Assimilation

Vowel and Consonant Phonemes

Lecture 4. Articulatory Transitions of

In the process of speech, that is in the process of transition from the articulatory work of one sound to the articulatory work of the neighbour­ing one, sounds are modified. These modifications can be conditioned:

a) by the complementary distribution of the phonemes, e.g. the fully
back /u:/ becomes back-advanced under the influence of the preceding
mediolingual sonorant /j/ in the words tune, nude.

The mid-open, front /e/ becomes more open followed by the dark /1/ in hell, tell, sell. Compare with bet, let, set.

In the word keen /k/ is not so back as its principal variant, it is ad­vanced under the influence of the fully front /i:/ which follows it:

b) by the contextual variations in which phonemes may occur at the
junction of words, e.g. the alveolar phoneme /n/ in the combination in
the is assimilated to the dental variant under the influence of /ð/ which
follows it;

c) by the style of speech: official or rapid colloquial, e.g. slight pres­sure /'slaıt 'рrеςə/ may turn into /'slaıp'preςə/ in colloquial speech, simi­larly hot muffins /'hυt 'm Λ fınz/ may turn into /'hυp 'm Λ fınz/.

Assimilation is the chief factor under the influence of which the prin­cipal variants of phonemes are modified into subsidiary ones.

Assimilation is a modification of a consonant under the influence of a neighbouring consonant.

When a consonant is modified under the influence of an adjacent vow­el or vice versa this phenomenon is called adaptation or accommodation, e. g. tune, keen, tea, cool.

When one of the neighbouring sounds is not realized in rapid or care­less speech this process is called elision, e. g. a box of matches /ə 'bυks əv 'mætςız/ may be pronounced without /v/ in /əv/ — /ə 'bυks ə 'mætςız/. Waste paper /'weıst 'peıpə/ may turn into /'weıs 'peıpə/ in rapid or care­less speech.

Assimilation which occurs in everyday speech in the present-day pro­nunciation is called living: let you out /,let ju 'aut →,letςu'aut/

Assimilation which took place at an earlier stage in the history of the language is called historical: (sj → ς, zj → 3/, /'preςə/ /məЗə/— (Histori­cal yod coalescence).

The present-day pronunciation of the words session, question, nature occasion results from the historical assimilation of /sj/, /tj/, /zj/ in /'sesjən/, /'kwestjən/, /'neıtςə/, /ə'kæzjən/ to /'seςən/, /'kwestςən/, /'neıtςə/, /ə'kеıЗən/.

As far as the direction of assimilation (and accommodation) is concerned it can be:

1) progressive, when the first of the two sounds affected by assimila­tion makes the second sound similar to itself, e.g. in desks, pegs, the
sounds /k/ and /g/ make the plural inflection s similar to the voiceless
/k/ in /desks/ and to the voiced /g/ in /pegz/;

2) regressive, when the second of the two sounds affected by assimilationmakes the first sound similar to itself, e.g. in the combination at the the alveolar /t/ becomes dental, assimilated to the interdental /ð/ which follows it;

3) double, or reciprocal, when the two adjacent sounds influence each other, e.g. twice /t/ is rounded under the influence of /w/ and /w/ is partly devoiced under the influence of the voiceless /t/.

To make the mechanism of articulatory transitions clear it should be viewed in detail in terms of the articulatory work of the speech producingmechanisms.

Eachsound pronounced in isolation has three stages in its articula­tion. During the first stage the organs of speech move to the position whichis necessary to pronounce the sound. It is called differently by different authors: initial stage, on-glide, excursion. During the second stage the organs of speech are kept for some time in the position necessary to pronounce the sound. This stage is called: medial stage, stop-stage retention stage, the hold. During the third stage the organs of speech move away to the neutral position. This stage is called final stage, off-glide,recursion, release.

There are two ways of joining the sounds: (1) merging of stages — when the final stage of the first sound merges with the initial stage of the second sound, loose type of articulatory transition and (2) interpenetration of stages — when the final stage of the first sound penetrates not only the beginning but also the middle of the second sound — close type of articulatory transition. For example, in the word law the two sounds /1/ and/o:/ are joined by way of merging their stages.

The first stage for /l/ is the raising of the front edge of the tongue to the alveolar ridge and simultaneous lifting of the middle part of the tongue to the hard palate (the soft palate is raised). As soon as the tip of the tongue touches the teeth ridge and the sides of the tongue are lowered forming lateral passages, the vocal cords are brought together and made tense, the air passing between the vocal cords makes them vibrate: the vibrating air fills the pharynx, the mouth cavity and escapes throughthe lateral passages producing a clear allophone [l] of the /l/ phoneme — it is the medial stage of the lateral sonorant /l/.

