Assimilation of Place of Articulation
In order to comprehend the mechanisms of assimilation some comprehension of the production of speech
sounds is needed. ROACH, P., English Phonetics and Phonology (2nd ed.), Cambridge, CUP, 1991, is
recommended - then take a look at the exercises on articulation in this page:
The most common form involves the movement of place of articulation of the alveolar stops /t/, /d/ and
/n/ to a position closer to that of the following sound. For instance, in the phrase ten cars, the /n/ will
usually be articulated in a velar position, /ˈteŋ ˈkɑ:z/ so that the organs of speech are ready to produce the
following velar sound /k/. Similarly, in ten boys the /n/ will be produced in a bilabial position, /ˈtem ˈbɔɪz/
to prepare for the articulation of the bilabial /b/.
This phenomenon is easy to find also in Italian: think of the different pronunciations of the ‘n’ in Gian
Paolo, Gian Franco and Gian Carlo.
BEFORE A VELAR (/k/, /g/)
Phoneme
Realised as
Example
/n/
/ŋ/
bank /bæŋk/
/d/
/g/
good girl /gʊg ˈgɜ:l/
/t/
/k/
that kid /ðæk ˈkɪd/
BEFORE A BILABIAL (/m/, /b/, /p/)
Phoneme
Realised as
Example
/n/
/m/
ten men /tem 'men/
/d/
/b/
bad boys
/t/
/p/
hot mushrooms /ˈhɒp
ˈmʌʃru:mz/
/bæb ˈbɔɪz/
Assimilation of Voicing
Another type of assimilation which is very important is that of voicing. The vibration of the vocal cords is
not something that can be switched on and off very swiftly, as a result groups of consonants tend to be
either all voiced or all voiceless. Consider the different endings of ‘dogs’ /dɒgz/ and ‘cats’ /kæts/, of the
past forms of the regular verbs such as ‘kissed’ / kɪst/ and ‘sneezed’ /sni:zd/. In these cases the fact of the
final consonant of a word being voiced or not determines the choice of whether the suffix will be voiced or
voiceless. In the case of the suffixes for plural nouns, for the third person singular in the present simple,
for regular verbs in the past simple and for the genitive the application of this rule is predictable, with only
a few exceptions (e.g. leaf leaves). However, assimilation of voicing can radically change the sound of
several common constructions:
1. Have to
have to
/hæv tu:/
has to
/hæz tu:/
I have to go!
become
/aɪ ˈhæftə ˈgəʊ/
/hæftə/
/hæstə/
2. Used to
used to
/ju:zd tu:/
I used to live near you.
becomes
/ju:stə/
/aɪ ju:stə ˈlɪv nɪə ˈju:/
Here assimilation has taken place twice, first on the /d/ and then on the /z/. A common mistake that Italian
speakers make in English is to use constructions like: *‘In my country we use to eat a lot on Christmas day’,
intending to convey information about present habits/customs. Not only is this an inappropriate
translation of an Italian construction, it is also misleading - an English speaker will interpret it as referring
to the past, as if it were /ju:stə/ . In English the simple present automatically indicates that the action is a
present habit/custom – ‘In my country we eat a lot on Christmas day’ is quite sufficient.
3. Supposed to
Supposed to
/səˈpəʊzd tu:/
You were supposed to leave!
becomes
/səˈpəʊstə/
/ju: wə səˈpəʊstə ˈli:v/
Elision
Elision is very simply the omission of certain sounds in certain contexts. The most important occurrences of
this phenomenon regard:
1)
Alveolar consonants /t/ and /d/ when ‘sandwiched’ between two consonants (CONS – t/d – CONS),
e.g.
The next day….
/ðə ˈneks ˈdeɪ/
The last car…
/ðə ˈlɑ:s ˈkɑ:/
Hold the dog!
/ˈhəʊl ðə ˈdɒg/
Send Frank a card.
/sen ˈfræŋk ə ˈkɑ:d/
This can also take place within affricates tʃ/ and /dʒ/ when preceded by a consonant, e.g.
lunchtime
/ˈlʌntʃtaɪm/
strange days
/ˈstreɪndʒˈdeɪz/
become
/ˈlʌnʃtaɪm/
/ˈstreɪnʒˈdeɪz/
The phoneme /t/ is a fundamental part of the negative particle not, the possibility of it being elided makes
the foreign students life more difficult. Consider the negative of can – if followed by a consonant the /t/
may easily disappear and the only difference between the positive and the negative is a different, longer
vowel sound in the second:
I can speak….
