LESSON 7: ADJUSTMENTS IN CONNECTED SPEECH

LESSON 7: ADJUSTMENTS IN CONNECTED SPEECH

Glossary:

acknowledgment : sự công nhận, sự thừa nhận adjacent : liền kề adjustment : sự điều chỉnh allomorphic : thuộc biến thái hình vị, hình tố alternation : sự thay đổi, sự  lựa chọn aphesis : hiện thượng mất nguyên  âm đầu assimilation : sự đồng hoá auxiliary verb : trợ động từ coalescent : hợp nhất conditioning : điều kiện connected speech : lời nói liên tục (không đứt đoạn) contraction : lối viết rút gọn deletion : sự bỏ (nuốt) âm dialect : thổ ngữ, phương ngữ dissimilation : sự dị hoá elision : nuốt âm, nuốt vần ellipsis : hiện tượng tỉnh lược epenthesis : thêm âm ở  giữa từ exemplified : được minh hoạ  bằng ví dụ facilitate : làm cho dễ, làm cho thuận tiện flapping : tạo âm vỗ formality : tính hình thức ignored : bị lờ đi informal : không trang trọng initial : âm đầu, ở  vị trí đầu insertion : sự chèn vào intersection : sự cắt ngang, chỗ  giao nhau intervocally : giữa hai nguyên  âm liaison : hiện tượng nối  âm, đọc nối linking : hiện tượng nối (âm) listening comprehension : đọc hiểu metathesis : hoán âm morphology : hình thái học morphophonological : hình thái ngữ âm multisyllabic : đa âm tiết negative prefix : tiền tố phủ  định omission : sự bỏ đi palatalization : hiện tượng ngạt hoá palatalized : ngạt hoá pedagogical : thuộc sư phạm periphrastic : dùng lối nói quanh co, vòng vo pervasive : toả khắp, lan tràn khắp preservation : sự duy trì progressive : tiến, xuôi purpose : mục đích radical : gốc rate : tốc độ reciprocal : hỗ tương, qua lại regressive (or anticipatory) : lùi, ngược regularity : tính hợp quy tắt resyllabification : hiện tượng tái phân  âm tiết salient : nổi bật, quan trọng nhất sensitive : nhạy cảm sibilants : âm xuýt spelling system : hệ thống viết chính tả squeeze : dồn, nén straddle : nối từ bên này qua bên kia, kéo từ âm này qua âm kia style : phong cách syncope : sự rụng âm (chữ) giữa (của từ) tendency : khuynh hướng unmarked : không rõ rệt variables : biến số word boundary : đường biên của từ

The main function of most of the adjustments is to promote the regularity of English rhythm - that is, to squeeze syllables between stressed elements and facilitate their articulation so that regular timing can be maintained. In the section that follows, we discuss the processes of linking, assimilation, dissimilation, deletion, and epenthesis as they occur in connected speech.

Linking
You may have noticed that English speakers don't separate all their words like in some languages, but instead they connect them together. This is called linking, or liaison, and it is important for listening comprehension. It is especially crucial when pronouncing the final sounds on words, for example making the plural or the past tense -ed. Following are the common cases of linking in English.

Linking consonant to vowel
Rule 1
When a word ends in two consonants and the next begins with a vowel, the final consonant sounds like the initial consonant of the following word:
Send it sounds like send.it
Camp out sounds like camp.out
Rule 2
When a word ends in a single consonant and the next begins with a vowel, the consonant straddles the two syllables:

Push up Come in Stop it Take off

Linking vowel to vowel
Rule 1
When a word ending in /w/, /ew/, /]w/, or /Yw/ is followed by another word beginning with a vowel, the two words are connected by a /j/ glide:

Be a sport.

Play a game.

Tie it up.

Employ a professional
Rule 2
When a word ending in // , /a/, or /ә/ is followed by another word beginning with a vowel, the two words are connected by a /w/ glide:

through it all

slow and steady

How are you?

Linking consonant to consonant
Rule 1
When a stop is followed by another stop or affricate, the first stop is not released or aspirated .

