Lecture 1 Phonetics as a Linguistic Science Plan

partial and (C) intermediate.

1. 
   In complete assimilation adjacent phonemes, under the influence of one of them, become idential or merge into one, e. g. this shop /6iJjop/, give me /gimmi/, horseshoe /ho:IIu:/. In Uzbek rapid speech: akam bilan (akam minan) (with my brother), xo'pmi? (xo'mmi) (agreement).
   
2. 
   When the assimilated phoneme retains its main phone­mic fea tures and becomes only partly similar to the assimilating phoneme, e. g. tenth /tenG/, lets /lets/. The examples, illustrating assimilation affecting the place of obstruction, are incomplete as the principal alveo lar allophones of the phonemes Ш, /d/, Ы, /s/, Izl are replaced by the subsidiary dental allophones, retaining all other phonemic features.
   
3. 
   The assimilation is intermediate (i.e. between complete and incomplete) when the assimilated phoneme changes into a different phoneme, but does not coincide with the assimilating phoneme, e. g. gooseberry /'guzban/, congress /'koqgres/. That's all right /’daets 'о:ГЧ rait/, handkerchief /haeqkatjif/ in which the change /d - n/ is a complete assimilation, but the subsequent change /п - g/ under the influence of /к/ is an intermediate assimi­lation.
   

According to its direction assimilation may be (1) progres­sive, (2) regressive and (3) mutual (or reciprocal, double).

1. 
   In progressive assimilation the preceding phoneme in­fluences the following one. It can be represented by the formula X —> Y, where X is the assimilating phoneme, and Y the assimilated phoneme, e. g. talked /to:kt/, works /wa:ks/, bags /baegz/, cats /kaets/.
   
2. 
   In regressive assimilation the following phoneme influ­ences the preceding one. Its formula is X <— Y, e. g. used to /just tu/, goose berry /'guizban/, newspaper /nju:speipa/.
   

When the adjacent phonemes influence each other assimila­tion is regarded to be mutual. In try, tree l\J causes partial devoic- ing, while /г/ becomes IxJ post-alveolar. In twice, twenty IxJ causes partial devoicing, while /w/ makes /t/ lip-rounded.

From the synchronical and diachronical points of view as­similation in English may be subdivided into (1) historical and

2. 
   contextual (or juxtapositional),
   

1. 
   Historical assimilation reflects the changes which have taken place in the course of historical development of the lan­guage, e. g. nature, furniture, literature, occasion, decision, ques­tion, nation. In Uzbek: ketaman (I shall go), qaytgaysan (You will return).
   
2. 
   Contextual (juxtapositional) assimilation is of compara­tively recent development and is still going on in present day English, e. g. horseshoe /TioJJu:/, gooseberry /'guzbari/, does she /'dAjJi-/, used to /'ju:st taJ.
   

The above given types of assimilation are regarded to be es­tablished owing to their common usage as a literary standard of pronunciation by native speakers. There are cases of assimilation in careless speech though they cannot be regarded as a literary norm. They are called accendental, e. g. amidst /a'mitst/, bacon /beikg/ instead of /beikn/, happen /haepm/, open /эирт/. The «coalescing» type of assimilation is also taking place in present- day English, e.g. duke /d3u:k/, /dju:k/ during, education, tube /tju:b/, /tju:b/, Tuesday /'tju:zdi7, /tju:zdi/ issue /isju:/, /Ju:/. Ac­cording to Ch. Barber they are quite common in educated speech of present-day English⁴.