Coarticulation: the process of making one sound virtually at the same time as the next sound.
Mostly our talk is fast and spontaneous, and it requires our articulators to move from one sound to the next without stopping.
The process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound is called coarticulation.
Assimilation:
→ a sound change where some phonemes
(typically consonants or vowels) change to be more similar to other nearby sounds
-When two sounds become more similar to each other or combine to make the third sound.
eg: "handbag" hændbæg ->/hæmbæg/ -> [m] and [b] sounds are both bilabial consonants whereas the sequence [d]-[b] has different places but similar manner of articulation (voiced stop) -> the [n] phoneme to sometimes assimilate [m] before the [b].
Nasalization:
pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose, typically before a nasal consonant
nasalization of vowels typically occurs when the vowel immediately precedes, or follows, a nasal consonant m. n. ng
e.g.: man [men], now [nao.] and wing [win].
Elision:
the process of leaving out a sound segment in the pronunciation of a word.
There is also typically no [d] sound included in the everyday pronunciation of a word like friendship [frɛnʃɪp].
This process of not pronouncing a sound segment that might be present in the deliberately careful pronunciation of a word in isolation is described as elision.
Vowels also disappear through elision, with the result that sometimes a whole syllable may not be pronounced, as in [ɛvri] for every, [ɪntrɪst] for interest, [kæbnət] for cabinet, [kæmrə] for camera, [prɪznər] for prisoner and [spoʊz] for suppose.
Assimilation: making a sound segment more similar to the next one
voiced (→ voiceless) /____ + voiceless: hæv + tu → hæftə
Nasalization: adding a nasal quality to a sound segment before a nasal sound
non-nasal (→ nasal) /____ + nasal: pæ + n → pæ̴̃n
Elision: leaving out a sound segment
consonant cluster (→ reduced) / ____ + consonant: məst + bi → məsbi
three syllables (→ two syllables) /____ + syllable: prɪzənər → prɪznər
Normal Speech:
These processes of assimilation, nasalization and elision occur in everyone’s normal speech and should not be regarded as some type of sloppiness or laziness in speaking.
Investigating phonological processes aims to understand the regularities and patterns of sound use in language, rather than establishing rules for pronunciation.