Deletion/Elision Deletion/Elision

 Deletion is similar to elision. A consonant or vowel can be completely lost or deliberately deleted under certain conditions.  Elision takes place when speakers do not devote speech energy to realising some sounds. It occurs in natural speech where one sound segment, which would be produced in careful speech or isolation, is dropped or not produced.  Avoidance of consonant clusters: Consonant clusters are usually reduced in rapid speech. /ɵ/ in sixth time [siksɵtaim] ----- [sikstaim] Sixth’s throne [siksɵs ɵrəun] ---- [sikstraun] or [siksrəun] /t/ is commonly dropped, for example, aspects [æspeks]; he must be [himəsbi]. Deletion/Elision contd.

 In consonant clusters of the three plosives or two plus a fricative, the middle plosive may disappear, e.g. Acts [aks]; scripts [skrips]; looked back [lukt bæk]--- [lukbæk]

 /k/ has been dropped in ‘we asked them’ [wiæstəm],

 Vowels are dropped in such words as camera [kæmrə], cabinet [kæbnət], etc.

 Loss of final v in ‘of’ before consonants, e.g. Lots of them [lᴐts ə ðəm] Waste of money [weisəm∧ni] Deletion

 A more common case is where the vowel ‘o’ is lost, leaving either in a voiced context of ‘f’ in a voiceless context.  All of mine [ᴐ:l v main] best of three [best f ᴐri]  Weak vowels are usually deleted after voiceless plosives /p,t,k/ and the schwa sound has zero realisation after these sounds in the pre vocalic syllable initial positions.  Potato [phteitəu]; tomato [thma:təu]; memory [meməri]; perhaps [phhæps]; today [thdei] Deletion contd.

 Weak vowels + n, l, r become syllabic consonants, e.g. tonight [tnait]; police [plis], correct [krekt]  Established deletion is seen in words such as gnaw, bomb, psyche, knowledge; at the medial position in words such as fastens, listen, often. Insertion

 Insertion is the process in which extraneous element which is not originally present is introduced into the utterance in order to break up unwanted sequences.  Insertion is when a sound appears in the surface phonetic form which was not in the underlying phonemic form Insertion of /i/ in past tense

 The insertion of ‘i’ in the past tense formation (in which the final consonant is the alveolar plosive /t/ or /d/ plead – pleaded [pli:did] salt – salted [sᴐltid] guide – guided [gaidid] Insertion of English voiceless stops

 Insertion of voiceless stops  /dænØs/ [dænts] „dance‟ /strɛŋØɵ/ [strɛŋkɵ] „strength‟ /hæmØstər/ [hæmpstər] „hamster‟  /Ø/ [C[voiceless stop]] / between a nasal and voiceless fricative  A voiceless stop is inserted between a nasal and a voiceless fricative The inserted stop has the same place of articulation as the following nasal Insertion in consonant clusters

 ‘i’ can also be inserted to break the consonant cluster in the plural forms of some words, especially when it is inserted between the cluster of two sibilant of root and plural morpheme mix – mixes; box – boxes; bus – buses Coalescence

 coalescence involves the fusion of a vowel and a consonant or two consonants into one.  The final element of the word and the initial element of the neighbouring word (sharing boundary with the first) totally disappear and by combining to form a new element sharing features of each.  The final /t/ and /d/ and the initial /j/ following often combine to form /dz/ and /dz/ respectively. the consonants that undergo assimilation disappear.  Not jet [nᴐtjet] ------[nᴐtʃet]  Could you [kud ju:] ------[kuʤu]. Coalescence contd.

 It is a syllable structure modification process. Two neighbouring sounds at the underlying representation disappears at the surface phonetic level to be replaced by a third segment which shares features from both segments that disappeared, that is, the two nearby sounds have coalesced into one.  A + B = C (characteristics of A & B). The two consonants fused into one. Metathesis

 Metathesis occurs when there is a change in order of sounds  Rearrangement of consonants in a syllable.  When there are three consecutive consonants, the first consonant switches positions with the preceding vowel  Examples:  “/Aks/” instead of “/ask/”  “/Misk/” instead of /miks/ Strengthening

 Strengthening (fortition) occurs when a sound becomes stronger  English Aspiration /C[voiceless stops]/ [C[aspirated]] / $[stress]__  Voiceless stops become aspirated at the beginning of stressed syllables Aspirated stops are considered stronger because the duration of voicelessness is much longer than in unaspirated stops Weakening

 Weakening (lenition) is when a sound becomes weaker  English Flapping /C[alveolar oral stop]/ [ɾ] / V[stress] __ V[unstress]  An aveolar oral stop /t/ or /d/ becomes a flap when it occurs after a stressed V and before an unstressed V The flap is weaker because it is shorter and obstructs air less than the aveolar stops