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CONSONANT INFLUENCES CONSONANT

In Modern English it is mainly consonants that are assimilated. When the two adjacent sounds are consonants there occur most striking assimilative changes. Since the articulation of any speech sound differs according to the phonetic context we shall dwell only on considerable changes, especially those which present special difficulties for Russian learners.

1. Modification of the Place of Obstruction and the Active Organ of Speech.
Assimilation may take place within a word and also at word boundaries. The following three important cases should be noticed:

(a) The alveolar allophones of [t, d, n, 1, s, z] are replaced by the dental variants when immediately followed by the interdental [θ] or [ð], eg

within a word: eighth, breadth, tenth;

at word boundaries: Put that down! Read this!, on the desk

(b) The post-alveolar [t] and [d] are heard before the post-alveolar sonorant [r], eg
within a word: trip, true, trunk, dream, drink, dry;

at word boundaries: at rest, would read

(c) The bilabial nasal [m] or the alveolar nasal [n] become labio-dental under the influence of immediately following labiodental fricatives [f, v], eg

within a word: triumph, comfort, infant;

at word boundaries: come for me, ten forks

2. Changes in the Work of the Vocal Cords (Voicing or De-voicing).
Progressive voicing or devoicing is common in English but is very rare in Russian.

(a) The sonorants [m, n, 1, w, r, j] are partially devoiced when preceded by voiceless consonants [s, p, t, k, f, θ, ʃ], eg

[w] - sweep, twilight, square,

[r] – spread, try, prey, throw, cream

At word boundaries the sonorants [1, r, w] are slightly voiced if with the adjacent words they form a phrasal word or a rhythmic group, eg at last, at rest.

(b) Contracted forms of the verbs "is" and "has" may retain voice or be devoiced depending on the preceding consonants, eg. that's right, Jack's done it, Bob's gone out.

(c) The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the possessive suffix -'s or -s’ the plural suffix (e)s of nouns and of the third person singular present indefinite of verbs depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. These suffixes are pronounced as:

[z] after all voiced consonants except [z] and [ʒ]and after all vowel sounds, eg girls [ɡɜ:lz], rooms [ru:mz], laws [lɔ:z], reads [ri:dz];

[s] after all voiceless consonants except [s] and [ʃ], eg Jack's [ʤæks], books [bʊks], writes [raɪts];

a separate syllable [ɪz] after [s, z] or [ʃ, ʤ], eg George's [ˈʤɔ:ʤɪz], dishes ['dɪʃɪz], boxes ['bɒksɪz].

(d) The assimilative voicing or devoicing of the suffix -ed of regular verbs also depends on the quality of the preceding consonant. The ending -ed is pronounced as [d] after all voiced consonants except [d] and after all vowel sounds, eg lived [lɪvd], played [pleɪd];

[t] after all voiceless consonants except [t], eg worked [wɜ:kt];

a separate syllable [ɪd] after [d,t], eg expected [ɪks'pektɪd].

In English regressive voicing or devoicing is found only in a few cases of historical assimilation within a compound word when the semantic independence of the first component is lost, eg

five pence [ˈfaɪfpens], five [faɪv]; gooseberry ['ɡu:zbəri], goose [ɡu:s].
Regressive voicing or devoicing may also take place in closely connected pairs of words, eg

I have to [aɪ ˈhæftu], I used to [aɪ ˈju:sttu], with thanks [wɪθˈθæŋks]

In English word sequences word final voiced plosives are not fully devoiced under the influence of the immediately following voiceless consonants, eg good chap ['ɡʊd 'ʧæp]; big case ['bɪɡ keɪs].

Neither are the word final voiceless consonants voiced under the influence of the immediately following vqiced consonants, eg white dress [ 'waɪt 'dres], this book [ 'ðɪs 'bʊk].

Typical mistakes of Russian learners lie in devoicing voiced consonants before voiceless ones and voicing voiceless consonants before voiced ones.

3. Changes in the Lip Position. Consonants followed by the sonorant [w] change their lip-position. They become lip-rounded in anticipation of [w], eg twinkle, quite, swan, language.

4. Changes in the Position of the Soft Palate. Nasal consonants may influence the adjacent plosives. This type of assimilation is not typical of English. Sometimes [d] changes into [n] under the influence of the preceding [n], eg handsome ['hændsəm > 'hænnsəm > 'hænsm]; handmade I'hænmeɪd].

5. Changes in the Manner of the Release of Plosive Consonants. English plosives do not always have the third stage consisting of a sudden oral release of air. The main variants are:

(a) Incomplete plosion.

In the clusters of two plosives [pp, pb, bb, bp, tt, td, dd, dt, tʧ, tʤ, dʧ, dʤ;, kk, kɡ, ɡɡ, ɡk] where the position of the organs of speech is the same for both consonants, there is no separation of the organs of speech between the two plosives. The hold stage is prolonged from the beginning of the first consonant until the release of the second. The effect is that of a single plosive pronounced with very long hold. In such clusters the first stop has no plosion either in English or in Russian, eg

within a word: accommodation; attraction; bookcase;

at word boundaries: lamp post; what time; went down; that child, that joke; big cat; good chance.

In a cluster of two plosives or of a plosive and an affricate the closure of the organs of speech for the second plosive is made before the release of the first. So there is only one explosion for the two plosives. The first plosive is incomplete, eg

within a word: talked; object; lecture;

at word boundaries: good girl; good book; hot bottle.

If you do make two explosions in English it will not cause misunderstanding, but it will sound un-English.

(b) Nasal plosion.

When a plosive is followed by the syllabic [n] or [m] it has no release of its own, the so-called 'nasal' plosion is produced. In such sequences the closure for the plosive is made normally, but the release is produced not by a removal of the oral closure, which is retained, but by the lowering of the soft palate, which allows the compressed air to escape through the nasal cavity to form the nasal consonant, eg

within a word: happen, shipmate, submarine, subnormal, button;

at word boundaries: stop moaning, escape noisily, sub man, sob noisily.

(c) Lateral plosion.

In the sequences of a plosive immediately followed by [1] the closure produced for the plosive is not released till after [1], Before [1] the release is made by a sudden lowering of the sides of the tongue, and the air escapes along the sides of the tongue with lateral plosion, eg please, cattle, black, candle.