Assimilation (phonology)

Last updated

Assimilation is a sound change in which some phonemes (typically consonants or vowels) change to become more similar to other nearby sounds. A common type of phonological process across languages, assimilation can occur either within a word or between words.

Contents

It occurs in normal speech but becomes more common in more rapid speech. In some cases, assimilation causes the sound spoken to differ from the normal pronunciation in isolation, such as the prefix in- of English input pronounced with phonetic [m] rather than [n]. In this case, [n] becomes [m] since [m] is more phonetically similar to [p]. In other cases, the change is accepted as canonical for that word or phrase, especially if it is recognized in standard spelling: implosion pronounced with [m], composed of in- + -plosion (as in explosion).

English "handbag" (canonically /ˈhændbæɡ/ ) is often pronounced /ˈhæmbæɡ/ in rapid speech because the [ m ] and [ b ] sounds are both bilabial consonants, and their places of articulation are similar. However, the sequence [ d ]-[ b ] has different places but similar manner of articulation (voiced stop) and is sometimes elided, which sometimes causes the canonical [n] phoneme to assimilate to [m] before the [b]. The pronunciations /ˈhænbæɡ/ or /ˈhændbæɡ/ are, however, common in normal speech.

In contrast, the word "cupboard", although it is historically a compound of "cup" /kʌp/ and "board" /bɔːrd/ , is always generally pronounced /ˈkʌbərd/ , and almost never /ˈkʌpbɔːrd/ . [note 1]

Like in those examples, sound segments typically assimilate to a following sound, [note 2] but they may also assimilate to a preceding one. [note 3] Assimilation most commonly occurs between immediately adjacent-sounds but may occur between sounds that are separated by others. [note 4]

Assimilation can be synchronic, an active process in a language at a given point in time, or diachronic, a historical sound change.

A related process is coarticulation in which one segment influences another to produce an allophonic variation, such as vowels becoming nasalized before nasal consonants (/n,m,ŋ/) when the soft palate (velum) opens prematurely or /b/ becoming labialized as in "boot" [bʷuːt̚] or "ball" [bʷɔːɫ] in some accents. This article describes both processes under the term assimilation.

Concept

The physiological or psychological mechanisms of coarticulation are unknown, and coarticulation is often loosely referred to as a segment being "triggered" by an assimilatory change in another segment. In assimilation, the phonological patterning of the language, discourse styles and accent are some of the factors contributing to changes observed.

There are four configurations found in assimilations:

Although all four occur, changes in regard to a following adjacent segment account for virtually all assimilatory changes and most of the regular ones.[ citation needed ] Assimilations to an adjacent segment are vastly more frequent than assimilations to a nonadjacent one. Those radical asymmetries might contain hints about the mechanisms involved, but they are not obvious.

If a sound changes with reference to a following segment, it is traditionally called "regressive assimilation". Changes with reference to a preceding segment are traditionally called "progressive". [1] Many [2] find those terms confusing, as they seem to mean the opposite of the intended meaning. Accordingly, a variety of alternative terms have arisen, not all of which avoid the problem of the traditional terms. Regressive assimilation is also known as right-to-left, leading, or anticipatory assimilation. Progressive assimilation is also known as left-to-right, perseveratory, preservative, lagging, or lag assimilation. The terms anticipatory and lag are used here.

Occasionally, two sounds (invariably adjacent) may influence each other in reciprocal assimilation. When such a change results in a single segment with some of the features of both components, it is known as coalescence or fusion.

Assimilation occurs in two different types: complete assimilation, in which the sound affected by assimilation becomes exactly the same as the sound causing assimilation, and partial assimilation, in which the sound becomes the same in one or more features but remains different in other features.

Tonal languages may exhibit tone assimilation (in effect tonal umlaut), but sign languages also exhibit assimilation when the characteristics of neighbouring cheremes may be mixed.

Examples

Anticipatory assimilation to an adjacent segment

Anticipatory assimilation to an adjacent segment [3] is the most common type of assimilation by far, and typically has the character of a conditioned sound change, i.e., it applies to the whole lexicon or part of it. For example, in English, the place of articulation of nasals assimilates to that of a following stop (handkerchief is pronounced [hæŋkɚtʃif], handbag in rapid speech is pronounced [hæmbæɡ]).

