Connected Speech: Assimilation: Source:onestopenglish

CONNECTED SPEECH:
ASSIMILATION
Source :onestopenglish
DEFINITION
Assimilation is the process by which a sound changes to

become more similar – or even identical – to a
neighbouring sound.
EXPLANTION
Speaking is a physical activity which involves complex sequences of

muscle actions.
The sounds, or phonemes, of a language are officially called
‘segments’, which suggests an image of building blocks with
clearly-defined edges, lined up one after another.
But speech isn’t like that: it’s a continuous stream of sound – the
‘stream of speech’ – in which neighbouring sounds merge into each
other and influence each other.
A S S I M I L I AT I O N D U E TO D I F FE R E N T P L A C E S O F
A RT I C U L ATI O N
If you say ten people very slowly and carefully, perhaps

with a slight pause between the two words, you’ll hear
the /n/ at the end of ten and the /p/ at the beginning of
people. But very often, if it’s said faster, something
changes: ten sounds like tem: tem people.
Why does this happen?
The /p/ sound is a bilabial sound (bilabial = two lips). It’s
produced by closing the lips and then opening them with a sudden
release of air.
But /n/ is an alveolar sound, produced with the tongue-tip
against the alveolar ridge just behind the top teeth, and the lips
open. In fluent speech, we tend to anticipate the bilabial
articulation of /p/ by pronouncing /m/, also a bilabial sound,
instead of /n/.
/m/ is produced with closed lips and without the alveolar tongue
contact, so all you need to do to produce /p/ is to open the lips
and release the air. In other words, you’ve achieved speed and
efficiency by reducing the number of separate movements you
need to make.
The result is that one sound, in this case /n/, becomes more
similar to another, in this case /p/, and hence the name
assimilation.
Similarly, if you say ten grand (this is an informal way of saying
£10,000) very carefully, you’ll hear /n/ followed by /g/, but if you
say it faster, you’ll find that the /n/ tends to change to /ŋ/.
The reason is assimilation again: /ŋ/ and /g/ are both pronounced
with contact between the back of the tongue and the soft palate –
they’re velar sounds – and there’s a tendency to anticipate the velar
pronunciation and change /n/ to /ŋ/.
So the phrase sounds like teng grand.
The alveolar sounds /t/, /d/ and /n/, when followed by non-alveolar
sounds, tend to be particularly subject to assimilation.
COMMON TYPES OF ASSIMILATION
/t/~/p/ before bilabials /p/, /b/ and /m/

• night porter get bored hot meal
• /naɪp ˈpɔːtə / /gep bɔːd / /hɒp miːl/
/t/~/k/ before velars /k/ and /g/
• let go white cat
• /lek gəʊ/ / waɪk kæt/
/d/ ~ /b/ before bilabials /p/, /b/ and /m/
• bad press red bag wide margin
• /bæb pres/ /reb bæg/ / waɪb ˈmɑːʤɪn/
/d/~/g/ before velars /k/ and /g/
good coffee solid gold
/gʊg ˈkɒfɪ / /ˈsɒlɪg gəʊld/
/n/~/m/ before bilabials /p/, /b/ and /m/

gone past done better in music
/gɒm pɑːst/ /dʌm ˈbetə/ / ɪm ˈmjuːzɪk/
/n/~ /ŋ/ before velars /k/ and /g/

fan club kitchen gadget
/fæŋ klʌb/ /ˈkɪʧɪŋ ˈgæʤɪt/
/s/ ~/ʃ/ before /ʃ/ and /j/

less sure Miss you
/leʃ ʃʊə / /mɪʃ jʊ/
/z/ ~/ʒ/ before /ʃ/ and /j/
use shampoo those years
/juːʒ ʃæmˈpuː/ / ðəʊʒ jɪəz/
Notice that /p/, /k/, /b/ and /g/ resulting from assimilation
of /t/ and /d/ are not released – this is also true in other cases
of /p/, /k/, /b/ and /g/ + /p/, /b/, /m/, /k/ and /g/,
such as
stop pulling, like beer, Rob Miller, big garden.
/stɒp ˈpʊlɪŋ/ , /laɪk bɪə/ , / rɒb ˈmɪlə/ , / bɪg ˈgɑːdn/
COALESCENCE
In a particular type of assimilation called coalescence, or

