Alveolar consonant assimilations
Alveolar consonants are unstable since they can be easily affected by neighboring sounds. They can disappear or change dramatically due to the sounds that they are next to. When these consonants are followed by non-alveolar consonants, their place of articulation changes from alveolar to a different place. Specifically, alveolar consonants /t/, /d/ and /n/ may be changed into bilabial stops if followed by bilabial stops /p, b, m/, and into velar stops /k, g, ŋ/ if they are followed by velars /k, g/.
/t/ to /p/ or /k/
/t/ becomes a /p/ in front of bilabials and /k/ in front of velars. For example,
oatmeal → oa/p/meal
that man → tha/p/man
hot memes → ho/p/memes
football → foo/p/ball
white pepper → wi/p/pepper
that car → tha/k/car
dot com → do/k/com
hot girl → ho/k/girl
that guide → tha/k/guide
/d/ to /b/ or /g/
/d/ becomes /b/ in front of bilabials and /g/ in front of velars.
bad boy → ba/b/boy,
birdbath → bir/b/bath,
good morning → goo/b/morning,
bad girl → ba/g/girl,
good Karma → goo/g/Karma
/n/ to /m/ or /ŋ/
/n/ becomes /m/ in front of bilabials and /ŋ/ in front of velars.
ten pens → te/m/pens
input → imput
in person → imperson
one man → omman
in my house → immyhouse
handbag → ha/m/bag
sandbox → sa/m/box
don’t be angry → do/m/beangry
ten keys → te/ŋ/kɪz
one car → o/ŋ/car,
one girl → o/ŋ/girl
don’t go → do/ŋ/go
don’t care → do/ŋ/care
ungodly → u/ŋ/godly
in Greece → i/ŋ/Greece
ran quickly → ra/ŋ/ quickly
Assimilation and elision can occur together as can be observed with “handbag.” In normal speech, "handbag" pronounced /ˈhæn.bæɡ/ since /d/ is elided. The "handbag" is pronounced /hæmbæɡ/ in rapid speech because, after the /d/ elision, the /n/ is assimilated to the neighboring sound /b/ in light of its place, and becomes /m/. Now that both sounds (/m/ and /b/) occur at the bilabial place, they can be said quickly.
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| Alveolar consonant assimilations |
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