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Assimilation in English Connected Speech

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Assimilation in English Connected Speech Assimilation in English Connected Speech Assist. Lecturer Iman Farhan Mohammed Al-Mustansiriya University/ College of Arts/ Department of English Language البريد اﻹليكتروني: [email protected] 303 Abstract The current study focuses on one of the most significant problems of English phonemic analysis that is the phenomenon of assimilation. The notion assimilation is discussed, by many phoneticians and phonologists like Roach, Carr and many others, as a phonological process when there is a change of one sound into another because of adjacent segments. Assimilation has many types with different forms. It also has its own rules that constraint sounds and how a feature of a sound spreads to an adjacent sound. The aim of this paper is an attempt to provide an adequate background knowledge for those who are interested in this phonetic phenomenon. Keywords: (assimilation - speech – rules) 1.1 Assimilation: Overview Broadly speaking, Crystal (2011:39) states that assimilation means the effect that is expressed by one sound segment upon the production of another, so that the sounds become more similar. In this regard, Trask (2000:30) argues that the term assimilation is any syntagmatic change in which some sound seems more identical in nature to another sound in the same sequence, usually within one phonological word or phrase. Besides, Carr, (2008:16) assumes that assimilation is a process in which two, usually adjacent, segments appear more identical to each other. An instance of assimilation for place of articulation can be seen in sequences such as ten boys in 304 English, where the /n/ of ten seems to assimilate to the place of articulation of the following bilabial stop /tembɔɪz/. It is worth mentioning that a large number of linguists, phoneticians and scholars such as (Mott, 2011:148; Meyer, 2010:205; Millar, 2015: 49; Rogerson- Revell, 2011:162; and Richards, 2010:36) agree with Roach (2009:110) in his clarifying that: A significant difference in natural connected speech is the way that sounds belonging to one word can cause changes in sounds belonging to neighbouring words. Assuming that we know how phonemes of a particular word would be realized when the word is pronounced in isolation, in cases where we find a phoneme realized differently as a result of being near some other phoneme belonging to a neighbouring word. For instance: broadcast /brɔ:dka:st/ becomes /brɔ:gka:st/ and light blue /laɪt blu:/ becomes /laɪp blu:/. Furthermore, Trask (1997:168) views that assimilation is any of different phonetic or phonological processes in which one segment seems more alike to another one in the same word or phrase. For instance, the pronunciation of ten pence as /tem pens/, in which /n/ assimilates in place to the following /p/. Besides, (Yavaş, 2011:282; Lorenz, 2013: 35 and Yule, 2010:283) have the same idea of this process. They (ibid) suggest that assimilation is a matter of effect of a speech sound by the surrounding sound(s) to become more identical. According to Gussenhoven and Jacobs (2011:185), the following lines are worth quoting: Assimilation frequently shows a non-arbitrary relationship between the structural description and the structural change. Time and again, rules appear to transfer a specific feature or group of features from one segment to a neighbouring segment. On the other hand, Ladd (2014:8-9) suggests that the major idea of the characteristic of spreading has been around since the early 1970s. It basically involves an obvious extension of autosegmental notion. The central question is whether spreading feature is in principle a suitable system of assimilation. Feature spreading notation can represent a small and discrete number of patterns of multiple association (as in partial and complete assimilation), but it supports no ready way of discussing a continuous extension of degrees of assimilation. It seems that the concept of assimilation actually conveys such continuous ranges of phonetic detail. Some studies claim that some cases of assimilation may have complex patterns of modification of phonetic realization in specific segments, In 305 a typical autosegmental analysis of the place assimilation in a phrase like ten past, the place features is connected with a labial stop at the beginning of past spread so that they are joined to both the labial stop and the preceding nasal. The feature interrelated with the nasal at the end of ten may remain joined to it (in which case one might speaks of partial assimilation) or may be fully delinked (yielding full assimilation), (ibid.). In this regard, Deng and O'Shaughnessy (2003:272) confirm that assimilation is a phonological process where one or more features of a segment change their values to match those of a neighbouring segment. Such a feature change is also called feature "spreading". To sum up, Cruttenden (2014:308) concludes that assimilation at boundaries, like those within words, may be simply of an allophonic type; or they may be such of an extent that an alternation of phoneme is involved, when distinguishing the pronunciation of a word in isolation with its pronunciation in a certain context. 