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LSA 4

Helping Higher Level Learners Understand and Use Assimilation and Elision

Simon Richardson

Word Count: 2493

Contents

IntroductionPage 3

Analysis of AssimilationPage 3

Analysis of ElisionPage 6

Learner ProblemsPage 8

Solutions for TeachersPage 10

ConclusionPage 14

BibliographyPage 15

Appendices

1)

2) Bowler & Cunningham, 1994, Page 16

Headway Upper-Intermediate Pronunciation, OUP, P.51

Introduction

In my experience, phonology as a whole is under-taught in classrooms. Clearly, teachers pay attention to individual words, display models and stress, but there is less attention paid to the features of connected speech (assimilation, elision, juncture, liaison and reduction), which can mean that learners reach B2 level with an excellent knowledge of grammar or lexis, but are still impeded in their fluency by a lack of focus on this area both receptively and productively. Adrian Underhill distinguishes between ‘careful colloquial speech (CCS)…This style contains all types of simplification to a moderate degree…This style is more likely to be used in a more formal setting’ and ‘Rapid colloquial speech (RCS)…This contains more extensive simplifications… This style is used in less formal settings’ (Underhill:1994:P.59).Examples of CCS (Received Pronunciation on news reports) are rarer than RCS and the speech is deliberately slower, requiring less receptive fluency. However, RCS is challenging both receptively and productively, and aiming for this target means learners can understand native speakers speaking quickly without difficulty. Furthermore, from my classroom experience, this is something that learners actively seek guidance on. For these reasons, I have decided to focus my essay on two features of connected speech, assimilation and elision, and how learners from B2 upwards can benefit from understanding and using these features.

Analysis of Assimilation and Elision

Assimilation

Assimilation is described as ‘…how sounds modify each other when they meet, usually across word boundaries, but within words too.’ (Kelly:2000:P.109) The benefit of assimilation is that it reduces tongue movement, allowing for quicker and more efficient connected speech. Dalton and Seidlhofer write that ‘the exact position of the tongue and other articulators during a segment therefore depends on where the tongue is coming from and where it is going to: it depends on the neighbouring sounds.’ (Dalton & Seidlhofer:1994:P.28) In the English language, these instances are limited to a specific set of phonemes, as displayed below. Articulation points are shown in Appendix 1.

Alteration of Alveolar Consonants

1) Alveolar to Bilabial

/t/ and /d/ become /p/ and /b/

  • “Great Britain” /ˌgreɪt ˈbrɪtən/becomes /ˌgreɪp ˈbrɪtən/
  • “Good Man” /ˈgʊdˌmæn/ becomes /ˈgʊb ˌmæn/

The sound does not have ‘…its full plosive manner of articulation…merely that our lips are in the position…’ (Kelly:2000:P.109), resulting in a modification of sound.

2)Nasal

/n/ becomes /m/

  • “One price” /ˈwʊnˌpraɪs/ becomes /ˈwʊmˌpraɪs/

Alveolar to Velar

1) Plosive

/t/ to /k/ and /d/ to /g/ before /k/ or /g/

  • “Hot coal” /ˌhɒtˈkɒl/ becomes /ˌhɒk ˈkɒl/ and “Hot Grill” /ˌhɒt ˈgrɪl/ becomes /ˌhɒk ˈgrɪl/
  • “Bad Cat” /ˌbædˈkæt/ becomes /ˌbæg ˈkæt/and “Bad Girl” /ˌbæd ˈgɜ:l/ becomes /ˌbægˈgɜ:l/

2) Nasal

/n/ becomes /ŋ/ before /k/ or /g/ (From Kelly:2000)

  • “One Cup” /ˌwʊnˈkʊp/becomes/ˌwʊŋˈkʊp/and “One Girl” /ˌwʊnˈgɜ:l/becomes /ˌwʊŋˈgɜ:l/

Alveolar to Palato-alveolar

1) Fricative

/s/ to /ʃ/ and /z/ to /ʒ/ before consonant /ʃ/

  • “This Shop” /ˌðɪsˈʃɒp/becomes /ˌðɪʃˈʃɒp/and “These Shops”/ˌði:zˈʃɒps/ becomes /ˌði:ʒˈʃɒps/ (From Underhill:1994)

Glottal Stop

The glottal stop (/ʔ/) is ‘…a complete block to the air stream at the glottis’ (Underhill:1994:P.37). In some dialects, it replaces /t/, which can reduce the number of variations of assimilation involving /t/.