During the final stage of /l/, the tip of the tongue moves away from the alveolar ridge and the whole of the tongue moves backwards to the low, narrow position for /o:/, which follows /l/, the lips begin to get rounded for /o:/, the end of /l/ merges with the beginning of /o:/. In the word /lo:/ /l/₁ is followed by /l/₂, and /l/₃ coincides with /o:/₁, then follows /o:/₂ and /o:/₃.

Interpenetration of stages takes place when sounds of a similar, or identical nature are joined together. For example: in the words act, bot­tle, vehicle the clusters /kt/, /tl/, /kl/ are pronounced with the "loss of plosion" — /kt/ and lateral plosion — /tl/, /kl/.

In /kt/ the medial stage of the sound /k/ — the back part of the tongue is pressed against the soft palate and a complete obstruction is formed — coincides with the initial stage of the sound /t/ — the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge. The back part of the tongue is lowered only after the tip of the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge, the plo­sion of /k/ is not heard.

In the word bottle the sounds /t/ and /1/ are joined interpenetrating their stages. At the moment of the hold of /t/, that is, when the tip of the tongue is pressed against the teeth ridge, the sides of the tongue are low­ered, letting the air pass through these narrow air passages (or one pas­sage, if only one side of the tongue is lowered): the lateral plosion takes place — the hold. The vocal cords start vibrating at the end of the hold for /t/ and the air passes through the pharynx and the mouth cavity along the lateral passages, producing the dark allophone [f] of the /l/ phoneme.

After the hold of /l/ is accomplished, the final stage of /1/ takes place, that is the tongue returns to the neutral position and the vocal cords stop to vibrate. In /kl/ the air also escapes laterally, the vocal cords start vibrating at the end of the hold for /k/. The velar closure is released by lowering the sides of the tongue.

In a sequence: affricate + a stop, the affricate is released in the usual way, e.g. sketchbook /'sketςbuk/ — the alveolar release of /tς/ takes place in the usual audible way.

When a plosive is followed by the nasal /n, m/ the closure is released nasally: thesoft palate lowers during the hold of the stop, releasing the (imipressed airstream through nasal cavity: /bm, tn, dn/ — nasal plosion.

When two identical sounds are joined together, a single but prolonged medial stage, or hold, takes place. There is no interruption in the articulation of the two sounds, but we hear both of them due to the change in their tensness, e.g. hot tea /'hυt 'ti:/, hard times /'ha:d 'taımz/. The tenseness decreases at the end of the hold of the first sound and increases at the beginning of the hold of the second sound.

Russian learners are apt to mispronounce English clusters /tn/, /dn/, /kl/, /gd/ because the mechanisms of the articulatory transitions from /t, d/ to /n/, from /k, g/ to /t, d/ in English and the Russian clusters /пт/, /кт/, /гд/ are different, that is, the timing of the work of the power, vibrator, resonator and obstructor mechanisms in English and Russian is different. For example, the Russian clusters /пт/, /кт/, /гд/ in аптека, факт, где /т, д/ are pronounced with an audible plosion of /п, к, г/.

Cases of loose and close articuiatory transition can also be observed in:

a) the mechanism of the aspiration of the initial stressed /p, t, k/ in English. Aspiration is a delay in the onset of voicing. A brief period of voicelessness is heard after the hold of /p, t, k/, which sounds like a puff of air after the release of the stop: Pete, tick, Kate /p^hi:t/, /k^heit/ before thevowel, which follows /p, t, k/ — loose CV transition. Russian /n, т, к/ under similar conditions are unaspirated: the vocal cords begin vibrating immediately after the release of the closure for /п, т, к/: пить, Тим, кит — close CV transition;

b) themechanism of the Russian CV transition, when a consonant is followedby the front /и/ is more close than the English consonant to /i:/ or /j/ transition, compare: Pete — пить, neat — нить, beat — бить, meal — Мил, leek — лик, leap — лип, veal — вил.

Both in Russian and in English the vowel articulation is superim­posed on the consonant articulation which precedes it, in the initial posi­tion this results in palatalization. However, the delay in the onset of the vowel is longer in English than in Russian, which is characterized by the more obvious softening in the Russian consonants during the CV transi­tion — close type.

c) Labialization in English (no lip protrusion) and Russian similarly involves the lip-rounding in addition to the primary articulation — close CV transition. Compare: Paul — Пол, tool — Тула, fall — тол, pull — пуля, call — кол, boor — бур, cool — куль, buck — бука.

When the two neighbouring sounds are affected by assimilation, it may influence: 1) the work of the vocal cords; 2) the active organ of speech; 3) the manner of noise production; 4) both: the place of articula­tion and the manner of noise production.

1) Assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords is observed when one of the two adjacent consonants becomes voiced under the influence of the neighbouring voiced consonant, or voiceless — under the influ­ence of the neighbouring voiceless consonant. For example, in the word gooseberry /s/ became voiced under the influence of the next voiced /b/ — regressive assimilation. In the combination what's this the voiced /z/ be­came voiceless under the influence of the preceding voiceless /t/ — pro­gressive assimilation.

In the process of speech the sonorants /m, n, 1, r, j, w/ are partly devoiced before a vowel, preceded by the voiceless consonant phonemes /s, p, t, k/, e. g. plate, slowly, twice, cry. In this case partial progressive assimilation affects the work of the vocal cords both in English and in Russian; compare the above examples with the Russian: пламя, смена, кров.

In Russian voiceless-voiced distinction can be completely lost, com­pare: суп, субпродукты where /б/ undergoes complete regressive as­similation to /n/ which follows it. Russian learners should be careful about the cases where regressive assimilation may fully affect the work of the vocal cords due to the Russian habit of regressive voicing or devoicing, for example: blackboard — no voicing of /k/, setback — no voicing of /t/, these people — no devoicing of /z/.

Two obligatory assimilations of this type in English are: used to and have to (must), e.g.: I used to wear a suit /aı 'ju:st tə 'wεə ə sju:t/ but I used two /aı 'ju:zd 'tu:/ (main verb), / have to be early /aı 'hæf tə bi -з:lı/ but I have two /aı 'hæv 'tu:/ (main verb).

In unstressed syllables the assimilations of lenis to fortis (energy asillmilation) are very frequent particularly with a) final inflexional /d, z/; b) grammatical items as, of; c) auxiliary verbs:

He collect ed stamps /t/

I wa s sure /s/

A s cold as ice /s/

She refuse s to answer /s/

o f course /f/

James coul d tell him /t/

This assimilation is not observed in the most careful styles of speech.

2) The manner of noise production is affected by assimilation in cases of a) lateral plosion and b) loss of plosion or incomplete plosion. The lateral plosion takes place, when a plosive is followed by /l/. In this case the closure for the plosive is not released till the off-glide for /l/: the sides of the tongue are lowered and the air escapes along them with lateral plosion, e.g. please, candle, cattle. Incomplete plosion takes place in the clusters a) of two similar plosives like /pp, pb, tt, td, kk, kg/, b) of two plosives with different points of articulation like: /kt/, /dg/, /db/, /tb/. In the first case a single plosive is pronounced with a very long hold, e.g. attraction, lamp post, what time, went down, big cat. In the second case the closure of the organs of speech for the second plosive is made before the release of the first. So there is only one explosion for the two plosives. The first is incomplete, or lost, e. g. act, fact, good girl, hot, bottle. In Russian similar plosives have the three stages, which results in two explosions for both plosives: акт, факт.

The mechanism of the nasal plosion is similar in both languages: a plosive followed by the syllabic /n/, /m/ has no release — the release is produced not by a removal of the closure, but by the lowering of the soft palate, the air escapes through the nasal cavity, e. g. button, stop moaning, submarine. Nasal plosion takes place in Russian, e.g. днем, обман, отнюдь.

Complete nasal and lateral assimilation may occur in the, there across word boundaries, e.g.:

turn the key /'tз:n ðə ˛ki:/ - /'tз:n_nə˛ki:/

open the door /'əupn ðə ˛do:/ - /'əupn_nə ˛do:/

3) Assimilation affects the place of articulation and the manner of noise production when the plosive, alveolar /t/ is followed by the con­structive, post-alveolar /r/. For example, in the word trip alveolar /t/ be­comes post-alveolar and has a fricative release.

In should you /'ςud ju:/ the place of the alveolar /d/ can be changed into palato-alveolar /dЗ/, which is not a plosive but an affricate, under the influence of the palatal /j/, which follows /d/: /'ςudju:/.

Assimilation is called yod coalescence, within a word — /tju:n / → / tςu:n/, /ın'djuə → ın'dЗuə/ or across word boundaries /,let ju 'aut → letς ju:'aut/ → /letς u: 'aut/.

Within a word the status of coalescence depends on whether the fol­lowing vowel is strong or weak.

When the vowel is strong, e.g. /u:/ or /uə/, coalescence can frequently be heard in BrE, although it is not considered standard:

tune /tju:n → tςu:n/

endure /in 'djuə → in 'dЗuə/

Where the vowel is weak, e.g. /u/ or /ə/ assimilation is usually vari­able in RP, but obligatory in Gen.Am.

Historically, a process of yod coalescence is the origin of the /tς/ used by all speakers in words such as "nature", and of the /dЗ/ in words such as soldier.

Similarly, yod coalescence explains /sj → ς, zj → 3/ in words such as: pressure, delicious, patient, Russian, measure.

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