1.2 Types of Assimilation As far as the types of assimilation are concerned, assimilation comes in several various forms. In this regard, Skandera and Burleigh (2011:90) divide assimilation in terms of four categorizations, based on the distance between the two sounds involved (contiguous and non-contiguous assimilation), the direction of the influence exerted (progressive and regressive assimilation), the particular distinctive feature affected (assimilation of intensity, place and manner), and the degree to which one sound assimilates to another (total and partial assimilation). Fallon (2002:19) and Kriedler (2001:149), in their turn, classify assimilation into three types: total assimilation, partial assimilation and single-feature assimilation. Besides, Minkova and Stockwell (2009:108) mention that assimilation can be distinguished in terms of the target (voicing, place, or manner of articulation), the direction (right to left and left to right), and the scope of the resulting similarity (partial and full). Nevertheless, Skandera and Burleigh's (2011:90) division will be adopted in this study. 1. The first categorization differentiates (a) assimilation between two consecutive sounds, named contiguous assimilation, or contact assimilation, from (b) 306 assimilation between two sounds further apart, called as non-contiguous assimilation, or distance assimilation: a) Contiguous assimilation (contact assimilation) can be expressed by the following instances ten pigs /tem pɪgz/ and pigs /pɪgz/. It is so much more widespread in English that assimilation establishes one sound more like an adjacent sound, indicating that assimilation is always contiguous, (Skandera and Burleigh, 2011:90). b) Non-contiguous assimilation (distance assimilation) is so exceptional in English that it can safely be ignored. For instancee, turn up trumps /tɜːm ʌp trʌmps/, in which the /n/ in turn is supposedly sometimes pronounced bilabially, as /m/, under the effect of the later bilabial segments /p/ and /m/,(ibid.). 2. The second categorization differentiates between (a) assimilation is occurred by the effect of a preceding sound that is known as progressive assimilation or preservative assimilation, (b) assimilation is occurred by the effect of a following segment which is called regressive assimilation or anticipatory assimilation, and (c) assimilation is again occurred by the effect of two segments upon each other which is named as coalescent assimilation, or reciprocal assimilation. a) Progressive assimilation (preservative assimilation): a sound assimilates to the preceding segment. So, the characteristic in which the sound seems more alike is changed forward from one sound to the next. One movement of the speech organs is neglected, that is, they remain in the same position when they should have moved to a distinguishable position for the new segment, (Lorenz, 2013: 85). In English, progressive assimilation is quite exceptional. However, it happens in one significant area, that is, the inflectional [-ed] and plural/possessive [- s] assimilate to the preceding sound. They are realized as [d] and [z] when the preceding segment is also lenis (voiced) such as moved /mu:vd/ or pens /penz/. In words where the preceding sound is fortis (voiceless), nevertheless, the inflections are also realized fortis (voiceless) as [t] and [s] such as talked /tɔ:kt/ and pets /pets/. In these cases, it is the characteristic of tension/voice that is assimilated and it is moved forward from one sound to the next, (ibid.). 307 b) Regressive assimilation (anticipatory assimila- tion) points out the influence of a later segment on a preceding one, (Stranzy, 2005:97). Besides, Lorenz (2013:86) affirms that in English, regressive assimilation is frequent for syllable – final alveolar plosives and nasals [t, d, n]. For instance, the phrase good morning is /gʊd mɔ:nɪŋ/ when it is articulated carefully. But in connected, everyday speech, /gʊb mɔ:nɪŋ/ can be heard instead, where alveolar /d/ has been substituted by bilabial /b/ because of the following sound that is also bilabial. Similarly ten coins may not in fact be articulated as /ten kɔɪnz/, but rather as /teŋ kɔɪnz/ with a regressive assimilation of /n/ to /ŋ/. c) Coalescent assimilation (reciprocal assimilation) happens when two segments effect each other, as in the widespread American English spoken forms for an alveolar consonant followed by an unstressed syllable starts with a [j]. For examples: the [t] and [d] sounds match the [j] to make an affricate, as in: did you /dɪd ju/ becomes /dɪʤ u/, and can't you /kænt ju/ becomes /kænʧ u/, (Stranzy, 2005:97). 3. The third categorization differentiates between (a) assimilation of intensity, (b) assimilation of place, and (c) assimilation of manner. a) Assimilation of intensity across word boundaries always results in a fortis and is typically regressive, as in have to /ha:v tu:/, where the lenis /v/ can transform to fortis /f/ under the effect of the following fortis /t/, and I've seen /aɪv si:n/, where the lenis /v/ can transform to fortis /f/ under the effect of the following fortis /s/.
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