Assimilation in English

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

Assimilation is a common phonological process by which the sound of the ending of one word blends into the sound of the beginning of the following word. This occurs when the parts of the mouth and vocal cords start to form the beginning sounds of the next word before the last sound has been completed. An example of this would be 'hot potato'. The (t) in 'hot' is dropped as the lips prepare for the (p) sound for 'potato' (Bloomer et, 2005).
Assimilation can be synchronic being an active process in a language at a given point in time or diachronic being a historical sound change.
A related process is coarticulation where one segment influences another to produce an allophonic variation, such as vowels acquiring the feature nasal before nasal consonants when the velum opens prematurely or /b/ becoming labialised as in "boot". This article will describe both processes under the term, assimilation.

Types of assimilation:
From: http://www.btinternet.com/~ted.power/assimilation.html#as01

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 /

basket maker	mixed bag
best man	mixed blessing
cat burglar	mixed marriage
cigarette paper	mixed metaphor
circuit board	pocket money
coconut butter	post mortem
court martial	pot plant
direct method	private property
dust bowl	put back
fast motion	put by
first base	right pair
flight plan	secret police
foot brake	set point
front bench	set back
front man	set piece
fruit machine	sheet metal
Great Britain	sit back
harvest moon	soft porn
hatchet man	split pea
hit man	split personality
hot metal	street piano
hot money	sweet basil
last post	sweet pea
Left Bank	sweet pepper
light bulb	sweet potato
light music	test ban
light meter	test match
light middleweight	test paper
market price	that man
midnight blue	unit price
mint bush	wet blanket
private bill	white bag
private member	white birch
private patient	white meat
private parts	white paper
private practice

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

bad pain	good cook
blood bank	good morning
blood bath	grand master
blood brother	ground plan
blood poisoning	head boy
blood pressure	hold back
blood pudding	lord mayor
broad bean	mud bath
card punch	mud pie
closed book	Old Bailey
command module	old boy
command post	old man
custard pie	old maid
custard powder	old moon
dead beat	Oxford blue
food poisoning	red bag
food processor	second mate
gold plate	sound barrier
gold medal	stand by
gold mine	united party
good man	word blindness

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

action planning	iron man
American plan	on me
brown paper	one pair
brown bear	open book
chicken breast	open market
Common Market	open prison
con man	pen pal
cotton belt	pin money
cotton picker	queen bee
down payment	queen mother
fan belt	question mark
fan mail	roman mile
Foreign minister	sun bath
Foreign mission	sun blind
garden party	tin plate
green belt	town planning
green bean	venetian blind
hen party	virgin birth
human being	wine box
in blue	wine bar
iron maiden

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

cigarette card	short cut
credit card	smart card
cut glass	street credibility
fat girl	street cry
first class	that cake
flat cap

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

bad girl	hard cash
bird call	hard copy
closed game	hard core
cold call	hard court
cold cream	highland cattle
field glasses	red carpet
good cook	sand castle
Grand Canyon	second class
ground control	second coming
ground cover	second cousin
had come	slide guitar
had gone

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

action group	open court
common good	roman calendar
common ground	roman candle
garden cress	roman catholic
golden gate	tin can
golden goose	tone control
human capital	town clerk
in camera	town crier
iron curtain

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

bus shelter	nice yacht
dress shop	space shuttle
nice shoes

/ 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
both sides	north-south divide - Tell her sounds like teller - Was he there: Wazy there - .,;:- do not permet linking - At first he never came: at firsti never Reduction:it is done in unstressed words: Function words: Prepositions, conjunctions, articles, helping verbs. Note: Stressed words: Content words: Nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs Helping verbs: has, have, had What have you done? wadev you done Linking Words Together To speak English fluently, it’s necessary to link words together. Linking or liaison means to connect the last consonant sound in one word to the first sound of the next word. There are two situations in which we regularly use linking. Firstly, when a word begins with a vowel sound, it’s often pronounced as if it began with the final consonant sound of the previous word, e.g.: Word Pronunciation Don’t ask Don’ task Lot of Lo’ tof Come in Comin We’ve eaten We’veaten It’s open It sopen Let’s eat Let seat Source: Edited from the english@work e-newsletter by 938LIVE. Subscribe to the english@work newsletter.