новая папка / Assimilation

5. Assimilation.

**Assimilation is the influence of the articulation of one consonant upon the other making it similar to itself.** The consonant which articulation is modified is called **assimilated**; the consonant which influences the neighbouring consonant is called **assimilating**.

Assimilation may affect the following features of articulation: the place of obstruction, both the place of obstruction and the active organ, the position of the lips, the work of the vocal cords, the manner of the production of noise, and the position of the soft palate.

**The place of obstruction** is affected when alveolar consonants become dental before dental consonants. E.g. *tenth, in them, sixth.*

**The place of obstruction and the active organ** are affected when [n] becomes [ŋ] before [k] or [g]. E.g. *conquest, congress, think, language.*

**The position of the lips** is affected when [w] makes the preceding consonant labialized. E.g. *quick, twenty, swim.*

**The work of the vocal cords** is affected when a voiced consonant becomes voiceless or vice versa. E.g. *newspaper* [ˈnjuːspeɪpə], *gooseberry* [ˈgʊzbərɪ]. Sonorants become partly devoiced after voiceless consonants. E.g. *small, please, try.*

**The position of the soft palate** is affected when nasal consonants influence oral ones. E.g. *let me* [lemmi], *give me* [gimmi], *kindness* [ˈkaɪnnɪs].

**The manner of production of noise** is affected when plosives lose plosion before another plosive. E.g. *act, sit down, good-bye*. Plosives may have nasal plosion (*help me*), lateral plosion (*little, middle*), or become affricated (*don't you* [dəʊntʃuː]).

*There are three degrees of assimilation:** complete, partial and intermediate.

Assimilation is **complete** when the neighbouring sounds fully coincide. E.g. *horse-shoe* [ˈhɔːʃuː].

Assimilation is **partial** when the assimilated phoneme retains its main features. E.g. *tenth* (only place changes).

Assimilation is **intermediate** when the phoneme changes completely but doesn't coincide. E.g. *gooseberry, congress.*

*According to direction**, assimilation may be progressive, regressive and double.

In **progressive assimilation**, the preceding phoneme influences the following (A → B). E.g. *place* (devoiced [l]).

In **regressive assimilation**, the following phoneme influences the preceding (A ← B). E.g. *newspaper, tenth.*

In **double (reciprocal) assimilation**, adjacent phonemes influence each other. E.g. *twenty, quick.*

**Historical assimilation** is the result of changes at earlier stages. E.g. *nature, question, occasion.* **Contextual assimilation** takes place at word boundaries. E.g. *does she, horse-shoe.* When assimilation is obligatory it is **established**. When it is the result of carelessness it is **accidental**.