Stop + stop Hot     dog Back   door Stop + affricate Bad     judgment Sick    child

Rule 2
If the consonants (whether or stop or not) are identical, the consonant is somewhat lengthened, the two consonants are not articulated separately:

Identical consonants Keep practicing! hot tea less serious common names

Assimilation
Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. A common example of assimilation is vowels being 'nasalized' before nasal consonants as it is difficult to change the shape of the mouth sufficiently quickly.
There are three types of assimilation in English: (1) progressive, (2) regressive (or anticipatory), and (3) coalescent.
Progressive assimilation
In progressive assimilation the conditioning sound precedes and affects the following sound. Examples of progressive assimilation in English are the regular plural /s/ vs. /z/ alternation, in which the final sound of the stem conditions the voiced or voiceless form of the suffix. This type of assimilation also occurs in the regular past tense /t/ vs. /d/ alternation:

Conditioning sound -s ending     bags     backs -d ending     moved     fished Assimilated sound /bæg → z/ /bæk → s/ /mu:v → d/ /fw∫ → t/

For the plusal -s ending, the voiced /g/ of bags conditions the voiced from of the -s ending, causing it to be pronounced /z/, whereas the voiceless /k/ of backs conditions the /s/ pronunciation of the ending. Notice the same type of conditioning occurs in the -d endings.
Progressive assimilation also occurs in some contractions (e.g., it + is → it’s / it + iz → its). Most of the progressive assimilation in English occurs at the intersection of phonology and morphology.
Regressive assimilation
In English, regressive assimilation is more pervasive as a purely phonological process than is progressive assimilation. In regressive assimilation, the assimilated sound precedes and is affected by the conditioning sound. Examples of this type of phenomenon are the words grandpa (the /p/ causes the /nd/ to be articulated as /m/: /græmpa/) and pancake (the /k/ causes the /n/ to become /ŋ/: / pæŋkewk/).
Regressive assimilation occurs commonly in the periphrastic modals has/have to (when expressing obligation) and used to (when expressing former habitual action):

have /hæv/ has /hæz/ used /ju:zd/ +   to +   /tu:/ +   to +   /tu:/ +   to +   /tu:/ →   “hafta” →   /hæft / →   “hasta” →   /hæst/ →   “usta” →   /ju:st/

In these examples, the voiceless /t/ of to is the conditioning sound that causes the voiced /v/, /z/, and /d/ preceding it to assimilate and become voiceless /f/, /s/, and /t/ :

Assimilated sound hæf hæs ju:s ←    Conditioning sound ←    t ←    t ←    t

Another clear example of regressive assimilation is reflected in the English spelling system - namely, in the four allomorphic variants of the negative prefix. Note that the unmarked allomorph in- occurs in all cases except when the subsequent sound is a bilabial or a liquid: indecent, inept, invalid. In the case of im-, the initial bilabial sound of the root words causes the organs of speech to approach a position closer to that of the conditioning sound, as in impossible or immobile. Similarly, with the liquids /l/ and /r/, the negative prefix is conditioned or changed to il- and ir- respectively, as in illogical and irrational:

ir- irreplaceable irresponsible irrelevant irrational irregular in- inoperative inflexible indifferent inexcusable intangible im- impossible imbalanced immeasurable immobile impartial il- illogical illegal illegitimate illegible illiberal

As exemplified by the negative allomorphs il- and ir-, assimilated sounds often become identical to the conditioning sound.
Coalescent assimilation
The third type of assimilation, coalescent assimilation, is a type of reciprocal assimilation: The first sound and second sound in a sequence come together and mutually condition the creation a third sound with features from both original sounds.

This process occurs most frequently in English when final alveolar consonants such as /s, z/ and /t, d/ or final alveolar consonant sequences such as /ts, dz/ are followed by initial palatal /j/. They then become palatalized fricatives and affricates, respectively:

Within words, the /j/ sound (which is generally in an unstressed syllable) may be the initial sound of a suffix or the subsequent bound part of the word (e.g., -ure, -ion, ious); across words, the /j/ sound comes from a second word beginning in /j/, typically you or your. This type of assimilation is often referred to as palatalization.
As with linking, the amount of assimilation that occurs in native - speaker speech will depend on a number of variables, such as the formality of the situation, the rate of speech, and the style of the speaker.

Flapping
Flapping is a type of assimilatory process in which an alveolar stop is pronounced as a voiced flap between vowels, the first of which is generally stressed. This process is characteristic of American English in words such as butter, writer, fatter, udder, wader, waiter, and even phrases such as (I) caught her. The sound heard intervocally in these forms is the voiced flap [] and not the voiced stop [d]. Flapping is considered a type of assimilation since it results in voicing and sonority being maintained throughout a sequence of segments.

Dissimilation
The process of dissimilation occurs when adjacent sounds become more different from each other (rather than more similar, as is the case with assimilation). It is rare in English and not an active process. Some texts cite the pronunciation of the final cluster of fifths as [fts] as an example of dissimilation (i.e., of [fθs] to [fts]), which reflects a tendency in some English dialects to break up a sequence of three fricatives by replacing the second with a stop. In English, the process of dissimilation can be ignored for pedagogical purposes.

