Q. What is Assimilation? Discuss the major processes of assimilation in English with examples.

Assimilation is a phonological process in which a speech sound changes and becomes more similar to a
neighboring sound by the influence of the next or previous sound. Assimilation is a sound change in which
some phonemes (typically consonants or vowels) change to become more similar to other nearby sounds. It
occurs in normal speech but becomes more common in more rapid speech. In some cases, assimilation causes
the sound spoken to differ from the normal pronunciation in isolation, such as the prefix in- of
English input pronounced with phonetic [m] rather than [n].
The term “assimilation” comes from the Latin word ‘assimilare’ meaning, “make similar to.” It is the change
of sound while rapid pronunciation. Some phonemes including typically consonants or vowels change to be
more similar to other nearby sounds. It is a common or canonical type of phonological process across
languages of the world. Assimilation can occur either within a word or between words. It occurs in normal
conversational speech, and it becomes more common in more rapid speech.
Examples:
English word "handbag" (canonically /ˈhændbæɡ/) is often pronounced /ˈhæmbæɡ/ in rapid speech because
the [m] and [b] sounds are both bilabial consonants, and their places of articulation are similar.
In contrast, the word "cupboard", although it is historically a compound of "cup" /kʌp/ and "board" /bɔːrd/, is
always pronounced /ˈkʌbərd/, never /ˈkʌpbɔːrd/, even in slow, highly-articulated speech.
Assimilation in phonetics can be described as having a certain set of rules. These rules determine how sounds
assimilate to others depending on what's surrounding them. For example a sound being changed because of
what precedes it such as the 's' in 'bags' being changed to a voiced 'z' sound. These assimilation 'rules' determine
the different types of assimilation in phonetics.
There are different types of assimilation depending on which sounds are altered. A sound can either be
influenced by the sound that comes before it or after it. The types are as follows:
 Progressive (before)
 Regressive (after)
Progressive assimilation
This refers to when a sound is influenced by the sound that comes before it.
The /s/ sound is influenced by the previous voiced sound /g/ and changes to a /z/ sound, e.g.
/bægs/ (bags) → /bægz/ (bagz)
Regressive assimilation
This refers to when a sound is influenced by the sound that comes after it.
The /n/ sound is influenced by the following labio-dental sound /f/ and changes to a /m/ sound, e.g.
/ɪnfəmeɪʃən/ (information) → /ɪmfəmeɪʃən/ (imformation).

In English, the major types of assimilation are:

Regressive assimilation
In common language, assimilation in which the previous sound is influenced by the next sound to be changed
is called regressive assimilation. In improved language, assimilation in which the next sound brings about a
change in a preceding one is called regressive assimilation or anticipatory coarticulation.
For example:
That boy [ðæp bɔɪ]
Ten pens [tempenz], etc.

Progressive assimilation
In common language, assimilation in which the next sound is influenced by the previous sound to be changed
is called progressive assimilation. In advanced language, Assimilation in which a preceding sound brings
about a change in a following one is called progressive or perseverative assimilation.
For example:
Did you [didʒu], etc.
Q. What is elision in phonetics explain?
In phonetics and phonology, elision is the omission of a sound (a phoneme) in speech. Elision is common
in casual conversation. More specifically, elision may refer to the omission of an unstressed vowel, consonant,
or syllable. This omission is often indicated in print by an apostrophe. For instance, we know that the
word round is pronounced /raʊnd/ and the word to is pronounced /tə/. However, when the words are used
together as in round to, we often drop the final /d/, so that phonetically it reads /raʊn tə/. This is
because /t/ and /d/ are both labio-dental sounds, and we tend to drop one – in this case the voiced /d/. This is
called elision.
Elision may also occur for both vowels and consonants, although it is much more common for consonants.
Where it occurs for vowels, we have extreme cases of vowel reduction or weakening to the point that the
vowel is no longer pronounced at all.

There are 3 main phonetic environments where elision occurs:

1. Syllable-final clusters involving /t, d/

When two or more consonants, often of a similar nature, come together, there is a tendency in English to
simplify such a cluster by eliding one of them. As in:
Normal Pronunciation Elided Pronunciation
facts elided, and pronounced as /faks/
the fact that elided, and pronounced as /də fak dət/
next day elided, and pronounced as /neɪks deɪ/
mashed potatoes elided, and pronounced as /maʃ pɒˈteɪtəʊz/
the last post elided, and pronounced as /də lɑːs pəʊst/
Liz smiled gently elided, and pronounced as /ˈlɪz ˈsmaɪl ˈʤentlɪ/

2. The omission of /ə/

This can occur in several environments. In connected speech /ə/ can easily disappear at word boundaries when
the sound comes at the start of a word, positioned between two stressed syllables, as in:
Normal Pronunciation Elided Pronunciation
go away elided, and pronounced as /ˈgəʊ_ˈweɪ/
or when it is followed by a stressed syllable
beginning with /r/ or /l/;
the word police may be elided, and pronounced as /pliːs/
the word preferable is elided, and pronounced as /ˈprefrəbļ/
the word library is elided, and pronounced as /ˈlaɪbrɪ/

3. The Dropping of /h/

/h/ is lost in pronominal weak forms (i.e. the weak form of the pronoun) when they don’t occur at the start of
an utterance. As you can see from the example below, the /h/ of the two masculine pronouns is retained at the
beginning of the sentence – ‘He’, but gets elided when it occurs for a second time, in the middle of the
sentence.
He passed his exam is pronounced as / hɪ ˈpaːst ɪz ɪgˈzam /
The following table illustrates the phenomenon of elision using common combinations of two- or three-word
bundles. Please note, too, that at least some of the examples also illustrate cases where ‘stringing together’
words in this way may lead to the occurrence of weak forms where the individual dictionary pronunciations
would contain strong ones.
Words Without Elision With Elision
asked [ɑːskt] [ɑːst]
lecture [ˈlɛktʃə] [ˈlɛkʃə]
desktop [ˈdɛskˌtɒp] [ˈdɛsˌtɒp]
kept quiet [ˌkɛptˈkwaɪət] [ˌkɛpˈkwaɪət]
next to [ˈnɛkstˌtʊ] [ˈnɛksˌtə]
want to [ˈwɒntˌtʊ] [ˈwɒnˌtə] or [ˈwɒnə]