52. When is assimilation complete?

Assimilation is called complete in the case the two adjoining sounds become alike or merge into one. It always takes place when the two sounds differ only in one articulatory feature. We find cases of complete assimilation within words, eg cupboard [‘c ʌpbәd>’c ʌbәd]; and at the word junction in fluent speech, eg less shy [‘les ʃaɪ>’leʃ ʃaɪ]. Complete assimilation is also found in Russian,eg отделать, отдать,сжать,без сил, голос женщины, брат друга.

53. When is assimilation incomplete?

Assimilation is called incomplete when the likeness of the adjoining sounds is partial as the assimilated sound retains its major articulatory features. For example, the sonorants [w,l,r] are partly devoiced when preceded by the voiceless fortis [p,t,k,s,f, Θ] within words: sweet [swi:t], place[pleis],try[trai].

Partly assimilated borrowings are subdivided into the following groups:

a) borrowings non-assimilated semantically, because they denote objects and notions peculiar to the country from the language of which they were borrowed, e.g. sari, sombrero, taiga, kvass etc.

b) Borrowings non-assimilated grammatically, e.g. nouns borrowed from Latin and Greek retain their plural forms (bacillus - bacilli, phenomenon - phenomena, datum -data, and genius - genii etc.

c) Borrowings non-assimilated phonetically. Here belong words with the initial sounds /v/ and /z/, e.g. voice, zero.

d) borrowings can be partly assimilated graphically, e.g. in Greak borrowings «y» can be spelled in the middle of the word (symbol, synonym), «ph» denotes the sound /f/ (phoneme, morpheme), «ch» denotes the sound /k/(chemistry, chaos),«ps» denotes the sound /s/ (psychology).

54. When is assimilation intermediate?

The degree of assimilation is said to be intermediate between complete and partial when the assimilated consonant changes into a different sound, but does not coincide with the assimilating consonant.

Examples of intermediate assimilation are gooseberry ['guzban], where [s] in goose [gu:s] is replaced by [z] under the influence of [bj in berry; congress ['k-Dijgresj, where [n] is replaced by [g] under the influence of [g].

In That's alt right ['Saets b:l ,rait] [s] has replaced fz] under the influence of the preceding [t]. In handkerchief ['haenkatfrf] there are two assimilations: complete and intermediate. The change of [d] into [n] is an instance of complete assimilation, the subsequent change of [n] irfto [n] under the influence of [k] is an instance of intermediate assimilation.

In rapid colloquial speech [z] followed by [j] at word boundaries is usually replaced by [3] under the influence of [j], e.g. How's your father? ['haug p ^абэ?].

55. What are the directions of assimilation?

The influence of the neighboring sounds in English can act in a progressive, regressive or reciprocal (double) direction. When some articulatory features of the following sound are changed under the influence of the preceding sound, which remains unchanged, assimilation is called progressive. When the following sound influences the articulation of the preceding one assimilation is called regressive. Reciprocal or double assimilation means complex mutual influence of the adjacent sounds.