In Italian, voiceless stops assimilated historically to a following /t/:

Italian otto, letto and sotto are examples of historical restructuring: otto and letto no longer contain /kt/ pronounced [tt], and sotto is no longer the structure /bt/ subject to the partial assimilation of devoicing of /b/ and full assimilation to produce [tt]. Over time, phonetic [tt] as a frequent assimilation of /kt/ and /bt/ was rather reinterpreted as reflecting /tt/. The structural sequence /kt/ is now all but absent in Italian, since all items in popular speech underwent the same restructuring, /kt/ > /tt/. On the rare occasion that Italian /kt/ is encountered, however, the same assimilation that triggered the restructuring can occur at the phonetic level. For example, the medical term ictus 'stroke', a relatively recent direct borrowing from Latin, is usually pronounced [ˈiktus] in deliberate speech, but [ˈittus] is frequent in more casual registers.

Affrication in English

There has been a notable change recognized across a variety of English dialects regarding the pronunciation of the /tr/ and /dr/ consonant clusters. Starting around the mid-20th century, [4] the alveolar stop in /tr,dr/ has slowly been replaced by a post-alveolar affricate instead, resulting in the all-postalveolar consonant clusters [tʃɹ] and [dʒɹ]. [5] This phenomenon also occurs in /str/, resulting in the all-postalveolar consonant cluster [ʃtʃɹ]. The affrication of /tr,dr/ has been seen in American English, British English, Australian English, and New Zealand English. [5] It is suspected that this change has occurred due to assimilation. [5]

One of the first papers that discussed the affrication of /tr,dr/ is "Pre-School Children's Knowledge of English Phonology" by Charles Read, published in 1971. [6] The study discussed in this paper focuses on how children in pre-school analyze the phonetic aspect of language in order to determine the proper spelling of English words. Read noticed that many of the children involved in the study misspelled words that began with /tr,dr/, spelling words like troubles and dragon as "chribls" and "jragin", respectively. [6] In a different test, Read also found that many of the children believed that words like train and chicken both started with /tʃ/. [6]

Anticipatory assimilation at a distance

Anticipatory assimilation at a distance is rare and usually merely an accident in the history of a specific word.

However, the diverse and common assimilations known as umlaut in which the phonetics of a vowel are influenced by the phonetics of a vowel in a following syllable, are common and in the nature of sound laws. Such changes abound in the histories of Germanic languages, Romance, Insular Celtic, Albanian, and many others.

For example, in the history of English, a back vowel became front if a high front vowel or semivowel (*i, ī, j) was in the following syllable, and a front vowel became higher unless it was already high:

On the other hand, Proto-Germanic *i and *u > e, o respectively before *a in the following syllable (Germanic a-mutation) although that had already happened significantly earlier:

Another example of a regular change is the sibilant assimilation of Sanskrit in which if there were two different sibilants as the onset of successive syllables, a plain /s/ was always replaced by the palatal /ɕ/:

Lag assimilation to an adjacent segment

Lag assimilation to an adjacent segment [3] is tolerably common and often has the nature of a sound law.

Proto-Indo-European *-ln- becomes -ll- in both Germanic and Italic: *ḱl̥nis "hill" > PreLat. *kolnis > Lat. collis; > PGmc *hulliz > OE hyll/hyll/ > hill. The enclitic form of English is, eliding the vowel, becomes voiceless when adjacent to a word-final voiceless nonsibilant: it is[ɪtɪz], that is[ðætɪz] > it's[ɪts], that's[ðæts].

In Polish, /v/ regularly becomes /f/ after a voiceless obstruent:

This does not apply across word boundaries, so that the placename Grodzisk Wielkopolski is pronounced [ˈɡrɔdʑizɡvjɛlkɔˈpɔlskʲi], not [ˈɡrɔdʑiskfjɛlkɔˈpɔlskʲi]. In that context, /v/ patterns with other voiced obstruents.

Because of a similar process, Proto-Indo-Iranian *ćw became sp in Avestan: Old Avestan aspa 'horse' corresponds to Sanskrit aśva

Lag assimilation at a distance

Lag assimilation at a distance is rare and usually sporadic (except when part of a broader change, as for the Sanskrit śaśa- example, above): Greek leirion > Lat. līlium "lily".

In vowel harmony, a vowel's phonetic features are often influenced by those of a preceding vowel. For example, most Finnish case markers come in two forms, with /ɑ/ (written a) and /æ/ (written ä), depending on whether the preceding vowel is back or front. However, it is difficult to know where and how in the history of Finnish an actual assimilatory change took place. The distribution of pairs of endings in Finnish is not the operation of an assimilatory innovation, but it is probably the outbirth of such an innovation long ago.

