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Kooyeen Posted 18 years ago
Speech & Pronunciation
Assimilation
0 Hi, 02 br
00 I'd like to know more about assimilation in American English. What I am talking about is that feature that turns 01 i 01 b 00 I can be 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 I cam be 02 b 02 i 00 , or 01 i 01 b 00 one more 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 wom more 02 b 02 i 00 . 02 br
00 There is a lot of material on the net that suggests such assimilation is perfectly normal and natural in English... err... I'm afraid British English. The material I found seemed to deal with British English. They said 01 i 01 b 00 can go 02 b 02 i 00 turns into 01 i 01 b 00 cang go 02 b 02 i 00 , 01 i 01 b 00 ten cars 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 teng cars 02 b 02 i 00 , etc. 02 br
02 br
00 Now, I still remember Jim told me not to pronounce 01 i 01 b 00 01 u 00 tan go 02 u 02 b 02 i 00 the same as 01 u 01 i 01 b 00 tango 02 b 02 i 02 u 00 . So I think I should not pronounce 01 b 01 i 00 live in Canada 02 i 02 b 00 the same as 01 i 01 b 00 l 02 b 00 iving Canada 02 i 00 , right? 02 br
02 br
00 My opinion is that in American English that doesn't happen, so, even though there is often a difference in perception (you hear something similar to 01 i 00 this cam be wrong, gimme wom more, teng cars 02 i 00 ), there is no difference in production (you keep using the tip of your tongue and you don't replace n's with m's or ng's completely). 02 br
02 br
00 Can anyone tell me more on this darn assimilation? (darn because it's giving me trouble, LOL) 02 br
02 br
00 Thanks. 0-
00 I'd like to know more about assimilation in American English. What I am talking about is that feature that turns 01 i 01 b 00 I can be 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 I cam be 02 b 02 i 00 , or 01 i 01 b 00 one more 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 wom more 02 b 02 i 00 . 02 br
00 There is a lot of material on the net that suggests such assimilation is perfectly normal and natural in English... err... I'm afraid British English. The material I found seemed to deal with British English. They said 01 i 01 b 00 can go 02 b 02 i 00 turns into 01 i 01 b 00 cang go 02 b 02 i 00 , 01 i 01 b 00 ten cars 02 b 02 i 00 into 01 i 01 b 00 teng cars 02 b 02 i 00 , etc. 02 br
02 br
00 Now, I still remember Jim told me not to pronounce 01 i 01 b 00 01 u 00 tan go 02 u 02 b 02 i 00 the same as 01 u 01 i 01 b 00 tango 02 b 02 i 02 u 00 . So I think I should not pronounce 01 b 01 i 00 live in Canada 02 i 02 b 00 the same as 01 i 01 b 00 l 02 b 00 iving Canada 02 i 00 , right? 02 br
02 br
00 My opinion is that in American English that doesn't happen, so, even though there is often a difference in perception (you hear something similar to 01 i 00 this cam be wrong, gimme wom more, teng cars 02 i 00 ), there is no difference in production (you keep using the tip of your tongue and you don't replace n's with m's or ng's completely). 02 br
02 br
00 Can anyone tell me more on this darn assimilation? (darn because it's giving me trouble, LOL) 02 br
02 br
00 Thanks. 0-
Top answer
0 Ask Americans from all over the country to pronouce "Orange" and you will get several versions. 02 br 02 br 00 Not sure what Assimilation means. 0-
- 0 Ask Americans from all over the country to pronouce "Orange" and you will get several versions.
- 02 br 02 br 00 Not sure what Assimilation means.
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8 Answers
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0 Ask Americans from all over the country to pronouce "Orange" and you will get several versions. That's a matter of regional accent. 02 br
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00 When "can go" turns into "cang go" I think that's accent or regional dialect at work. 02 br
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00 Not sure what Assimilation means. Are you referring to Pidgin or Eubonics? 0-
02 br
00 When "can go" turns into "cang go" I think that's accent or regional dialect at work. 02 br
02 br
00 Not sure what Assimilation means. Are you referring to Pidgin or Eubonics? 0-
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0 Hi Susan, are you American? So you don't say "cang go"... 01 blockquote
01 cite 10 Susankay 12 cite 10 Not sure what Assimilation means. Are you referring to Pidgin or Eubonics? 12 br10 I am referring to how sounds change because of other sounds that are next to them. One example is "can't you" --> "can chew", or even
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0 So, is there anyone who could tell me more about this? Thanks again. 05 0 010id 1
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0 If someone says "Can-chew" for "can't you," then they are mispronoucing the words! 02 br
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00 Perhaps they are from a region of the country that speaks that way. Inner city youth speak very differently than suburban college student. 02 br
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00 There are many dialects in the US, based on social class and regions of the country. 02 br
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00 Perhaps they are from a region of the country that speaks that way. Inner city youth speak very differently than suburban college student. 02 br
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00 There are many dialects in the US, based on social class and regions of the country. 02 br
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0 Have you actually heard someone say "teng cars" instead of "ten cars", Kooyeen? "Cam be" strikes me as weird, too. Where did you get this from? 0-
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0 The instances you describe (can be -> cam be) is, at least to my knowledge, called alveolar instability or to be more precise de-alveolar assimilation, and it's part of anticipatory coarticulation. However, as you might know, I know more about BrE than AE, so I won't give any examples since all of them are predicated on BrE, sorry. But you might want to google those terms. Who knows, you mig
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01 cite 10 Kooyeen 12 cite 10 I don't think Americans say um-believable, even though it might sound pretty much that way. 12 blockquote10 Right. A lot of your examples, like cang go, may shade ever so slightly into the assimilated version, but full assimilation very rarely takes place. Of course, you may find a speaker
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00 well... I don't know! 05 0 00 You know, I have problems with n's because of my dialect, so it's very difficult to pay attention to natives' speech. It
00 Have you actually heard someone say "teng cars" instead of "ten cars", Kooyeen? "Cam be" strikes me as weird, too. Where did you get this from? 12 blockquote10 Hey Amy, 02 br
00 well... I don't know! 05 0 00 You know, I have problems with n's because of my dialect, so it's very difficult to pay attention to natives' speech. It
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