yod- dropping

 

Words with yod- dropping

Some words that traditionally had /j/ sound are presently undergoing sound change. In the above example words, /j/ is heard. But some other English words that used to have the /j/ sound have lost the /j/ sound. For example, /j/ is not pronounced in the following words: tune, student, dune, new, numerous, enthusiasm, suit, presume, lewd, and allude. 

According to linguists, /j/ is not dropped after labials (/p, b/), labio-dentals (/f, v/), velars (/k, g/), and glottals (/h/). For example, /j/ is heard in the following words: pew, beauty, few, view, cute, and huge. In other places,  /j/ has been dropped, specifically, after alveolars,  dentals and palatals. This phenomenon is called yod-dropping since the /j/ sound is called ‘yod’ in Hebrew.

 

Posh English vs working-class English

Native English speakers, of course, pronounce some words differently, and one salient case is the words involving the /j/ sound. Consider the words “tune” and “dune.” In British English, we notice that some British people pronounce them as “choon” and “june”, while some other people pronounce them as “tyoon” and “dyoon.” “Tune” and “dune” can sound “choon” and “june” due to palatalization. That is, When /j/ comes after alveolar consonants /t, d, s, z/, the alveolar consonants are pronounced like palatal consonants /ʧ, ʤ, ʃ, ʒ/. So, for example, “nature” and “gradual” are pronounced with /ʧ/ and /ʤ/ sounds respectively. This phenomenon is called palatalization (We learn details of palatalization in the next chapter on “Connected Speech”). 

So essentially, there are two ways to pronounce “tune” and “dune”: the palatalized way and the traditional way. The Queen, for one, speaks in the latter manner. So, a perception among Britains is that posh English speakers do not, while working class or young people do palatalize these sounds. Naturally, the class of a person can be betrayed through palatalization. What is the solution of American English, which frowns upon class-talk? The answer is to eliminate such a phonological environment entirely, if possible. That is, the American solution is to drop the /j/ sound after the alveolar consonants. In this way, the mechanical need for palatalization disappears. So Americans say “toon” and “doon.”