CHANGE IN ASSIMILATION

Consonant Change:
 Generally consonant sounds are affected by assimilation.
Changes in consonants pertain to:
1. Place of Articulation.
2. Manner of Articulation.
3. Voicing.
 Parallel with this, we can identify
a. Assimilation of Place:
1. Alveolar + Bilabial = Bilabial
(a) /t / becomes /p/ before bilabials
that person /ðæp pɜːsn̩ /
fruit basket /fru:p bɑːskɪt/
(b) /d/ becomes /b/ before bilabials
good boy /gʊb bɔɪ/
red meat / reb miːt/
(c) /n/ becomes /m/ before bilabials
ten minutes /tem mɪnɪts/
green box / ɡriːm bɒks/
2. Alveolar + Velar = Velar
(a) /t/ becomes /k/ before /k/ and /g/
bright colour /braɪk kʌlə/

quite good /kwaɪk ɡʊd/

(b) /d/ becomes /g/ before /k/ and /g/
bad cold /bæg kəʊld/
mad girl /mæg ɡɜːl/
(c) / n/ becomes /ŋ/ before /k/ and /g/
one cup /wʌŋ kʌp/
main gate /meɪŋ ɡeɪt/

3. Alveolar + Palato-Alveolar or Palatal = Palato-Alveolar

(a) /s/ becomes /ʃ / before /ʃ/ or /j/
this year /ðɪʃ jiə/
nice shirt /naɪʃ ʃɜːt /

(b) /z/ becomes /ʒ / before /ʃ/ or /j/

those years /ðəʊʒ jɪəz/
these sheep /ðiːʒ ʃiːp/
b. Assimilation of Manner:

1. Plosive + Nasal = Nasal

good night /ɡʊn naɪt/
that night /ðæn naɪt/

2. Plosive + Fricative = Fricative

that side /ðæs saɪd/
good song /gʊs sɒŋ/

 Note: In one particular case we find progressive assimilation of manner,

when a word-initial ð follows a plosive or nasal at the end of a preceding
word. For example:

‘in the’ ɪn ðə ----------> ɪnnə

‘get them’ ɡetðəm ------> ɡet təm
‘read these’ riːd ðiːz ------> riːd diːz
 c. Assimilation of Voice:
The progressive assimilation of voice with the suffixes ‘s’
and ‘z’ is there in:

i. Plurals of Nouns:
cats /kæts/
dogs /dɒɡz/

ii. Third person singular verbs:

jumps/dʒʌmps/
runs /rʌnz/

iii. Possessives:
Pat’s/pæts/
Pam’s /pæmz/