The ministry of higher and secondary special education of the republic of uzbekistan

progressive, 
regressive 
and
 double. 
In 
progressive assimilation
the assimilated consonant is influenced by the preceding 
consonant. This can be represented by the formula A

B, where A is the assimilating 
consonant, and B the assimilated consonant.
For example, in the word 
“
place
”
the fully voiced variant of the consonant phoneme [l]
is assimilated to [p] and is replaced by a partly devoiced variant of the same phoneme. In 
“What’s this?”
[
w

ts
ˈ
ðɪ
s
] [
z
] is replaced by
[s] 
under the influence of 
[t]. 
In 
regressive assimilation
the preceding consonant is influenced by the one following 
it A 

B. 
For example, the voiced consonant
[z] 
in 
“news”
 
[nju:z]
 
is replaced by the voiceless 
consonant [
s
] in the compound 
“
newspaper
” 
[
ˈ
nju:spe
ɪ
p
Ə
]
under the influence of the voiceless 
sound [p]. In 
horse–shoe
 
[
ˈ
h

:

u
:
]
, [s]
 
in 
horse
[
h

:s
] was replaced by [

] and thus become 
fully assimilated to [

] in 
shoe
 
[

u
:]. 
In 
reciprocal, 
or 
double assimilation
two adjacent consonants influence each other

B
For example, in 
“
twenty
”
[
ˈ
twent
ɪ
]
, 
quick
[kw
ɪ
k]
the sonorant
[w] 
is assimilated to the 
voiceless plosive consonants
 [t] 
and
 [k] 
respectively by becoming partly devoiced. In their 
turn, [
t
] and [
k
] are assimilated to
 [w] 
and are represented by their labialized variants.
 
 
 
Phonetic drills. 
1.
Pronounce the following words and phrases observing the assimilation of the consonants 
[n], 
[l], [s], [z]
to 
[ 
ð
] 
and
[ 

]
(1)
 
although, breath, enthusiasm, cutthroat, aesthetic, spendthrift 
(2)
 
'
read the
ˎ
book,
 
'
write the 
ˎ
letter, 
'
open the 
ˏ
book, 
'
spell this 
ˎ
word, 
'
fight the
 
ˎ
enemy, 
'
call the

ˎ
doctor, 
 
'
pass the
 
ˏ
word, 
'
eat the 
ˎ
apple, 
'
don’t

'
lose the 
ˎ
key 
2.
Pronounce the following words observing the assimilation of the consonants in the 
clusters: [kl], [pl], [kr], [pr], [

r], [tr], [kw], [tw] and [sw]. Write down the 
transcription of the words. 
(1)
 
close, cloth, claim, clerk, class, clasp 
(2)
 
place, play, please, plastic, platform, playwright 
(3)
 
cram, crash, crises, crazy, cream, cricket, crime, cripple, cry 
(4)
 
practice, praise, preface, press, prefix, predicate, promise, present 
(5)
 
thread, three, thrill, throat, through, throw, thrust 
(6)
 
trace, track, trade, traffic, tragedy, train, tram, transitive, try, tremble 
(7)
 
quick, quarter, quiet, squash, queer, question, quit, quiz, quote 
(8)
 
twelve, twenty, twilight, twin, twinkle, twist 
(9)
 
swim, swallow, swan, sweet, sweat, swift 
 
3.
Pronounce the following words and phrases without assimilating any sounds in them. 
Write down the transcription. 

---

29 
(1)
 
absent, absolute, absurd, absorb; 
(2)
 
subcommittee, subsequent, subside, substance, substitute; 
(3)
 
blackboard, textbook, back-bone, background; 
(4)
 
cheap book, sick baby, dust bin, top branch, jump down, an English book, that book, sit down, a back 
garden, we like jam, lock the door; 
(5)
 
these people, had to do, a hard cover, a good pudding;