IV. Articulatory transitions

OF VOWEL AND CONSONANT PHONEMES

ASSIMILATION

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'v.l 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 combina­
tion in the is assimilated to the dental variant under the influence of
/3/ which follows it.

c) by the style of speech: official or rapid colloquial. E. g.
slight pressure /'slait ipreja/ may turn into /islaipipreja/ in collo­
quial speech, similarly hot muffins /ihut ImAfmz/ may turn into

Fr if

/p /

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.

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 /э ibüks sv 'msetjiz/ may be pronounced without/v/in/sv/ —/э 'büks э 'msetfiz/, Waste paper /iweist ipeipa/ may turn into /iweis 'pei pa/ in rapid or careless speech.

Assimilation which occurs in everyday speech in the present-day pronunciation is called living.

Assimilation which took place at an earlier stage in the history of the language is called historical.

For example the present-day pronunciation of the words session, question, nature, occasion results from the historical assimilation of /sj/, /tj/, /zj/ in /Isesjan/, /ikwestjan/, /'nsetjur/, /alksezjan/ to /isejan/, /ikwestjbn/, /ineitjs/, /э'кехзэп/.

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

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sounds /k/ and /g/make the plural inflection /s/ similar to the voiceless Jkl in /desks/ and to the voiced /g/ in /pegz/;

2) regressive, when the second of the two sounds affected by assim­
ilation makes the first sound similar to itself, e. g. in the combina­
tion^ the the alveolar It/ becomes dental, assimilated to the inter­
dental Id/ 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 producing mechanisms.

Each sound pronounced in isolation has three stages in its articu­lation. During the first stage the organs of speech move to the posi­tion which is 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. Duringthe 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 articulatoiy transition and (2) in-terpenetration 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 III and /o:/ are joined by way of merging their stages, see Fig. 17.

The first stage for III 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 teethridge 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 through the lateral passages producing a clear allo-phone [1] of the /1/ phoneme —it is the medial stage of the lateral so-norant /1/.

- During the final stage of /II, 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 Ы, which follows III, the lips begin to get rounded for Ы, the end of III merges with the beginning of h:l. In the word /b:/ /1/₄ is followed by Л/„ and /l/₃ coincides with ly.lt, then follows /o:/_g 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/, /Id/ are pronounced with the "loss of plosion" — /kt/ and lateral plosion — /tl/, /kl/.

In /kt/ the medial stage of the sound /к/ — 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, see Fig. 18.

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 teethridge, 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

^Az ^B2 /----------- j-tt

M, &iX\₃ B^ ^f B/ ^

Fig. 17. Fig. IS.

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 II] of the III phoneme.

After the hold of /1/ 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 -f- a stop, the affricate is released in the usual way, e. g. sketchbook /'sketfbuk/ — the alveolar release of /p takes place in the usual audible way.

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

When two identical sounds are joined together, a single but pro­
longed 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 tenseness, e. g. hot tea /'hut 'ti:/, hard times
/'had 'taimz/. 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/, /kt/, /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 7пт/, /kt/, /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/, /kt/, /гд/:in аптека, факт, где /т, д/ are pronounced with an audible plosion of 7п, к, г/.

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Cases of loose and close articulatory transition can also be observed

a) the mechanism of the aspiration of the initial stressed /p, t, W
in English. Aspiration is a delay in the onset of voicing. A brief peri­
od 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/,
/t^hik/, /k^heit/ before the vowel, which follows /p, t, k/. Russian /n,
T, 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) the mechanism of the Russian CV transition, when a consonant
is followed by the front /и/ is more close than the English consonant
to /i/ or /j/ transition, compare: Pete — пить, neat — нить, beat —
бить, seen — синь, meal — мил, кет — лим, leap —■ лип, veal —
бил.

Both in Russian and in English the vowel articulation is superim­posed on the consonant articulation which precedes it, 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 simi­
larly involves the lip-rounding in addition to the primary articula­
tion — clcse CV transition. Compare: Paul — Пол, tool — Тула,
tall — 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 Is/ 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 HI— 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 /6/ 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

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or "devouring, for example: blackboard — no voicing of /k/, setbauit — no voicing of HI, these people — no devoicing of /z/.

Two obligatory assimilations of this type in English are used ■to and have to (must), e.g.; / used to wear a suit /ai Jju:st t9 'wee э _ssju:t/ but / used two /ai iju:zd Ни:/ (шаш verb), / have to be ■early /ai 'haef ta bi _V3:h/ but / have two /ai 'hsev 'tu:/ (main verb).

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

He collected stamps III

I was sure /s/

As cold as ice /s/

She refuses to answer /s/

of course III

James could 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 /1/. In this case the closure for the plosive is not released till the off-glide for /1/: the sides of the tongue are lowered and the air escapes along them with lateral plosion, e. g. please, candle, cattle (see above). In­complete plosion takes place in the clusters a) of two similar plosives like /pp, pb, tt, td, kk, kg/, or b) of two plosives with different points •offcrticulation like: /kt/, /ktf/, /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(&е& above).

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 /its:n бэ №'•/ — >-/%:п^_пэ Jki.7 open the door /teupn 5э _vda:/—*-/(эирп пэ _vdo:/ all the best /Ь:\ бз _vbest/-^/'o:l_wte _vbest/

3) Assimilation affects the place of articulation and the manner of noise production when the plosive, alveolar /t/ is followedjjy the

constrictive, post-alveolar /r/. For example, in the word tip alveolar /t/ becomes post-alveolar and has a fricative release.

In should you /ijud ju:/ the place of the alveolar /d/ can be changed into palato-alveolar /dg/, which is not a plosive but an affricate, under the influence of the palatal /j7. which follows /d/: /'Judgu:/.

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