NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Assimilation (linguistics)

Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. A common example of assimilation is vowels being 'nasalized' before nasal consonants as it is difficult to change the shape of the mouth sufficiently quickly. Sound change or phonetic change is a historical process of language change consisting in the replacement of one speech sound or, more generally, one phonetic feature by another in a given phonological environment. ... In human language, a phoneme is a set of phones (speech sounds or sign elements) that are cognitively equivalent. ...

If the phoneme changes to match the preceding phoneme, it is progressive assimilation (also left-to-right, perseveratory, or preservative assimilation). If the phoneme changes to match the following phoneme, it is regressive assimilation (also right-to-left or anticipatory assimilation). If there is a mutual influence between the two phonemes, it is reciprocal assimilation. In the latter case the two phonemes can fuse completely and give a birth to a different one. This is called a coalescence.

Assimilation may result in the neighbouring segments becoming identical, yielding a geminate consonant; this is complete assimilation. In other cases, only some features of phonemes assimilate, e.g. voicing or place of articulation; this is partial assimilation. Listen to this article Â· (info) This audio file was created from the revision dated 2005-07-20, and does not reflect subsequent edits to the article. ... Phoneticians define phonation as use of the laryngeal system to generate an audible source of acoustic energy, i. ... Places of articulation (passive & active): 1. ...

Partial assimilation: Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in the region around Rome called Latium. ... Egypt redirects here. ... Il Dottore or the Doctor (usually called Dottore Balanzone or Dottore Graziano, the Doctor) is a commedia dellarte stock character, he is a local aristocrat or doctor of medicine or doctor of law (lawyer), or doctor of anything he claims to know everything about which is most things. ...

Numerous examples can be found at List of Latin words with English derivatives. Look up Plural on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Plural is a grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the referent in the real world. ... In morpheme-based morphology, a morpheme is the smallest language unit that carries a semantic interpretation. ... The velar nasal is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. ... This is a list of Latin words with derivatives in English (and other modern languages). ...

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Categories: Linguistics stubs | Phonetics | Assimilation Coarticulation in phonetics refers to two different phenomena: the assimilation of the place of articulation of one speech sound to that of an adjacent speech sound. ... Co-articulated consonants are consonants produced with two simultaneous places of articulation. ... Secondary articulation refers to co-articulated consonants (consonants produced simultaneously at two places of articulation) where the two articulations are not of the same manner. ... Vowel harmony (also metaphony) is a type of long-distance assimilatory phonological process involving vowels. ... A language is said to possess consonant harmony when it has a phonological rule requiring some types of consonants in a word to belong to the same class. ... Sandhi is a cover term for a wide variety of phonological processes that occur at morpheme or word boundaries. ... Labialisation is secondary articulatory feature of sounds in a language, most usually used to refer to consonants. ... Palatalization means pronouncing a sound nearer to the hard palate, making it more like a palatal consonant; this is towards the front of the mouth for a velar or uvular consonant, but towards the back of the mouth for a front (e. ... Velarization is a secondary articulation of consonants by which the back of the tongue is raised toward the velum during the articulation of the consonant. ... Pharyngealisation is a secondary articulation of consonants or vowels by which the pharynx is constricted during the articulation of the sound. ... Assibilation is the introduction of sibilance to a sound, to produce a sibilant consonant. ... Dissimilation, in the context of phonology, is a phenomenon whereby similar consonant sounds in a word have a tendency to become different over time, so as to ease pronunciation. ...

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