coalescent assimilation, two sounds combine to form one:
/t/ + /j/~/tʃ/
gotcha (an informal spelling of got you /gɒt jʊ/)
/d/ + /j/~/dʒ/
would you /wʊd jʊ/ ~ /ˈwʊdʒə/
/s/ + /j/~/ʃ/
miss you /mɪs jʊ/ ~/mɪʃʊ/
/z/ + /j/ ~/ʒ/
is your /ɪz jə/ ~ /ɪʒə/
A S S I M I L AT I O N D U E T O D I F F E R E N C E S O F V O I C I N G
When a voiced consonant is followed by a voiceless one, the first one often
loses its voicing, as the voicing is ‘switched off’ prematurely in anticipation of
the voiceless sound to follow.
So, for example, have to tends to sound like haff to. /v/ and /f/ have the same
place of articulation (labio-dental) but they are distinguished by voicing vs.
lack of voicing.
Because one sound changes to become more similar to another – /v/ loses its
voicing to become more similar, identical in fact, to /f/ – this is also considered
to be a case of assimilation.
Other examples of this kind of assimilation include:
/b/ ~ /p/ sub-plot /sʌp plɒt/
/d/ ~ /t/ bad time /bæt taɪm/
/g/~/k/ eggshell /ˈekʃel/
/z/ ~ /s/ as cold /æs kəʊld/
/ð/~/θ/ with salt /wɪθ sɔːlt/
/dʒ/~ /tʃ/ large-scale /ˈlɑːtʃ ˈskeɪl/

A S S I M I L AT I O N O F S U F F I X E S – S A N D – E D
In another instance of assimilation due to differences of voicing, the suffixes –s and –

ed are voiced after voiced consonants but voiceless after voiceless consonants:
Pronunciation: final “ed”
The final -ed ending has three different pronunciations: /t/, /d/, and /ed/
Final -ed is pronounced /t/ after all voiceless sounds. Voiceless sounds are made by
pushing air through your mouth; no sound comes from your throat.
Examples of voiceless sounds: /k/, /p/, /s/, /ʃ/ , /ʧ/, /f/ etc.
• Look → looked → look/t/
• Clap → clapped → clap/t/
• Miss → missed → miss/t/
• Watch → watched → watch/t/
Final -ed is pronounced /d/ after voiced sounds. Voiced
sounds come from your throat. Touch your neck when you
make a voiced sound, you can feel your voice box vibrate.
Examples of voiced sounds: “L”, “V”, “N”, “B” and all
vowel sounds.
• Smell → smelled → smell/d/

• Save → saved → save/d/
• Clean → cleaned → clean/d/
• Rob → robbed → rob/d/
• Play → played → play/d/
PRONUNCIATION: FINAL “S & ES”
A final -s or -es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is

a singular noun, e.g. my father works at a bank. (My father is a
singular noun)
• • Verb + s: Mary enjoys cooking
• • Verb + es: John watches the baseball game
Final -s is pronounced /s/ after voiceless sounds, as in /t/ ,/p/ & /k/
• • Seat → seats → seat/s/
• • Rope → ropes → rope/s/
• • Back → backs → back/s/
Final -s is pronounced /z/ after voiced sounds, as in
/d/, /b/, /g/ and /i:/
• Seed → seeds → seed/z/

• Robe → robes → robe/z/
• Bag → bags → bag/z/
• See → sees → see/z/
D O E S A S S I M I L AT I O N O N LY H A P P E N I N E N G L I S H ?
Assimilation is a natural consequence of normal,

fluent speech, and is likely to happen to some extent
in any language, but the overall amount of
assimilation, and the details of the possible types of
assimilation, vary considerably between languages.

Connected Speech: Assimilation: Source:onestopenglish

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CONNECTED SPEECH:

Assimilation is the process by which a sound changes to

Speaking is a physical activity which involves complex sequences of

If you say ten people very slowly and carefully, perhaps

/t/~/p/ before bilabials /p/, /b/ and /m/

/n/~/m/ before bilabials /p/, /b/ and /m/

/n/~ /ŋ/ before velars /k/ and /g/

/s/ ~/ʃ/ before /ʃ/ and /j/

In a particular type of assimilation called coalescence, or

/b/ ~ /p/ sub-plot /sʌp plɒt/

/d/ ~ /t/ bad time /bæt taɪm/

/g/~/k/ eggshell /ˈekʃel/

/z/ ~ /s/ as cold /æs kəʊld/

/ð/~/θ/ with salt /wɪθ sɔːlt/

/dʒ/~ /tʃ/ large-scale /ˈlɑːtʃ ˈskeɪl/

In another instance of assimilation due to differences of voicing, the suffixes –s and –

• Smell → smelled → smell/d/

A final -s or -es is added to a present tense verb when the subject is

• Seed → seeds → seed/z/

Assimilation is a natural consequence of normal,

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