Consonant influence consonant

In Modern English it is mainly consonants that are assimilated. When the two adjacent sounds are consonants there occur most striking assimilative changes. Since the articulation of any speech sound differs according to the phonetic context we shall dwell only on considerable changes, especially those which present special difficulties for Russian learners.

1. Modification of the Place of Obstruction and the Active Organ of Speech. Assimilation may take place within a word and also at word boundaries. The following three important cases should be noticed:

1. The alveolar allophones of [t, d, n, 1, s, z] are replaced by the dental variants when immediately followed by the interden­tal [Ɵ] or [ð], e.g.
within a word: eighth, breadth, tenth;
at word boundaries: Put that down! Read this!, on the desk

2. The post-alveolar [t] and [d] are heard before the post-alveolar sonorant [r], e.g.
within a word: trip, true, trunk, dream, drink, dry;
at word boundaries: at rest, would read.

3. The bilabial nasal [m] or the alveolar nasal [n] become labio-dental under the influence of immediately following labio­-dental fricatives [f, v], e.g.
within a word: triumph, comfort, infant;
at word boundaries: come for me, ten forks.

2. Changes in the Work of the Vocal Cords (Voicing or Devoicing). Progressive voicing or devoicing is common in English but is very rare in Russian.

1. The sonorants [m, n, 1, w, r, j] are partially devoiced when preceded by voiceless consonants [s, p, t, k, f, Ɵ, ʃ ], e.g.

within words:

[m] – small	[w] – sweep, square, twilight
[n] – sneer	[r] – spread, try, prey, throw, cream
[l] – slow, place, fly	[j] – stupid, tune, pure, few

At word boundaries the sonorants [1, r, w] are slightly voiced if with the adjacent words they form a phrasal word or a rhyth­mic group, e.g. at last, at rest.

2. Contracted forms of the verbs "is" and "has" may retain voice or be devoiced depending on the preceding consonants, e.g.:

That’s right [→ðæts _\raɪt]
Bob’s gone out [vbɒbz 'gɒn _\ aʊt]

3. The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the possessive suffix -'s or -s', the plural suffix -(e)s of nouns and of the third person singular present indefinite of verbs depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. These suffixes are pronounced as:

[z] after all voiced consonants except [z] and [ჳ] and after all vowel sounds, e.g. girls [gɜ:lz], rooms [rʊmz], laws [lɔ:z], reads [ri:dz];

[s] after all voiceless consonants except [s] and [ʃ], e.g. Jack's [dჳæks], books [bʊks], writes [raɪts];

a separate syllable [iz] after [s, z] or [ʃ, ჳ], e.g. George's ['dჳɔ:dჳɪz], dishes ['dɪʃɪz], boxes ['bɒksɪz].

4. The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the suffix - ed of regular verbs also depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. The ending -ed is pronounced as

[d] after all voiced consonants except [d] and after all vowel sounds, e.g. lived [lɪvd], played [pleɪd];

[t] after all voiceless consonants except [t], e.g. worked [wɜ:kt];

a separate syllable [id] after [d, t], e.g. expected [ɪks'pektɪd], intended [ɪn'tendɪd].

In English regressive voicing or devoicing is found only in a few cases of historical assimilation within a compound word when the semantic independence of the first component is lost, e.g. five pence ['faɪfpens], cf five [faɪv]; gooseberry ['gu:zbn], cf goose [gu:s].

Regressive voicing or devoicing may also take place in close­ly connected pairs of words, e.g. I have to [aɪ_\hæftʊ], she has to [ʃi _\hæstʊ]; I used to [aɪ _\ju:sttʊ].

In Russian voicing or devoicing is mainly regressive — the preceding consonant depends upon the following consonant, e.g. сделать, отдать, сдать, идти.

There is no assimilation in case voiceless consonants are fol­lowed by sonorants and [в], e.g. сложить, краска, цветок.

In English word sequences word final voiced consonants are not fully devoiced under the influence of the immediately follow­ing voiceless consonants, e.g. good chap ['gʊd ʧæp]; big case ['bɪg 'keɪs].

Neither are the word final voiceless consonants voiced under the influence of the immediately following voiced consonants, e.g. white dress ['waɪt 'dres], this book ['ðɪs 'bʊk].

Such sequences are difficult for Russian learners, as regressive devoicing or voicing in Russian is obligatory both within words and at the word junction, e.g. пробка – сказка, впятером – вдвоем, под столом – под газетой.

Typical mistakes of Russian learners lie in devoicing voiced consonants before voiceless ones and voicing voiceless consonants before voiced ones, e.g.

correct pronunciation	wrong pronunciation
anecdote ['ænɪkdɜʊt]	['ænɪgdɜʊt]
birthday ['bɜ:Ɵdeɪ]	['bɜ:Ɵdeɪ]
obstinate ['ɒbstɪnɪt]	['ɒpstɪnɪt]
medicine ['medsɪn]	['metsɪn]
this book ['ðɪs 'bʊk]	['ðɪz 'bʊk]
let’s go ['lets 'gɜʊ]	['letz 'gɜʊ]
like that ['laɪk 'ðæt]	['laɪg 'ðæt]

3. Changes in the lip position. Consonants followed by the sonorant [w] change their lip-position. They become lip-rounded in anticipation of [w], e.g. twinkle, swan, language, quite.

