JOINED-UP SPEECH

A s s i m i l a t i o n

As we know assimilation is a part of Joined-up speech, is phonological process by which the phonetics of a speech segment becomes more like that of another segment in a word. A common example of assimilation would be "don't be silly" where the /n/ and /t/ in "don't" are assimilated to /m/ and /p/ by the following /b/, where said naturally in many accents and discourse styles "dombe silly".

In assimilation, the phonological patterning of the language, discourse styles and accent are some of the factors that contribute to changes. If a sound changes with reference to a following segment, it is traditionally called "regressive assimilation", the changes with reference to a preceding segment are traditionally called "progressive". Many find these terms confusing, as they seem to mean the opposite of the intended meaning. Regressive assimilation is also known as right-to-left, leading or anticipatory assimilation. Progressive assimilation is also known as left-to-right or preservative, lagging or lag assimilation.

Direction of assimilation:

Regressive assimilation: this is leftward assimilation; the phone assimilates to a preceding phone.

Progressive assimilation: this is rightward assimilation; the phone assimilation to a following phone

The sound that changes is called the assimilated sound.

The sound that causes the change is called the conditioning sound

Progressive Assimilation

Conditioning Sound Assimilated Sound

Regressive Assimilation

Assimilated Sound Conditioning Sound

Let’s see some examples of assimilation in place of articulation to the following consonants:

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 /

/ t / changes to / p / before / m / / b / or / p /

best man	pocket money
cat burglar	post mortem
cigarette paper	pot plant
coconut butter	court martial

/ d / changes to / b / before / m / / b / or / p /

bad pain	ground plan
blood bank	hold back
good morning	grand master

/ n / changes to / m / before / m / / b / or / p /

action planning	iron man
American plan	open market
brown bear	open book

/ t / changes to / k / before / k / or /g/

credit card	short cut
cut glass	fat girl

/ d / changes to / g / before / k / or / g /

bad girl	hard cash
bird call	slide guitar
closed game	red carpet

/ n / changes to /ŋ/ before / k / or / g /

action group	open court
common good	roman calendar
common ground	roman catholic

/ s / changes to /ʃ/ before /ʃ/ or / j / followed by a rounded vowel sound

bus shelter	nice yacht
dress shop	space shuttle

/ z / changes to /ʒ/ before /ʃ/ or / j / followed by a rounded vowel sound

cheese shop	where's yours?
rose show	these sheep

/θ/ changes to / s / before / s /

bath salts	earth science
bath seat	fifth set
birth certificate	fourth season
both sexes	fourth summer
Bibliography

http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/assimilation.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assimilation_(linguistics)

Pronunciation - BBC Learning English

The BBC has a web site devoted to pronunciation and how the sounds of English are produced with detailed explanations of each of the symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) that are used in English.

I suggest you go to this valuable website, watch, and listen carefully to the explanations given for the sounds that you find most difficult to produce or identify.