9. Modifications of consonants in connected speech. Assimilation, accommodation and elision. Glottal stop.

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.

• 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.

• 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

• 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/.

• 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 /gɛt sʌm əv ðat suːp/ an English speaker says /gɛs sʌm v ðas suːp/, with /s/ replacing /t/ in two words

1. / t / changes to / p / before / m / / b / or / p / 2. / d / changes to / b / before / m / / b / or / p / 3. / n / changes to / m / before / m / / b / or / p / 4. / t / changes to / k / before / k / or /g/  5. / d / changes to / g / before / k / or / g / 6. / n / changes to /ŋ/ before / k / or / g / 7. / s / changes to /ʃ/ before /ʃ/ or / j /  8. /z/changes to/ʒ/ before /ʃ/ or / j / 9. /θ/ changes to / s / before / s / 

Elision

Reduction is a historical process of weakening, shortening or disappearance of vowel in unstressed positions. Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for euphonic effect

• The neutral sound [ə] represents any vowel or diphthong in the unstressed position. e.g. combine [kəmbain] – combine [kombain]

Two different types of reduction are noticed in English:

1. Quantitative – shortening of a vowel sound in the unstressed position. e.g. he [hi:]. When does he come? [wen dəs hi kΛm].

2. Qualitative – obscuration of vowels towards [ə, i, u], affects both long and short vowels, e.g. can [lǽn]. You can easily do it. [ju: kən i:zli du: it]

Assimilation

• Place of articulation • t, d > dental before [ð, θ]: eighth,

• t, d > post-alveolar before [r]: tree, dream

• s, z > post-alveolar before [∫]: this shop

• t, d > affricates before [j]: graduate, could you • m > labio-dental before [f]: symphony • n > dental before [θ]: seventh • n > velar before [k]: thank

• Manner of articulation • loss of plosion: glad to see you, great trouble  • nasal plosion: sudden, at night, let me see  • lateral plosion: settle, at last

• Work of the vocal cords • voiced > voiceless: newspaper, gooseberry has, is, does > [s]; of, have > [f]

• Degree of noise • sonorants > are partially devoiced after [p, t, k, s]

Accommodation

• Lip position • consonant + back vowel: pool, rude, who (rounded) • consonant + front vowel: tea, sit, keep (spread)

Elision

• Loss of [h] in personal and possessive pronouns and the forms of the auxiliary verb have.

• [l] lends to be lost when preceded by [o:]: always, already, all right3.3. In cluster of consonants: next day, just one. mashed potatoes.

Glottal stop

The glottal stop is a consonant sound produced when the flow of air is stopped by the glottis closing, and then released. Many languages use glottal stops, often much more than in English. The sound /t/ in ‘cat' is often a glottal stop sound.

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]