assimilated sound; the consonant which influences
the articulation of a neighbouring consonant is called the
assimilating sound. While by assimilation we mean a modification in the articulation of a consonant under
the influence of a neighbouring consonant, the modification in the articulation of a vowel
under the influence of an adjacent consonant, or, vice versa, the modification in the
articulation of a consonant under the influence of an adjacent vowel is called
adaptation, or accommodation .
Assimilation may be of three degrees:
complete, partial and intermediate. Assimilation is said to be
complete when the articulation of the assimilated consonant
fully coincides with that of the assimilating one.
For example, in the word
horse – shoe [ h
:
u
:] which is a compound of the words horse [h
:s]
and [
u:], [s] in the word [h
:s] was changed to [
] under the influence of [
] in the word [
u:]. In
rapid speech
does she is pronounced ['d
ʌ
i
˙
]. Here [z] in
does [d
ʌ
z] is completely assimilated to
[
] in the word
she [
i:
]
Assimilation is said to be
partial when the assimilated consonant retains its main
phonemic features and becomes only partly similar in some feature of its articulation to the
assimilating sound.
In
twice [ twa
ɪ
s]
, please [ pl
ɪ
:z
], try