  • ‘Great Britain’ does not assimilate /t/ to/p/, instead becoming /ˌgreɪʔˈbrɪtən/

Coalescence

Coalescence occurs when /t/ or /d/ join with /j/ to make /ʧ/ or /ʤ/.

  • ”Aren’t you coming?”/ˌɑ:ntju:ˈkʊmɪŋ/ becomes /ˌɑ:nʧəˈkʊmɪŋ/

This form of assimilation is separated from the examples of alveolar assimilation above, as it is represents sounds combining, whereas the other examples are described as ‘anticipatory’ because ‘…one sound changes to another because of the sound which follows’ (Kelly:2000:P.110)

Elision

Elision occurs when ‘a consonant or vowel which would be present in a carefully pronounced version of the word or phrase is left out’ (Dalton & Seidlhofer:1994:P.29) This occurs as a result of a reduction in effort when speaking quickly and is therefore graded depending on speed and formality. This indicates that we are more aware of elided than assimilated forms ourselves, and are able to consciously decide not to use certain forms dependent on situation, while also eliding more through laziness or tiredness. It is also highly dependent on dialect, resulting in an enormous number of variations. Below are some of the most common examples.

/t/and /d/ Omission

Kelly writes that ‘the most common elisions in English are /t/ and /d/, when they appear within a consonant cluster.’ (Kelly:2000:P.110)

  • “Fish and Chips” /ˌfɪʃændˈʧɪps/becomes /ˌfɪʃənˈʧɪps/
  • “I Don’t Know” /aɪˌ dəʊnt ˈnəʊ/ becomes /aɪ ˌdəʊˈnəʊ/

“I don’t know” is an example of graded elision, as we could also say /ˌaɪdəˈnəʊ/ or even /dəˈnəʊ/, but the latter may come across as inappropriate in formal situations.

In addition, Peter Roach states that ‘in clusters of three plosives, or two plosives plus a fricative, the middle plosive may disappear’. (Roach:1998:P.127)

  • ‘Scripts’ is pronounced as /ˈskrɪps/

Consonant Clusters

Difficulty in producing sounds within clusters individually may cause us to elide.

  • “Sixth Sense” /ˌsɪkθˈsens/becomes /ˌsɪkˈsens/

The above example provides an example of how native speakers are aware of the problems caused by elision. Awareness of the similarity in sound to ‘Sick Sense’ can mean we deliberately avoid elision.

Disappearing /ə/ and /v/

/v/ often disappears in the word ‘of’ and the /ɒ/ is replaced by/ə/. This generally occurs before consonants, but in Yorkshire, for example, this also happens before vowel sounds.

  • “Lots of times” is pronounced /ˈlɒtsəˌtaɪmz/
  • “Lots of it” is pronounced /ˈlɒtsəˌɪʔ/ in Yorkshire.

/ə/ can also disappear if a plosive is more fully aspirated (when an unvoiced sound is accompanied by a puff of air – symbolised by ʰ). Alternatively, the sound can disappear without aspiration, resulting in the two consonants either side of /ə/ linking as if they were a cluster.

  • “Potato” is pronounced /pʰˈteɪtəʊ/
  • ”Perhaps” is pronounced /pʰˈhæps/ or /ˈpræps/

Apostrophes

In this case, elision is often acknowledged in informal written English.

  • “Would” becomes “’d” as in /ˈhi:d/
  • “Is” and “has” become “’s” as in /ˈhi:z/
  • “Have” becomes “’ve” as in /ˈaɪv/
  • “Not” becomes “’nt” as in /ˈkɑ:nt/

Combining Assimilation and Elision

Features of connected speech are not necessarily separate; in certain phrases they are deployed together.