In the opposite direction, in umlaut, a vowel is modified to conform more closely to the vowel in the next syllable.

Coalescence (fusion)

Coalescence is a phonological situation whereby adjacent sounds are replaced by a single sound that shares the features of the two originally adjacent sounds. In other words, coalescence is a type of assimilation whereby two sounds fuse to become one, and the fused sound shares similar characteristics with the two fused sounds. Some examples in English include ‘don’t you’ -> /dəʊnt ju/ -> [dəʊntʃu]. In this instance, /t/ and /j/ have fused to [tʃ]. /tʃ/ is a palato-alveolar sound; its palatal feature is derived from /j/ while its alveolar is from /t/. Another English example is ‘would you’ -> /wʊd ju/ -> [wʊdʒu]. There are examples in other languages, such as Chumburung where /ɪ̀wú ɪ̀sá/ -> /ɪ̀wúɪ̀sá/ becomes [ɪ̀wɪ́sá] - ‘three horns’. In this case, /ɪ/ is retained in the coalescence and the rising tone on /u/ appears on the coalesced sound. [9]

There are two major types of coalescence: reductive and unreductive. Reductive coalescence is the type of coalescence where sound segments are reduced after fusion is made. For example, in Xhosa, /i - lˈalaini/ becomes /e - lˈoleni/ (side). The /a-i/ segment in the first form reduces to /e/. On the other hand non-reductive coalescence have no reduction in sound segments even though there is evidence of fusion. For example, in Shona, [v_á] [tengesa] (they sell) becomes [ku] [téngésá] (to sell). Here, the original sound does not reduce with respect to sound segments even though the rising tone on the vowels in the coalesced form indicates the fusion of /á/ to the vowels.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ This is the case even in slow, highly-articulated speech; excepting some unlearned speakers, as well as Philippine English and similar dialects that pronounce it ~ /ˈkʌpbɔːrd/ .
  2. ↑ Assimilation to a following sound is called regressive or anticipatory assimilation.
  3. ↑ Assimilation to a preceding sound is called progressive assimilation.
  4. ↑ This is called assimilation at a distance.

Related Research Articles

Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence. This class is composed of sounds like and semivowels like and, as well as lateral approximants like.

In historical linguistics, a sound change is a change in the pronunciation of a language. A sound change can involve the replacement of one speech sound by a different one or a more general change to the speech sounds that exist, such as the merger of two sounds or the creation of a new sound. A sound change can eliminate the affected sound, or a new sound can be added. Sound changes can be environmentally conditioned if the change occurs in only some sound environments, and not others.

Sandhi is any of a wide variety of sound changes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. Examples include fusion of sounds across word boundaries and the alteration of one sound depending on nearby sounds or the grammatical function of the adjacent words. Sandhi belongs to morphophonology.

The Catalan phonology has a certain degree of dialectal variation. Although there are two standard varieties, one based on Central Eastern dialect and another one based on South-Western or Valencian, this article deals with features of all or most dialects, as well as regional pronunciation differences.

English phonology is the system of speech sounds used in spoken English. Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar phonological system. Among other things, most dialects have vowel reduction in unstressed syllables and a complex set of phonological features that distinguish fortis and lenis consonants.

The phonology of the Hungarian language is notable for its process of vowel harmony, the frequent occurrence of geminate consonants and the presence of otherwise uncommon palatal stops.

In phonology, particularly within historical linguistics, dissimilation is a phenomenon whereby similar consonants or vowels in a word become less similar or elided. In English, dissimilation is particularly common with liquid consonants such as and when they occur in a sequence. The phenomenon is often credited to horror aequi, the principle that language users avoid repetition of identical linguistic structures.

Swedish has a large vowel inventory, with nine vowels distinguished in quality and to some degree in quantity, making 18 vowel phonemes in most dialects. Another notable feature is the pitch accent, a development which it shares with Norwegian. Swedish pronunciation of most consonants is similar to that of other Germanic languages.

The phonology of Italian describes the sound system—the phonology and phonetics—of standard Italian and its geographical variants.

The phonological history of English includes various changes in the phonology of consonant clusters.

Japanese phonology is the system of sounds used in the pronunciation of the Japanese language. Unless otherwise noted, this article describes the standard variety of Japanese based on the Tokyo dialect.

