Chapter 2 Assimilation and Elision A. Assimilation Speech sounds seldom occur in isolation. They are nearly always joined together to form words and groups of words. In connected speech, sounds, under the influence of their neighbors, are replaced by other sounds. Sometimes two neighboring sounds influence each other and are replaced by a third sound which is different from both the original sounds. This process is called assimilation. Assimilation is very common in colloquial and dialectal English. It takes place most frequently in consonant. The cause of the process is to save effort and to make the pronunciation of the two dissimilar consonants easier by taking short cuts. Assimilation may be of 3 types as far as its direction is concerned: 1)Progressive(顺同化), the assimilated sound is influenced by the preceding sound. For example: What’s this? /'w?ts 'eis/ The consonant sound /z/ is replaced by the sound /s/ under the influence of sound /t/ In assimilation of type 1 the strong voiceless consonant of a pair replaces the weak voiced consonant in the closely connected speech, but do not make it a general rule to replace the weak voiced consonant by the strong voiceless in other cases. And you must remember that a voiceless plosive or fricative(摩擦音) is not assimilated to a voiced plosive or fricative which follows it. Examples: not very /n?t veri/ not /n?d veri/ black door/bl?k d?:/ not /bl?g d?:/ this boy /eis b?i/ not /eiz b?i/ if they come /if eei kΛm/ not /iv eei kΛm/ 2) Regressive(逆同化)，the preceding sound is influenced by the one following it. For example, the voiced consonant /z/ in “news”/nju:z/ is replaced by the voiceless sound /s/ in the compound word “newspaper”/nju:speip?/ under the influence of the voiceless sound /p/. 3) Reciprocal, or double(相互同化)，assimilation the neighboring sounds influence each other. For example, in “twenty”/twenti/ the sound /w/ is assimilated to the voiceless plosive sound /t/ by becoming partly devoiced. In its turn, the consonant /t/ is assimilated to the sound /w/ by becoming labialized. The following assimilations are common in English: 1.Assimilation changing the work of vocal cords(声带) /z/→ /s/ is /iz/ It’s easy. /its 'i:zi/ has /h?z/ What’s happened? /'w?ts 'h?pnd/ used /ju:zd/ I used to. /ai 'ju:st tu/ 2. Assimilation changing the position of the lips: Before the bilabial sounds /m,p,b/, /n,t,d/ change to /m,p,b/ respectively. For example: in /in/ in bed /im 'bed/ ten /ten/ ten minutes /'tem 'minits/ don’t /d?unt/ don’t be late. /'d?ump bi 'leit/ good /gud/ good-bye /gub bai/ 3. Assimilation changing the place of articulation: a)Before the velar sounds /k,g/, /n,t,d/ change to /?,k,g/ in /i?/ in case /i? 'keis/ don’t /d?unt/ I don’t care. /ai 'd?u?k 'kε?/ good /gud/ good girl /gug 'g?:l/ b) Before / ?,j/, /s,z/ change to / ?, ? / respectively. this /eis/ this shape /'ei ? ' ? eip/ this year /'ei?'ji?/ has /h?z/ has she come /'h?? ?i 'kΛm/ where’s yours /'wε?? 'j?:z/ c) The combinations of sounds /tj/ and /dj/ have changed into /?/and/?/in an unstressed syllable: education /,e?ukei'?n/ not /,edjukei'?n/ situation /,si?uei'?n/ not /,sitjuei'?n/ I’m glad to meet you. /aim 'g?ld t? mi: ?u/ Did you like it? /'di?u 'laik it/ Assimilations of types 2and 3 may be regarded as optional and they are only used in repid, colloquial speech. B.Elision Elision means the omission of a sound or sounds, either within the body of a word or at a junction of words. There are two different kinds of elisions. Historical elisions (历史省音) and contextual elisions(语境省音). 1.Historical elisions (历史省音) A sound which exists in an earlier form of a word is omitted in a later form. This kinds of elisions of unstressed vowels, especially /?/ and /i/, are common in English. history /'hist?ri/ → /'histri/ every /'ev?ri/ → /'evri/ university /ju:ni'v?siti/ → /ju:ni'v?sti/ family /'f?mili/ → /'f?mli/ easily/'i:zili/ → /'i:zli/ the full forms of these words may still be heard in careful speech. 2.contextual elisions(语境省音). A sound which exists in a word said by itself is omitted in a compound or in a connected phrase. In rapid speaking, a group of consonants may be dropped out, especially /t/ and /d/. just now /'?Λst 'nau/ or /'?Λs 'nau/ I want to /ai 'w?nt tu/ or /ai 'w?n tu/ blind man /'blaind 'm?n/ or /'blain 'm?n/ stand guard /'st?nd 'ga:d/or/'st?nd 'ga:d/