Professor Marcelo Andrade

Connected speech
When we talk we do not pronounce each individual sound of every word. Instead, we turn one sound into another, we combine some sounds, we eliminate others and we link many of them. By doing this, our speech sounds more natural and fluent. Notice that this occurs only in rapid speech, not when we pronounce the words slowly and/or carefully.
Professor Marcelo Andrade

So, the aspects of connected speech are:

Assimilation Coalescence Elision Linking

Professor Marcelo Andrade

When you say, for example, the word light bulb, you may realise that the phoneme /t/ does not sound like /t/, but it changes into a /p/ because of the influence of the following consonant sound /b/. So it sounds /laip bVlb/. This phenomenon is known as Assimilation. There are 3 types of assimilation: of place, voice and manner.
Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now well deal with each type of

assimilation in detail

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Assimilation of place

It refers to the change produced in the place of articulation of a consonant sound because of the characteristic of a neighbouring sound. In the previous example (light bulb) the sound /t/ which is alveolar changed into /p/ because of the influence of /b/ which is bilabial. Therefore, we say that it is assimilation of place.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Assimilation of place

The sounds that tend to change because of the neighboring sounds are:
/t/, /d/ and /n/.

When the next word begins with a bilabial, velar or dental they become bilabial, velar or dental respectively.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

So /t/ becomes /p/ before bilabials (/p/, /b,/ or /m/) that person /D{p p3:s@n/ light blue /laIp blu:/ /k/ before velars (/k/ or /g/). art gallery /A:k g{l@rI /t/ eight kilos /eIk kIl@Uz/ before dentals (/T/ or /D/). that thing /D{ TIN/

Professor Marcelo Andrade

So /d/ becomes /b/ before bilabials (/p/, /b,/ or /m/) red book /reb bUk/

/g/ before velars (/k/ or /g/). good girl /gUg g3:l/ before dentals (/T/ or /D/). bad thing /b{ TIN/

Professor Marcelo Andrade

And /n/ becomes /m/ before bilabials (/p/, /b,/ or /m/) ten men /tem men/

/N/ before velars (/k/ or /g/). ten cars /teN kA:z/ before dentals (/T/ or /D/). thirteen things /T3:ti: TINz/

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Identify the cases of assimilation of place

Ten /m/ pounds Seven /m/million Television/m/ programme broken /m/ mirror Dead /b/ bird Brown/m/ bag Good/b/ pen ten /N/ girls bad /g/ cold

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Write three sentences using the phrases above. Include at least two phrases in the same sentence.

Example: I won seven million in a television programme.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), in these sentences:

I taught classes this morning. The sun came up over the mountains. I hate going to art galleries They cheat quite a lot. It was a bad question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP) in these sentences:

I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun came up over the mountains. I hate going to art galleries They cheat quite a lot. It was a bad question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:

I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate going to art galleries They cheat quite a lot. It was a bad question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:

I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate /heIk g@UIN/ going to art /A:k g{l@rIz/ galleries They cheat quite a lot. It was a bad question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:

I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate /heIk g@UIN/ going to art /A:k g{l@rIz/ galleries They cheat /tSi:k kwaIt/ quite a lot. It was a bad question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:

I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate /heIk g@UIN/ going to art /A:k g{l@rIz/ galleries They cheat /tSi:k kwaIt/ quite a lot. It was a bad /b{g kwestS@n/ question. She is a good player and can win games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:
I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate /heIk g@UIN/ going to art /A:k g{l@rIz/ galleries They cheat /tSi:k kwaIt/ quite a lot. It was a bad /b{g kwestS@n/ question. She is a good /gUb pleI@/ player and can win /wIN geImz/ games easily. I copied the text line by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Now identify the cases of assimilation of place (AP), assimilation of voice (AV) in these sentences:
I taught /tO:k klA:sIz/ classes this morning. The sun /sVN keIm/ came up over the mountains. I hate /heIk g@UIN/ going to art /A:k g{l@rIz/ galleries They cheat /tSi:k kwaIt/ quite a lot. It was a bad /b{g kwestS@n/ question. She is a good /gUb pleI@/ player and can win /wIN geImz/ games easily. I copied /kOpId D@/the text line /laIm baI/ by line.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Assimilation of voice

It refers to the change produced when a voiced sound becomes voiceless.

For instance, the form have to /h{v t@/ is usually pronounced /h{ft@/. So you can see that the phoneme /v/ changed into the voiceless sound /f/.

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Assimilation of voice

Other cases of assimilation of voice are:

Supposed to /s@p@Uzd t@/ /s@p@Ust@/ Has to /h{z tU/ /h{st@/ Have to /h{v tU/ /h{ft@ Used to /ju:zd t@/ /ju:st@/

Professor Marcelo Andrade

Assimilation of manner

This type of assimilation is not very common, and it usually happens when a plosive becomes a fricative or nasal, e.g.

That side /D{s saId/ Good night /gUn naIt/

Professor Marcelo Andrade

References

Gimsons Pronunciation of English. (2001) Arnold. London Hancock, Mark (2003) English Pronunciation in Use: Self-study and classroom use. Intermediate. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK Roach, P. (1994) English Phonetics & Phonology (Text and AudioCD). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Finch, D.& Ortiz H. (1982) A course in English Phonetics for Spanish Speakers. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. London
Professor Marcelo Andrade