/aɪ kən ˈspi:k/
I can’t speak…
/aɪ ˈkɑ:n(t) ˈspi:k/
Note that when can’t is followed by a vowel, e.g. ‘I can’t eat’, the /t/ is not elided.
Can something similar happen to didn’t?
2)
A second form involves the omission of the schwa /\/ before liquids /l/ and /r/, e.g.
secretary
/ˈsekrət(ə)ri/
camera
/ˈkæm(ə)rə/
memory
/ˈmem(ə)ri/
In some cases this elision may be optional (dictionaries usually represent the optional sound in italics
e.g. /ˈlʌnt ʃtaɪm/ , in others it is the norm.
Yod Coalescence
Yod is the name of the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet – it stands for the vowel /i:/ or the semivowel /j/. In English phonetics Yod coalescence is a form of assimilation, a phenomenon which takes place
when /j/ is preceded by certain consonants most commonly /t/ and /d/:
/t/ + /j/ = /tʃ/
What you need.
/wɒtʃu ni:d/
The ball that you brought.
/ðə bɔ:l ðətʃu: brɔ:t/
But use your head!
/bətʃu:z jɔ: hed/
Last year
/lɑ:stʃɪə/
/d/ + /j/ = / dʒ/
Could you help me?
/kʊdʒu help mi:/
Would yours work?
/wʊdʒɔ:z wɜ:k/
She had university students
/ʃi: hædʒu:ni:vɜ:sɪti stju:dənts/
In a similar way /s/ + /j/, and /z/ + /j/ can sometimes be pronounced as /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ respectively, but this is
less common and not of great interest to the foreign student of English.
Yod coalescence is common in colloquial speech and is becoming ever more so. Note that it can occur
within words (e.g. tube /tju:b/ = /tʃu:b/) and between word boundaries (as in the above examples). The
fact that two extremely recurrent words in English, you and your, start with /j/ means that understanding
of this simple mechanism is vital to the understanding of spoken English. Do you is often pronounced as
/dʒə/:
Do you live here?
/ dʒə lɪv hɪə/
Exercise 1. Identify places where yod coalescence may occur in the following phrases and then listen:
1 What you need is a good job!
2 You told me that you had your homework done.
3 She didn’t go to France that year.
4 Could you open the window please?
5 You’ve already had yours!
R-linking
The phenomenon of r-linking is based on the fact that, by default, in Standard British English (though not in
many other accents of English), /r/ in syllable final position is not pronounced, e.g. car /kɑ:/. R-linking takes
place when a syllable ends with one of the following vowel sounds: /ɑ:/, /ɔ:/, /ɜ:/, /ə/, or any of the
diphthongs that finish with a schwa, e.g. /eə/, /ɪə/ and /ʊə/, and the next syllable starts with any vowel
sound. This may take place within single words, e.g.
Care
/keə/
Caring
/keərɪŋ/
or between word boundaries, e.g.
Care about
/keər əbaʊt/
Note that, while a letter 'r' often appears in the spelling of the vowel sounds listed above, this is not always
the case. For example, a common orthographic realisation of /ɔ:/ is [aw], e.g. saw, draw, paw, similarly the
schwa, /ə/ has spellings that don't include 'r', e.g. Australia, Austria. In these cases r-linking also takes
place, even though there are those who would object to such pronunciations.
Draw all the flowers
/drɔ:r ɔ:l ðə flaʊəz/
There's a comma after that
/ðəz ə kɒmər ɑ:ftə θæt/
Australia or New Zealand
/ɒsˈtreɪlɪər ɔ: nju: ˈzi:ln̩d/
Here are some more examples:
It's near enough
/ɪts nɪər ɪˈnʌf/
It's quite far away
/ɪts kwaɪt fɑ:r əˈweɪ/
The doctor agrees
/ðə dɒktər əˈgri:z/
There are three places
/ðər ə ˈθri: ˈpleɪsɪz/
There's a tour along the river /ðəz ə tʊər əlɒŋ ðə ˈrɪvə/
It's made of fur and leather
/ɪts meɪd əv ˈfɜ:r ən ˈleðə/
Law and order
/lɔ:r ən ɔ:də/
The actor and playwright
/ðɪ ˈæktər ən ˈpleɪraɪt/
I can't hear anything
/aɪ kɑ:n hɪər enɪθɪŋ/
The Glottal Stop
The glottal stop is a plosive created by complete closure and then opening of the glottis (vocal folds). The
symbol for this sound is: [ ʔ ] , a sort of question mark without a dot at the bottom.