4. Changes in the Position of the Soft Palate. Nasal conso­nants may influence the adjacent plosives. This type of assimilation is not typical of English. Sometimes [d] changes into [n] under the influence of the preceding [n], e.g. handsome ['hændsəm>'hænnsəm>lhænsm]; handmade ['hænnmeɪd].

Nasalization affects mainly the alveolar consonants, especial­ly adjacent to the negative n't, and is characteristic of very rapid speech, e.g.:

[d] > [n] She wouldn't do it [ʃɪ → wʊnnt _\du: ɪt]
[d] > [b] > [m] Good morning [gʊb _\mɔ:nɪŋ > gʊm _\mɔ:nɪŋ]

5. Changes in the Manner of the Release of Plosive Conso­nants. English plosives do not always have the third stage con­sisting of a sudden oral release of air. The main variants are:

1. Incomplete plosion

In the clusters of two plosives [pp, pb, bb, bp, tt, td, dd, dt, tʧ, tdჳ, dʧ, ddჳ, kk, kg, gg, gk] where the position of the organs of speech is the same for both consonants, there is no separation of the organs of speech between the two plosives. The hold stage is prolonged from the beginning of the first consonant until the release of the second. The effect is that of a single plosive pro­nounced with very long hold. In such clusters the first stop has no plosion either in English or in Russian, e.g.

within a word: accommodation; attraction; bookcase; аккомодация; аттракцион; поддержка;
at word boundaries: lamp post; what time; went down; that child, that joke; big cat; good chance.

In a cluster of two plosives or of a plosive and an affricate 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 plosive is incomplete, e.g.

within a word: talked; object; lecture;
at word boundaries: good girl; good book; hot bottle.

In Russian the same sequence of plosives is pronounced in a different way. In the Russian word акт, for instance, the plosives [к] and [т] have the three stages of articulation.

If you do make two explosions in English it will not cause misunderstanding, but it will sound un-English.

2. Nasal plosion

When a plosive is followed by the syllabic [n] or [m] it has no release of its own, the so-called 'nasal' plosion is produced. In such sequences the closure for the plosive is made normally, but the release is produced not by a removal of the oral closure, which is retained, but by the lowering of the soft palate, which allows the compressed air to escape through the nasal cavity to form the nasal consonant, e.g.

within a word: happen, shipmate, submarine, subnormal, but­ton;
at word boundaries: stop moaning, escape noisily, sub man, sob noisily.

Nasal plosion occurs in Russian too, in such sequences as [тн, тм, дн, бм], e.g. отнюдь, отметка, днём, обман.

3. Lateral plosion

In the sequences of a plosive immediately followed by [1] the closure produced for the plosive is not released till after [l]. Be­fore [1] the release is made by a sudden lowering of the sides of the tongue, and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue with lateral plosion, e.g. please, cattle, black, candle.

Lateral plosion occurs in Russian too, in sequences [тл, дл], e.g. метла, длина.

The Reduction of Consonant Clusters (Elision)

Elision or complete loss of sounds, both vowels and consonants, is often observed in English. Elision is likely to be minimal in slow careful speech and maximal in rapid relaxed colloquial forms of speech. The reduction of some consonant clusters was established long ago.

1. The initial [w, k, g] may be dropped, e.g. write [raɪt], know [nɜʊ], gnat [næt].

2. The medial [t] or [d] are dropped in a cluster of three con­sonants, e.g. listen ['lɪsn], soften ['sɒfn], Wednesday ['wenzdɪ].

3. The final [b] is dropped in the cluster [mb], e.g. lamb [læm], dumb [dʌm].

In other cases of recent formation the elided forms are typical only of rapid colloquial speech. In the following examples the elided sound is still pronounced in careful, precise speech, e.g. often [ɒfn] or ['ɒftən].

In present-day English the reduction of clusters continues to take place.

The plosives [t] or [d] in the clusters [-st, -ft, -ʃt, -nd, -ld, -zd, -ðd, -vd] in final position when followed by a word with an initial consonant are often reduced in rapid speech, e.g. last time ['ɑ:s 'taɪm], mashed potatoes ['mæʃ рə'teɪtɜʊz], next day ['neks 'deɪ], old man [ɜʊ1 'mæn].

Word final clusters of plosives or affricates + [t] or [d] [-pt, -kt, -ʧt, -bd, -gd, -dჳd] may lose the final alveolar plosive when the following word begins with a consonant, e.g. kept quiet ['kep 'kwaət], lagged behind ['læg bɪ'haɪnd].
The alveolar [t] of the negative -n't is often reduced before a consonant, e.g. You mustn't do it [ju →mʌsn _\du: ɪt].
When [t] or [d] occur between two other plosives they are never heard, e.g. locked gate ['lɒk 'geɪt], strict teacher ['strɪk 'ti:ʧə].

[h] may be dropped in the following monosyllables when non-initial and unstressed: have, has, had; he, him, his, her; who, e.g.

Tell him he is wanted [→tel ɪm ɪz _\wɒntɪd]
but: He’s wanted [hiz _\wɒnted]

The reduction of consonant clusters is also typical of Russian colloquial speech, e.g. сердце, солнце, поздно, чувствовать.

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