Deletion
An even more radical form of adjustment in connected speech is deletion (also known as elision, ellipsis, or omission): the process whereby sounds disappear or are not clearly articulated in certain contexts. In some cases, the spelling system of English is sensitive to this phenomenon, representing deletion in the contracted form of auxiliary verbs plus not (e.g. isn’t). In other cases, however, deletion occurs without any acknowledgment in the spelling system. Even many native speakers may be unaware of where deletion occurs. The process is pervasive.
The following are some of the most typical environments for deletion:
Loss of /t/ when /nt/ is between two vowels or before a syllabic [l]:
Loss of /t/ or /d/ when they occur second in a sequence or cluster of three consonants:

Deletion of word - final /t/ or /d/ in clusters of two at a word boundary when the following word begins with a consonant: ¹


However, when the following word begins with a vowel, there is no deletion. Instead, resyllabification occurs.
Resyllabification
Eas/t end
Blin/d eye
Wil/d ass
Loss of an unstressed medial vowel (also referred to as syncope), where the unstressed vowel /ә/ or /i/ optionally drops out in some multisyllabic words following the strongly stressed syllable: ²

In rapid or informal native speaker speech, deletion occasionally occurs in two-syllable words such as the following, which are reduced tone syllable:
correct, parade, police, suppose, garage
Related to this type of deletion is loss of an unstressed initial vowel or syllable in highly informal speech, a process known as aphesis:       
 ‘cause, ‘bout, ‘round
Loss of the first non-initial /r/ in a word that has another /r/ in a following syllable :       
February, governor, surprise, temperature
Loss of final /v/ in of (i.e., reduction to schwa) before words with initial consonants:       
lost of money, waste of time, hearts of palm
Loss of initial /h/ and /ð/ in pronominal forms in connected speech:       
ask her, help him, tell them

Epenthesis
Epenthesis is the insertion of a vowel or consonant segment within an existing string of segments. Although less frequent than deletion in English, epenthesis is by no means uncommon. The most important type of epenthesis in English occurs in certain morphophonological sequences such as the regular plural and past tense endings. Here an epenthetic schwa /ə/ is added to break up clusters of sibilants or alveolar stops. Progressive assimilation alone will not make the morphological endings sufficiently salient. Thus for the plural endings, for which we can posit an underlying {z} morpheme, we have :

Assimilation plate + {z}= /plewts/ bag + {z} = /bægz/ Epenthesis place + {z}= /pleisəz/ buzz + {z} = /bžzәz/

And for regular past tense, for which we can posit an underlying {d}morpheme, we have:

Assimilation look + {d}= /lkt/ grin +{d} = /grind/ Epenthesis plant + {d}= plæntəd hand +{d}= hændəd

Finally, there are also cases of consonant epenthesis in English. Often words like prince and tense, which ending [ns], are pronounced with an inserted [t] so that they sound just like prints and tents. In such cases, the insertion of the voiceless stop [t] makes it easier for speakers to produce the voiced nasal plus voiceless fricative sequence. We see the same process at work when some speakers add a [p] between the /m/ and /f/ in comfort. ³
All five types of adjustment in connected speech that we have just discussed (i.e., linking, assimilation, dissimilation, deletion, and epenthesis) reflect English speakers' attempts to connect words and syllables smoothly in the normal stream of speech. Sometimes underlying sounds are lost or modified -as in the cases of deletion and assimilation. Sometimes other sounds are added, as in epenthesis or some forms of linking. Typically, the motivations for all these modifications seem to be:
o ease of articulation for the speaker
o preservation of the preferred English syllable structure
o preservation of grammatical information

Metathesis
Metathesis is a process that reorders a sequence of segments. Metathesis often results in a sequence of phones that is easier to articulate. It is common to hear metathesis in the speech of children, who often cannot pronounce all the consonant sequences that adults can. For example, English-speaking children pronounce spaghetti as pesghetti. In this form, the initial sequence /spә/, which is often difficult for children to pronounce, is metathesized to /pәs/.
The pronunciations of prescribe and prescription as perscribe and perscription are often-cited examples of metathesis in adult speech. In these cases, metathesis may facilitate the pronunciation of the two consonant-r sequences in each word.
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1. There are two exceptions to this rule. First, when the second word begins with /w, h, j, r/, no deletion occurs: East hill, blind youth, wild ride. Second, some consonant clusters with final /t/ or /d/ never simplify: /nt, lt, rt, rd/: plantfood, felt pen, shortstop, bird feeder.
2. If the last syllable is stressed, syncope does not occur. Compare the verb separate /sepə'rewt/ with the adjective separate /'seprwt /
3. In some cases an epenthetic consonant is now represented in the spelling of a word or name. Examples are the p in empty or Thompson (a variant of Thomson)