Although it is a consonant phoneme in many languages, e.g. Hebrew and Arabic, in English the glottal stop
generally appears as an allophone of /t/. This is called Glottal Replacement and is most noticeable in the
form that it takes in several regional accents of British English (e.g. Cockney, Glasgow), where syllable-final
/t/ between two vowels is replaced by [ʔ]. For example:
Better
[ˈbeʔə]
Fitting
[ˈfɪʔɪŋ]
A bit of butter
[ə ˈbɪʔ ə ˈbʌʔə]
N.b. these pronunciations are not recommended to learners of English
While the above examples are generally not considered acceptable in Standard British English, in other
contexts the glottal stop is ever more frequently heard.
Such contexts are: syllable final /t/ following a vowel or a voiced consonant and the following sound is:
A stop or a fricative, e.g.
Football
/ˈfʊtbɔ:l/ => [ˈfʊʔbɔ:l]
Hit them
/ˈhɪt ðəm/ => [ˈhɪʔ ðəm]
Anthill
/ˈænthɪl/ => [ˈænʔhɪl]
A nasal e.g.
Fitness
/ˈfɪtnəs/ => [ˈfɪʔnəs]
Utmost
/ˈʌtməʊst/ => [ˈʌʔməʊst]
White mice
/waɪt ˈmaɪs/ => [waɪʔ ˈmaɪs]
A semi-vowel or non-syllabic /l/
Atlas
/ˈætləs/ => [ˈæʔləs]
Dauntless
/ˈdɔ:ntləs/ => [ˈdɔ:nʔləs]
Quite well
/kwaɪt ˈwel/ => [kwaɪʔ ˈwel]
Another phenomenon concerning the glottal stop is that of Glottal Reinforcement. This concerns the
sound /tʃ/ at the end of a syllable, e.g.
Teacher
/ˈti:tʃə/ => [ˈti:ʔtʃə]
Fetching
/ˈfetʃɪŋ/ => [ˈfeʔtʃɪŋ]
Reaches
/ˈri:tʃɪz/ => [ˈri:ʔtʃɪz]
A similar process may involve /p/, /t/ or /k/ if followed by a consonant, or in work final position.
Exercises on Aspects of Connected Speech #1
Look at the following transcriptions and listen to the sound files, then decide which aspect of connected
speech is present:
#1:
'Don't you' => /dəʊtʃu/ is an
example of...
#5:
'Last year' => /ˈlɑ:tʃɪə/ is an example of...
#2:
'For a' => /fər ə/ is an example of...
#6:
'Wouldn't talk' => /wʊdən ˈtɔ:k/ is an example
of...
#3:
'Good place' => /gʊp pleɪs/ is an
example of...
#7:
'Went through' => /wen θru:/ is an example
of...
#4:
'Must get' => / ˈmʌs ˈget/ is an
example of...
#8:
'Were either' => /wər aɪðə/ is an example of...
Exercises on Aspects of Connected Speech #2
Look at the following transcriptions and listen to the sound files, then decide which aspect of connected
speech is present:
#1:
'I used to' => /aɪ ˈju:stə/ is an
example of...
#2:
'Over America' => /əʊvər əˈmerɪkə/
'Did you go?' => /dɪdʒu ˈgəʊ/ is an example
#7:
is an example of...
of...
#3:
'Rather than go' => /rɑ:ðə ðəŋ ˈgəʊ/
'When Brian called' => /wem ˈbraɪən kɔ:ld/ is
#8:
is an example of...
an example of...
#4:
'Had you?' => /ˈhædʒu/ is an
example of...
#5:
'He went through' => /hi wen ˈθru:/
'It had green ears ' => /ɪt hæg ˈgri:n ɪəz/ is an
#10:
is an example of...
example of...
#6: 'Not you!' => /nɒˈtʃu:/ is an example of...
#9:
'He had polio' => /hi hæp ˈpəʊliəʊ/ is an
example of...