Assimilation

Практична фонетика

Семестр

Theory sheet

The complete articulation of a speech sound – a vowel or a consonant – when said in isolation consists of three stages:

1. The on-glide stage during which the articulating organs move to the position necessary for the articulation of a sound.

2. The hold stage, during which the articulating organs are kept in the position for a certain period of time.

3. The off-glide stage during which the articulating organs return to the position of rest.

For example, the on-glide of [t], pronounced in isolation, is the contact formed by the tip of the tongue placed against the teeth ridge. During the hold stage the air is compressed behind the closure; during the explosion stage, the organs forming the obstruction part rapidly and the compressed air escapes abruptly.

Such isolation of sounds from the flow of speech is, however, to a great degree simplification of real processes. Speech sounds are seldom said in isolation, they are used in combination with other sounds in connected speech. Spoken language when analyzed as a continuous sequence, as in normal utterances and conversations, is called connected speech. Important changes happen to individual sounds, words and phrases when they are used in connected speech. Very often the three stages of articulation are not preserved. In the process of speech the articulatory organs are moving continuously and the sounds merge one into another, overlap; in other words they get adjusted to each other. These adjustments occur under the influence of neighbouring sounds and the influence of larger speech units such as stress and intonation. The first group of adjustments is called the combinative changes or modifications, the second group – the positional changes.

The majority of changes of sounds in connected speech are combinative. The sounds are modified by other sounds near them in phonetic sequence. In this case they lose the clearness and some peculiarities of their articulation, gaining, on the other hand, some new articulatory features.

As a result of mutual interaction of speech sounds in connected speech there is a number of phonetic processes such as assimilation, linking, deletion (elision) and others.

ASSIMILATION

One of the adjustments in connected speech is the process of assimilation.

Assimilation is a process of alteration of speech sounds during which one of the sounds becomes fully or partially similar to the adjoining one. The word “assimilation” is an example of this phenomenon. The Latin word is composed of the preposition “ad” – to, and the adjective “similis” alike, similar: ad-similatio – assimilation: [d] under the influence of the following [s] was changed to [s].

The use of assimilation is often misunderstood as “lazy” or “sloppy” speech. However, it is not true. Assimilation is a universal feature of a spoken language. In English it occurs frequently, both within words and between words; it by no means marks a speaker as inarticulate or nonstandard.

There are several types of assimilation. Types of assimilation can be distinguished according to: 1) direction, 2) degree of completeness, 3) degree ofstability.

Direction of Assimilation. The influence of the neighbouring sounds in English can act in a progressive, regressive or reciprocal (double) direction.

When some articulatory features of the following sound are changed under the influence of the preceding sound, which remains unchanged, assimilation is called progressive.

1. The pronunciation of the plural suffix –s of nouns depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. E.g. pens, desks.

2. Within the words sandwich, grandmother, etc. under the influence of [n] the consonant [d] changed into [n] and then disappeared,

E. g sandwich [sænnwɪʤ] ⇒ [ sænwɪʤ]

When the following sound influences the articulation of the preceding one assimilation is called regressive. For example, within the word ‘ width’ and in the word combination ‘ in them’ the alveolar [d] and [n] become dental, before the interdental [θ] and [ð].

Reciprocal or double assimilation means complex mutual influence of the adjacent sounds. For, example, within the word ‘tree’ the sonorant [r] is partly devoiced under the influence of the voiceless[t] and the alveolar [t] becomes post-alveolar before the post-alveolar [r].

Degree of completeness. According to its degree, assimilation can be complete and incomplete. Assimilation is called complete in the case the two adjoining sounds become alike or merge into one. We find cases of complete assimilation within words, eg cupboard [kʌpbəd] ⇒ [kʌbəd]; and at the word junction in fluent speech, eg less shy [les ʃaɪ] ⇒ [leʃʃaɪ].

Assimilation is called incomplete when the likeness of the adjoining sounds is partial as the assimilated sound retains its major articulatory features. For example, the sonorants [w, l, r] are partly devoiced by the voiceless fortis [p, t, k, s, f, θ] within words ‘ sweet, place, try’.

Degree of Stability. Many assimilatory phenomena of older stages in the development of the language have become obligatory in modern English; they may, or may not be reflected in spelling. Such changes which have taken place over a period of time within words are called historical,

eg ‘ orchard ’ (ort yard) – [ɔ:tjəd] ⇒ [ɔ:ʧəd].

In modern language obligatory assimilations are special allophonic variants characteristic of the natives’ speech. The use of the wrong allophone may be one of the causes of a foreign accent making understanding difficult.

There are also a lot of widely spread non-obligatory cases of assimilation which can be traced at word boundaries.

Eg ten minutes [tem mɪnɪts]

good girls [gʊg gɜ;lz].

Non-obligatory assimilations are characteristic of fluent or careless speech and should be avoided by public speakers.