "all'está" is a normal and typical in ordinary speech.

How much adaptation of speech sounds depends on the level of formality of the conversation: the less formal/more casual, the greater the amount of adaptation you can expect to hear.

Adaptation of vowels across word boundaries is very common:
a. neighboring identical vowels almost always merge into one vowel, although a careful speaker may hold the vowel for an extra long time.
b. two dissimilar vowels may merge into a diphthong, or one of them may get dropped, although a careful speaker may give both vowels their full values.
c. The consonants "ll" "y", and "ñ" always absorb the semi-consonant "y" from the beginning of a following diphthong or triphthong.

In the case of "allí está", it's possible for a speaker to pronounce the "í" at the end of "allí" and the "e" at the beginning of "está" as the diphthong /ye/. Because the diphthong follows "ll", the beginning of the diphthong merges with the preceding "ll", and the result is what you report hearing.