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Phonological processes

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Phonological processes

Phonological processes are certain principles that govern how sounds shift during communication, whether written or spoken. They describe how phonemes are realized as their allophones in a given environment. They explain how a speaker goes from an abstract representation that is processed in his brain to the real sound that he articulates while speaking.

  1. ASSIMILATION

This is the modification of a sound in order to make it more similar to some other sound in its neighbourhood. Assimilation is more effortless, smoother and has a more economical transitions from one sound to another. According to Hyman (1952:221-3), assimilation refers to all adaptive modifications of a segment in a chain of segments by a neighbouring segment. Assimilation occurs differently for example when a vowel or consonant acquires vowel or consonant features of a neighbouring segment. Examples of assimilation includes:

(a) Palatalization

In palatalization, if a velar consonant is preceded by a front vowel, a slight anticipatory front of the part of the tongue occurs which makes contact with the mouth’s roof. This fronting is marked under the consonant by a subscript (+). The fronting effect is that the velar consonant is partly made in the palatal region. Also, alveolar consonants palatalised when they occur at the end of a word and they are followed by another word which begins with an alveopalatal consonant for example;

his shoes [hɪz ʃuz] —» [hɪʒ ʃuz]

(b) Labialisation

This occurs when in anticipating the next segment which is a rounded vowel, the speaker begins rounding their lips before the articulation of the current consonant is completed. Labialisation, in phonetic transcription, is usually represented by the raised ʷ after a consonant.

Example;

Two  [ʈʷ ᴜ]

  1. DISSIMILATION

Dissimilation happens as the sound is modified to distinguish it from a Neighbouring sound in some property. This process occurs if a sound changes one of its features to be less similar to a neighbouring sound, the two sounds become typically more distinguishable. The purpose of the dissimilation is to make sounds in their setting more distinct from other sounds. After applying a dissimilation rule, the phonological elements are much less like each other than they had been before applying the rule.

Examples:

The words fifth and sixth end in fricatives but Some native speakers of English change the final sound segment from a fricative to a stop.

Fifth                        [fɪft]

Sixth                      [sɪkst]

 

 

 

  1. DELETION

Deletion is a process through which the phonemic form of a sound is removed from the phonetic form in some environments for ease of production. It occurs when a stress less syllable or a weak consonant is not pronounced.

Examples include:

(a) the initial loss of /k/ before /n/ as in the words knight and know.

(b) the final loss of the element /t/ before a word that begin with another consonant for example “last time”

  1. INSERTION

This process occurs when one segment or more segments are added to a morpheme or a word. Insertion is performed to avoid consonant clusters violating language restrictions in the syllable structure and to facilitate transitions between segments with several incompatibilities.

Examples:

(a) linking r as in

rear [riə]

rear end [rirɛnd]

(b) epenthesis. This involves insertion inside a word. An example includes the insertion of a stop between a nasal and a voiceless fricative. Example;

‘warmth’ [warmpθ]

 

  1. VOWEL REDUCTION

In other cases, a sound does not necessarily disappear completely. It might simply be reduced. In the process of vowel reduction, a vowel segment is articulated with a more centralized tongue position than normal.

Examples

The word maintain is pronounced [men ‘ten]. But the related word maintenance is pronounced [‘men tən əns] When the stress shifted, the vowel /e/ was reduced to a central vowel [ə].

  1. METATHESIS

This process occurs when sound segments are reordered.

Examples

Some British English speakers pronounce the word ask as [aks] instead of [ask].

Lass (1984: 188) states that in old English there are interchanges of /p/ and /s/, as in the spelling variants: /ps/ — /sp/ in waspe ‘wasp’, /sp/—/ps/ in apse aspe ‘aspen’, cosp cops ‘cope’ , wlips ‘lisping’. He adds that the metathesized forms wasp, copse are now standard.

 

 

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