  • “Handbag” becomes /ˈhæmbæg/ Through simultaneous elision of /d/ andassimilation of /n/ to /m/.
  • “This shop of mine” becomes /ðɪʃˈʃɒpəˌmaɪn/ through successive assimilation of /s/ to /ʃ/ and elision and reduction of ‘of’ to /ə/.

Further to this, it is noticeable that when combining features of connected speech in rapid connected speech, there is a significant amount of vowel reduction taking place, which can add a further intelligibility issue.

  • “What are you doing” becomes /ˌwɒʧəˈdu:ɪn/ meaning that “you is affected by coalescence with “what” and the vowel reduction of /u:/ to /ə/

Learner Problems

Assimilation 1

‘…although the tendency towards simplification and ease of articulation is universal, different languages and different dialects of the same language may follow different paths.’ (Dalton & Seidlhofer:1994:P.27) As assimilation is automatic in L1s, learners are likely to transfer from their L1. Roach pinpoints assimilation of voice as an example of this, stating that assimilation of voice does not take place in English. This is to say that if the final consonant of the first word is unvoiced and the following consonant is voiced, the assimilated consonant will remain unvoiced (From Roach, 1998). For example, in Spanish ‘los burros’ (The donkeys) is pronounced /ˌlɒzˈbu:[r]ɒs/ ([r] is a rolled ‘r’ sound). Therefore, Spanish learners may pronounce “This man” as /ˌðɪzˈmæn/. This results in sounding less native.

Assimilation 2

L1 speakers are unlikely to slow down when speaking to higher level learners, meaning that they have to listen very carefully to natural speech containing assimilation. This speed of speech can cause comprehension problems when the assimilated sounds are very clear, as it can cause learners to hear different words to those spoken.Coalescent assimilation can cause misunderstandings, as it is a fricative sound that some languages do not have. German learners, for example, would hear this sound very clearly, meaning that “Wouldn’t You…” /ˈwʊdənˌʧə/ may be heard as “Wooden Chair” or “Wooden Shoe”.

Assimilation 3

In Spanish and Catalan, assimilation of nasal consonants differs to English, meaning that Spanish learners may say /ˌaɪŋˈgəʊɪŋ/ instead of /ˌaɪmˈgəʊɪŋ/

Assimilation 4

In Italian, it is not common to encounter final consonants, meaning that assimilation between words does not exist. Rather, Italians tend to insert /ə/ to connect final and first phoneme consonants, which is known as Epenthesis. (From Swan & Smith:2010)

  • “I want to go home” may be pronounced /aɪˌwɒntə tu:gəʊˈəʊmə/

This can cause considerable comprehension issues for a listener.

Elision 1

Learners particularly at C1-C2 level are able to speak at pace. The problem is that they often do not produce elided forms, which can cause them to trip over their words, emphasising a lack of fluency and causing frustration and embarrassment for the learner. This is particularly true of consonant clusters and the word “and”, in which /d/ is elided.

  • “Fish and Chips” or “You must bring…”

As I previously stated, this area of phonology is not covered widely enough in course books, meaning that the issue is largely due to a lack of practice.

Elision 2

When native speakers do not elide consonant clusters, it is a conscious decision. Often, we are speaking slowly to help a non-native speaker with comprehension, but if we speak in this way to other native speakers, it can come across as rude or patronising. As a result, higher level learners with strong levels of fluency can sound rude if they do not elide. This is compounded by the common learner notion that elision is lazy, uneducated and informal, resulting in learners consciously not eliding in situations they view as formal.

  • “Next Please” pronounced as /ˌnekst ˈpli:z/ in a bar sounds rude and impatient if the /t/ is aspirated.

Solutions for Teachers

Solution –Assimilation 2

Headway Pronunciation provides an exercise adaptable to the issue of recognising word boundaries (Appendix 2 – ex. 5).

  • Learners listen and write the number of words they hear.
  • On second listening, they complete the sentences.
  • Systems focus underlines how /t/ and /d/ coalesce.
  • Teacher models and learner repeats, with a looped drill of the previously unfamiliar sounds. Speed increases per drill.
  • Learners write questions with “do you” or “did you”, so that they can practise this area of pronunciation.

