1. What is assimilation? Where may it occur?
2. Define the main types of assimilation.
3. How can complete and incomplete assimilation be characterized?
4. What types of assimilation are distinguished according to its direction? Illustrate them with your own examples.
5. Are assimilatory phenomena stable or not? State the difference between obligatory and non-obligatory assimilation.
6. Transcribe the following words and combinations. Find the cases of assimilation in the following examples and comment on them:
eighth, this shape, incredible, impossible, twenty.
UNIT 4
Section 1
Make a careful study of the text below and pick out the terms related to phonetics.
Assimilation (II)
Assimilation can affect
I. the place of obstruction and the active organ of speech. Some important cases should be noticed:
1) alveolar [t, d, n, l, s, z] are replaced by the dental variants when followed by the
interdental [θ, ð]: tenth, read this.
2) [t, d] become post-alveolar before post- alveolar [r]: drink, at rest.
2) [m, n] become labio-dental when preceding the fricatives [f, v]:
comfort; infant; come, Vera; ten forks.
II. the work of the vocal cords (voicing/devoicing):
1) partial devoicing of [m, n, l, r, w, j] after [s, p, t, k, f, θ ]: twilight, pure, climb.
2) voicing / devoicing of the suffix -ed of regular verbs, the possessive suffix s or s, the plural suffix -(e)s of nouns and of the third person singular present simple of verbs (depending on the quality of the preceding consonant): lived [lıvd], looked [lukt], girls [g:lz], writes [raıts], dishes ['dı∫∂z], Bobs [b bz].
3) regressive voicing / devoicing in closely connected pairs of words:
I have to [aı 'h∂f tu], she has to [∫i 'h∂s tu]; I used [aı 'ju:sttu], does she ['dΛ∫∫i]).
*In Russian voicing / devoicing is obligatory and mainly regressive:
, , .
In English one must not devoice voiced consonants before voiced ones:
Whats the time? [w ts ð∂ 'taım], this way [ðıs 'weı]
III. The position of the lips:
Consonants followed by [w] become lip-rounded: twinkle, swan, language.
IV. The position of the soft palate:
1) nasal consonants may influence the adjacent plosives:
handsome ['hænsm], handmade ['hænmeıd].
2) in the rapid speech nasalization affects mainly the alveolar consonants,
especially adjacent to the negative -nt:
she wouldnt do it [∫ı wunnt 'du: ıt], good morning [gub 'm nı ŋ]/[gum 'm:nı ŋ]
V. The manner of the release of plosives:
1) Loss of plosion. When two plosives are in contact [tt, tb, tg, dk, dp, gp, kt, kb, pd, etc], theres a complete loss of plosion of the first sound, i.e. the obstruction is removed and a plosion is heard only after the second consonant. The same is true for clusters a plosive + an affricate [tt, dd, etc].
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*In Russian the same sequence of plosives is pronounced in a different way
(the sounds have the three stages of articulation).
2) Nasal plosion. At the junction of the plosive consonants [t, d, p, k, g] with the nasal sonorants [m, n] the articulation of the sonorant starts when the articulation of the plosive consonant is not yet finished. As a result of this, instead of removing the obstruction in the mouth cavity the air stream passes through the nasal cavity producing the effect of a nasal plosion: shouldnt, send me, button, submarine.
*Nasal plosion occurs in Russian, too, in such sequences as [, , , ]: , , , .
3) Lateral plosion. At the junction of plosive consonants with the lateral sonorant [l] the plosion is heard during the pronunciation of the sonorant as the air stream passes along the sides of the tongue lowered for the articulation of [l]:
cattle, black, candle, I dont like.
*Lateral plosion occurs in Russian, too, in sequences [, ]: , .
Section 2 [ k ]
(occlusive, plosive, backlingual, velar, strong/fortis, voiceless)
[ g ]
(occlusive, plosive, backlingual, velar, weak/lenis, voiced)
I. Observe the necessary degree of aspiration for[k], loss of plosion, nasal / lateral plosions, and the correct pronunciation of the combinations [kw], [gw], [kr], [gr].
castle scar dig take care picnic clear quite cry
key school big sick baby rocknroll clean quiet crowd
cape sky bag black dog black magic climb quarter row
kite ski dog egg-cup big man claw quality cruel
get score frog big girl ignore glow dig weeds grow
garden this cat jog rugby pug-nose glass Gwen great
II. Read the sentences. Follow the tonetic marks.
1. Cut and come again. .
2. The coast is clear. .
3. Frank kicks against the pricks. .
4. Keep quite quiet. ! !
5. Come back and keep us company. ,
6. Kit kept it quite dark. .
7. So that accounts for the milk in the cocoanut. .
8. Ive got to get going. M .
9. Gert has a grudge against me. .
10. Grace has got good sea legs. .
11. Gordons life is all gold and glee.
III. Match the following English idioms, proverbs and sayings with their Russian
equivalents. Make up situations to illustrate their usage.
1. to carry coals to Newcastle a. ,
2. to kick the bucket b. ,
3. to go like hot cakes c.
4. cat-call d. ,
5. quite a character e.
6. coffee and cakes (Am) f. e
7. against the grain a.
8. a big gun b.
9. with a good grace c.
10. get the gaff d.
11. give a good account of oneself f. ,
12. the gift of the gab g.
IV. Practise the pronunciation of the following rhyme and learn it by heart.
Song of the Train
by David McCord
Clickety-clack Clikety-clack,
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Wheels on the track Over the crack
This is the way Faster and faster
They begin to attack: The song of the track
Clik-ety-clack, Clik-ety-clack,
Clik-ety-clack, Clik-ety-clack,
Clik-ety-clack-ety Clik-ety-clack-ety
Clik-ety Clack. Clackety Clack.
V. Pronounce the tongue twister in the quickest possible way. Observe the correct
articulation of [ gr ].
Three gray geese in the green grass grazing.
Gray were the geese and green was the grass.
Section 3
I. Test. Tick the words you recognize in the sentences you hear:
1. a) cold; b) gold
2. a) back; b) bag
3. a) clock; b) clog
4. a) curl; b) girl
5. a) flock; b) frog
6. a) clue; b) glue
II. Listen to the dialogue and learn it by heart.
Guests in August
Craig: Ive just got a telegram from Margaret and Greg.
Carol: Are they coming to England again?
Craig: Yes. At the beginning of August.
Carol: Good. We can all get together again.
Craig: Im glad theyre coming in August. We can take the dog and go for walks
together.
Carol: Yes. And we can give a garden party.
Craig: And Margaret can play her guitar in the garden and sing Greek songs again.
Carol: Yes. August is a good time to come to England.
III. Conversational practice. (Stress and rhythm)
This is the telegram from Margaret and Greg:
ARRIVING ENGLAND BEGINNING AUGUST
and this is what it means:
Were arriving in England at the beginning of August.
This is much longer, but try to say both sentences in the same length of time.
Now try these:
1.Glad coming August - Were glad youre coming in August.
2. Bring gun golf clubs - Bring your gun and your golf clubs.
3. Bring guitar - Bring your guitar.
4. Lost guitar send cash - Ive lost my guitar. Could you send me some cash?
5. Forget guitar bring gun - Forget about your guitar but bring your gun.
