Assimilation

1. Assimilation Assimilation is concerned with one sound becoming phonetically similar to an adjacent sound. Sounds that belong to one word can cause changes in sounds belonging to other words. When a word’s pronunciation is affected by sounds in a neighbouring word, we call this process assimilation. Definition of assimilation is:The simplest Two sounds come together to form a single sound .

2. Direction of change • If a phoneme is affected by one than comes later in the sentence, the assimilation is termed regressive. • If a phoneme is affected by one that came earlier in the utterance, the assimilation is termed progressive. • Phoneme1 Phoneme 2 • Progressive • ; Regressive assimilation the sounds assimilated are influenced by the succeeding sound. e.g Regressive

3. Regressive assimilationcan also be found in some words like: describe → description receive → reception, receipt twelve → twelfth five → fifth, fifteen, fifty

4. Progressive assimilation:the sounds assimilated are affected by the pronunciation of the preceding sounds. This is often sen in the inflectional endings -s and –ed.If preceded by a voiced sound, they become voiced; if preceded by a voiceless one, they become voiceless. For example:

5. Types of assimilation: • Depending on the type of feature that spreads from one segment to another we can observe several major types of assimilation such as assimilative processes involving voicing, manner of articulation, place of articulation and coalescence of place and manner of articulation . • 1.2 Assimilation of voicing • This may refer to assimilation involving the feature [+/- voice]. In a certain environment we can consequently observe the voicing or devoicing of a segment. If we examine the pronunciation of the voiced labiodental fricative in the sequence give books /gɪvbʊks/, and we compare it with the sequence give peace /gɪfpiːs/ we will easily notice that while in the first case /v/ is fully voiced, in the second it is rather pronounced as some kind of /f/. • However, word boundary final voiceless consonants in English do not show tendencies to assimilate to their voiced counterparts; thus the pronunciation of nice boy /naɪzbɔɪ/ will sound foreign to English ears .

6. 1.3 Assimilation of place of articulation • The most common phonemic changes at word boundaries concern changes of place of articulation, particularly involving de-alveolarization. A well-known case is that of English word-final alveolar consonants such as /t, d, n/: if a word ending in one of these consonants is followed by a word whose initial consonant begins with a bilabial, a velar or a dental, the word-final alveolar consonant is likely to change its place of articulation to match that at the beginning of the second word. Thus the word ‘that’ /ðat/ may be followed by ‘boy’ /bɔɪ/ and become /ðap/, or it may be followed by ‘girl’ and become /ðak/, namely: that boy → /ðapbɔɪ/ , that girl → /ðakgɜːl/ good pen → /gʊb pen/ , good concert→ /gʊgkɒnsət/ ten players → /tem pleɪəz/ , ten cups → /teŋkʌps/ that thing→ /ðat ̪θɪŋ/ , get those→ /gɛt ̪ðəʊz/ Assimilation of place is noticeable in the regressive assimilation of alveolar consonants.

7. Progressiveassimilationis relatively uncommon. It may occur when a plosive is followed by a syllabic nasal and the nasal undergoes assimilation to the same place of articulation as the preceding plosive, e.g. • one more -/n/ → /m/ after /p, b/,bread and butter • /n/ → /ŋ/ after /k, g/ in second chancebank-sing _ inn-keeper • Regressive assimilation is commonly seen in some prefixes, such as in- • (before /t, d, s, n/), im- (before /p, b, m/); il- (before /l/); ir- (before /r/). Foe example: • in- → indirect, insane, • im- → impolite, imbalance, immoral • il- → illegal • ir- → irregular

8. 1.4 Assimilation of manner of articulation • Assimilation of manner is typical of the most rapid and casual speech, in which case one sound changes the manner of its articulation to become similar in manner to a neighbouring sound. • An example :can be a rapid pronunciation of “Get some of that soup”, where instead of the expected /gɛtsʌməvðatsuːp/ • an English speaker says /gɛssʌm v ðassuːp/, with /s/ replacing /t/ in two words. • It is thus possible to find cases where a final plosive becomes a fricative or nasal (e.g. ‘good night’ /gʊnnaɪt/ ), but most unlikely that a final fricative or nasal would become a plosive

