Linguistics | Phonological Processes | Assimilation | Dissimilation

  Phonology

 Phonological Processes 

 Assimilation: 

Definition:

  The process whereby one sound changes to become more like another sound in its environment.  It may involve the realization of a phoneme by one allophone rather than another (e.g. /n/ is realized as a dental when it occurs before another dental sound, as in tenth [ten̪θ](Remember that the place of articulation of/n/ is ‘alveolar’ and here it has another secondary articulation that we call dentification. The /n/ is detailed.

 Notice the diacritic below it. 

  Other examples of Assimilation: /l/ is realized with labialization when it occurs next to a rounded vowel, e.g. in lose and fool transcribed phonetically as:  

1. [l̫u:z] [fu:l ̫] 

  A vowel may be realized as voiceless when it occurs between two voiceless sounds in an unstressed syllable (remember that all vowels are by nature voiced): e.g. in the word potato, the first vowel is a schwa and placed between 2 Voiceless sounds: /p/ and /t/; therefore, it will be devoiced: /pə ̥ teitəu/ (Notice the small circle, as a diacritic below /ə/ to show its devoicing).

 • Assimilation may involve the replacement of one phoneme by another when a word appears in certain environments: 

For example:

 • ten eggs / ten egz/ but ten minutes /tem minits/, ten keys /teŋ ki:z/ 

• I have /ai hӕv/ but I have to /ai hӕf tu/; 

• You did /ju: did/ but did you /didʒu:/

 

  May be progressive when a sound changes to become more like a preceding sound (e.g. did you /didʒu:/ . Or  It may also be Regressive (anticipatory) when one sound changes to become more like a following sound (e.g. /haf tu/). 

Dissimilation:

  The process whereby one sound changes to become more unlike (different from) a sound in its environment. E.g. a voiceless bilabial or velar stop may be replaced by a glottal stop when the following sound is also a bilabial or velar stop: 

_ Soap powder /souʔ paudə/ 

_ Dissimilation may also be progressive or regressive.

Examples: 

1. Back garden that target 

  A great number of phonological processes can be explained through secondary articulations. Therefore, we will present some of the secondary articulations that will help us understand these processes and the formulation of the phonological rules embodying them. 

Definition: 

  By secondary articulation it is meant that the basic speech sounds may be modified in various ways. These modifications which are imposed on the primary articulation of a sound are called secondary articulations. eg. Aspiration of voiceless stops is one of them. • Secondary Articulations: 

1- labialization: 

  It involves lip rounding and a high back tongue position. Labializing a consonant causes it to take on a w-like quality. The words ‘quench, quick and quart all begin with K’s which are labialized. Labialization is represented by a superscript [ʷ ]. In our examples the first sound will be transcribed phonetically as [kʷ ͪ]; it is both labialized and aspirated. 

Note: the adjectives labialized and labial must be kept distinct. The stop /p/ is labial but not

labialized. In ‘pueblo’ it is aspirated and labialized [pʷ ͪ]. 

Phonology Processes 

 2- Palatalization:

  Consonants may also be modified by extending the body of the tongue into the high front position. This produces a y-like modification called palatalization. 

Examples:

 • The initial sounds of few, hue and mule are all produced in this manner. 

• Compare these sounds with the initial sounds of fool, hoot, cool, and moon, all of which are made without palatalization.

 • A raised ʸ directly after a symbol indicates palatalization. The palatalized consonants in our examples will be represented as: [fʸ], [hʸ],[mʸ]