Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
phonological processes
6.1. Sounds in connected speech. Coarticulation
6.2. Feature Changes. Assimilation. Different types of assimilation
6.3. Voicing and devoicing
6.4. Nasalization
6.5. Palatalization
6.6. Lenitions and fortitions
6.7. Delitions and insertions
6.8. Metathesis
6.4. Nasalization
Assimilation can affect the place of articulation as well. Nasal sounds often
assimilate to the place of articulation of the following plosive. The case of the Latin prefix
in is illustrative. When followed by a root beginning with a liquid – /l/ or /r/ – it was
assimilated by the respective liquid. Latin words like illegitimus, illiteratus, illicitus or
irrationalis, irregularis and irreligiosus exemplify the process. The nasal /m/ in the root
also assimilated the consonant of the prefix: e.g. immaterialis, immaturus, immediatus,
immemorialis. Notice that the process led to the creation of geminate (double) consonants
in the Latin words. The geminate consonant was preserved in modern Romance languages
such as French in corresponding words like illégitime /ille¥itim/, illettré, illicite; irrationnel
/irrasjonεl/, irrégulier irreligieux; immatériel /immaterjεl/, immature, immédiat,
immémoriel. However, in English and Romanian the consonant didn’t survive as a
geminate one, the current English spelling with a double consonant suggesting the origin of
the word rather than its actual pronunciation. E.g. in English: illegitimate /wled¥wtwmwt/,
illiterate, illicit; irrational /wræ•cncl/, irregular, irrelegious; immaterial/ ımctwcrwcl/,
immature, immediate, immemorial. Romanian follows the same pattern in this respect:
ilegitim, ilicit, imaterial, imatur, imediat, imemorial, iraţional, iregularitate. Here follows
the illustration of the process in Latin:
When followed by a bilabial obstruent, /n/ in the prefix assimilates to /m/ in all
the languages mentioned above. A similar process takes place when the sound in the
prefix is followed by a velar obstruent in the base: /n/ changes into /õ/. Here are some
examples from English and Romanian:
English Romanian
un + /p/: unpredictable
un + /b/: unbelievable
un + /m/: unmentionable
un + /l/: unlawful
un + /r/: unrepresentative