9. 1.5. Coalescence of place and manner of articulation • In the case the two phonemes can fuse completely and give a birth to a different one. This is called a coalescence. The result of consonant assimilation is usually a geminate consonant. • Examples can be found as follows • /t/ + /j/ →/ʧ/ Whatyou want? /wɒtʃuː wɒnt/ • /d/ + /j/ →/ʤ/ Would you? /wʊdʒuː/ • /s/ + /j/ →/ʃ/ In case you need it /ɪŋkeɪʃuː niːdɪt/ • /z/ + /j/ →/ʒ/ Hasyour letter come? /hæʒɔː letəkʌm/

10. The Summary of assimilation rules : • 1-Total Assimilation In the word mutton = /mʌtn/ the /t/ and /n/ have the same place of articulation which is alveolar but are different in manner of articulation T is plosive and /n/ is nasal • “winter”/t/  [n] / [n] __(meaning that /t/ becomes [n] in the environment after [n]). • 2-PartialAssimilation: • “stopped” : /d/  [t] / [p] __(i.e. /d/ becomes [t] in the environment after [p].) 3- Progressive (or left-to-right) Assimilation • “dogs” :/s/  [z] / [g] __( the ending [s] is assimilated to [z] by the influence of the preceding voiced [g].) 4- Regressive, (or right-to-left) Assimilation: “miss you” :[m'ISE]/s/  [S] / __ [ j ] . (the sound [s] in [mIs] is changed to [S] by the assimilation of the following palatal glide [ j ].)

11. 5- Double Assimilation • “man”: • /A/  [A] / [m] __ [n] • (The [A] in /mAn/ is nasalized by its preceding [m] and its following [n].) • The change from voiceless sounds to voiced as: catty = the dabble (tt) changed to (d) -/kædi/ as in American English . • Sit down + /sidaun/ - letter= /ledə/ - shut up / ʃʌdʌp/ 6-Reciprocal assimilation: When both sounds (the assimilating and the assimilated one) under go changes.Historically this has occurred in words like:Soldier, picture or fissure.where the reconstruct able earlier pronunciation /‘soυldjər/, /‘pıktu:r/, /‘fısju:r/ has become /‘səυldзə/,/‘pıkt∫ə/, /fı∫ə/In current colloquial English, similar assimilation occurs in phrases such as "What d’you want" /wt∫əwnt/ orCould you?  /‘kυdʒu:/.

12. 7-Identical assimilation : Ione sound becomes the same as a neighboring sound /s/ in horseshoe is normally pronounced /ʃ/ as horse shoe= /hↄ:ʃʃu:/ as in newspaper =/nju:speipə/ 8- Coalescence assimilation: is a sequence of two sounds coalesce and give place to a single new sound different from either of the original sounds e.g. /d/ + /j/ →/ʤ/ Would you? /wʊdʒuː/ 9- /ðə/ and /ði/ :The- becomes/ðə/ before consonant example (the man)/ ðəmæn/ but "the" changes to /ði/ before vowels e.g. (the old woman) /ðiəuldwumən/ 10- The change from alveolar consonant to bilabial as in put=/imput/ or Saint Paul /smpↄ:l/ is a famous church in Rome . 11- The change from alveolar to velar consonant like:synchronous /sikrənəs/ - or monkey /mʌki/ or- we can go= / wikægəu/ 12-alveolar +and+ bilabial: Bread and butter = /bred əmbʌtə/ alveolar/n/ in the word ( and )+ bilabial /b/ in the word( butter) produce a different sound +/m//bred əmbʌtə/

13. Q:find out what kind of assimilation each word or sentence belongs to and then read them aloud. • 1-“center • 2-“picked” • 3-“pubs” 4-mutton 5-letter 6-What you want? Q: What the different between Progressive and Regressive ؟

14. Thanks By Ghadeer AL-ofaisan And Amjad AL-muosa