Coarticulation in its general sense refers to a situation in which a conceptually isolated speech sound is influenced by, and becomes more like, a preceding or following speech sound. There are two types of coarticulation: anticipatory coarticulation, when a feature or characteristic of a speech sound is anticipated (assumed) during the production of a preceding speech sound; and carryover or perseverative coarticulation, when the effects of a sound are seen during the production of sound(s) that follow. Many models have been developed to account for coarticulation. They include the look-ahead, articulatory syllable, time-locked, window, coproduction and articulatory phonology models.

This article deals with the phonology of the standard Ukrainian language.

Like many other languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar phonological system. Among other things, most dialects have vowel reduction in unstressed syllables and a complex set of phonological features that distinguish fortis and lenis consonants.

This article describes those aspects of the phonological history of English which concern consonants.

The phonology of Quebec French is more complex than that of Parisian or Continental French. Quebec French has maintained phonemic distinctions between and, and, and, and. The latter phoneme of each minimal pair has disappeared in Parisian French, and only the last distinction has been maintained in Meridional French though all of those distinctions persist in Swiss and Belgian French.

The Korean language, known for its unique phonetic system, comprises 19 distinct consonant phonemes that exhibit a rich variety of articulatory features. Unlike many languages, Korean consonants are categorized into three main types: plain, tense, and aspirated, each contributing to the language's distinctive soundscape. Also, Korean phonology is characterized by a complex system of classification and pronunciation rules that play a crucial role in the language's phonetic and phonological structure.

In historical linguistics, phonological change is any sound change that alters the distribution of phonemes in a language. In other words, a language develops a new system of oppositions among its phonemes. Old contrasts may disappear, new ones may emerge, or they may simply be rearranged. Sound change may be an impetus for changes in the phonological structures of a language. One process of phonological change is rephonemicization, in which the distribution of phonemes changes by either addition of new phonemes or a reorganization of existing phonemes. Mergers and splits are types of rephonemicization and are discussed further below.

Kluge's law is a controversial Proto-Germanic sound law formulated by Friedrich Kluge. It purports to explain the origin of the Proto-Germanic long consonants *kk, *tt, and *pp as originating in the assimilation of *n to a preceding voiced plosive consonant, under the condition that the *n was part of a suffix which was stressed in the ancestral Proto-Indo-European (PIE). The name "Kluge's law" was coined by Kauffmann (1887) and revived by Frederik Kortlandt (1991). As of 2006, this law has not been generally accepted by historical linguists.

In phonology, voicing is a sound change where a voiceless consonant becomes voiced due to the influence of its phonological environment; shift in the opposite direction is referred to as devoicing or surdization. Most commonly, the change is a result of sound assimilation with an adjacent sound of opposite voicing, but it can also occur word-finally or in contact with a specific vowel.

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Meyer, Paul Georg (2005). Synchronic English Linguistics: An Introduction. Tübingen: Gunter Narr. p. 130.
  2. ↑ For examples, see: Slis, Iman Hans. 1985. The voiced-voiceless distinction and assimilation of voice in Dutch. Helmond: Wibro. 2-3.
  3. 1 2 Sihler, Andrew L. 2000. Language History: An Introduction. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 21–22.
  4. ↑ Magloughlin, Lyra (2018-05-07). /tɹ/ and /dɹ/ in North American English: Phonologization of a Coarticulatory Effect (Thesis thesis). Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa. doi:10.20381/ruor-21856.
  5. 1 2 3 Smith, Bridget J.; Mielke, Jeff; Magloughlin, Lyra; Wilbanks, Eric (2019-06-19). "Sound change and coarticulatory variability involving English /ɹ/". Glossa: A Journal of General Linguistics. 4 (1). doi: 10.5334/gjgl.650 . ISSN   2397-1835. S2CID   197750120.
  6. 1 2 3 Read, Charles (1971-04-01). "Pre-School Children's Knowledge of English Phonology". Harvard Educational Review. 41 (1): 1–34. doi:10.17763/haer.41.1.91367v0h80051573. ISSN   0017-8055.
  7. ↑ Savnik, Roman, ed. 1971. Krajevni leksikon Slovenije, vol. 2. Ljubljana: Državna založba Slovenije, p. 266.
  8. 1 2 Snoj, Marko (2009). Etimološki slovar slovenskih zemljepisnih imen. Ljubljana: Modrijan. pp. 179, 347–348.
  9. ↑ Sibanda, G. (2009). Vowel Processes in Nguni: Resolving the Problem of Unacceptable VV Sequences. Selected Proceedings of the 38th Annual Conference on African Linguistics, 38–55.

Sources

  • Crowley, Terry. (1997) An Introduction to Historical Linguistics. 3rd edition. Oxford University Press.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.