This layout of a lesson works well as it moves from reception to production appropriately. Learners notice the alteration of sounds through the receptive stage and are then able to practise production with a focus on increased speed.

Solution – Assimilation 1,2,3,4 and Elision 1

I strongly believe that using the phonemic chart provides a clear visual representation of sound alteration. Richard Ostick states that ‘It provides a stepping stone and a shortcut to teaching / learning about other areas of pronunciation such as word stress and aspects of connected speech’ (Ostick:2006:P.42).

  • Learners are sat in groups, with a phonemic chart per group.
  • Learners initially listen to some sentences, then for the second time to focus on the final and beginning sounds of words, locating the phonemes on the chart.
  • Learners are provided with models of the sentences with and without assimilated or elided sounds (notated phonemically), encouraging them to notice the differences.
  • Language focus looks at these areas of change in isolation.
  • Learners try original activity again, with different sentences.
  • Learners create their own sentences and test each other.

This activity does assume a good knowledge of the phonemic chart, but I believe that it is important that learners at higher levels are familiar with it. In addition, a TTT model for the lesson works well here, because learners are able to see gaps in their abilities, which are then filled and re-tested.

Solution – Assimilation 4

To eliminate the addition of extra sounds, it is first appropriate to isolate them. In this instance, learners can listen to a non-native Italian speaker on a tape, then compare the tape with a native model.

  • Learners are given a transcript of both models, with the Italian model containing written /ə/s at points of epenthesis.
  • This sound is then pinpointed and the sentences are drilled at a slower than natural speed, so learners can omit them.
  • The speed is then increased gradually, with the focus on the omission of /ə/.

In this case, isolating a single phoneme is appropriate for the learner issue. Through starting very slowly, learners avoid making a mistake that is fossilised and progress to removing that fossilisation.

Solution– Elision 1

Viewing language in chunks or phrases can be beneficial when dealing with phonological issues. This allows learners to automatise certain features of speech within one chunk, which can then be applied to other similar chunks or words.

  • “Fish and Chips” – the pronunciation of “and” can be applied to other binomials.
  • “You must bring a chair” – the ‘stb’ cluster can be applied to other words, such as “dustbin”.

In the classroom, I have found that a looped drilling process is particularly effective. Learners repeat the same pre-selected chunk over and over to a continuous rhythm – claps or click. This is then repeated in a longer phrase, followed by learners being given other words or phrases with the ‘stb’ cluster in them. The advantage of this procedure is that it gives learners the opportunity to automatise through repetition in a short space of time, and is also production rather than reception focused.

Solution– Elision 2

In this case, the key to encouraging learners to produce features of connected speech is in getting them to notice it in context.

  • Learners hear two conversations in formal situations, the first of which contains no elision.
  • Learners are asked questions about politeness, and then asked to comment more specifically on what makes the first model sound rude.
  • This leads to analysis of specific situations in which native speakers naturally elide. Learners can also focus on why elision occurs, encouraging them to notice that it is to aid fluency rather than to be lazy.
  • This can then lead to drilled practice as in Solution 1, followed by a role play in a formal situation, focusing on common questions that native speakers would naturally elide regardless of situational formality.

This approach is effective as it allows learners to notice and then practise elided forms in a realistic context.

Conclusion

An understanding of assimilation and elision rules now means that I am more aware of these features and their impact upon fluency. Furthermore, through analysis of learner problems, I am now more able to understand specific pronunciation issues, which in turn means that I can teach solutions that are not found in course books. I fully believe that focusing on features of connected speech with higher level learners is a useful aid to receptive and productive abilities.

Bibliography

Books

Dalton, B & Seidlhofer, B. 1994, Pronunciation, OUP

Kelly, G. 2000, Hot to Teach Pronunciation, Pearson Education Ltd

Roach, P. 1998, English Phonetics and Phonology, CUP

Swan, M. & Smith, B. 2010, Learner English, CUP

Underhill, A, 1994, Sound Foundations, Heinemann

Articles

Ostick, R. 2006, Our Phonemic Friend, From English Teaching Professional (Issue 47)

Appendix 2

Possible Points of Articulation