Variable assimilation of English word-final /n/: electropalatographic evidence

Abstract

The phonetic realization of the English word-final alveolar nasal /n/ is known to be highly variable. Previous articulatory work has reported both gradient and categorical nasal place assimilation including considerable between-speaker differences. This work, however, has largely focused on a small subset of place contexts (namely, preceding velar /k, ɡ/) in a limited number of English varieties. The present article uses electropalatography to study the articulatory realization of /n/ in a wider range of phonetic contexts and read texts as produced by three speakers of Canadian English. The results reveal considerable inter- and intra-speaker differences in the rates of assimilation. Consistent with previous work, we observed a high degree of variation, both gradient and categorical, before velars. Substantial rates of assimilation were also observed before labials, where the process is unexpected from the point of view of gestural phonology but predicted by traditional phonological analyses. The variation in the place and stricture of /n/ before coronals was more limited and typically gradient. Finally, some differences were observed across the text conditions, with more assimilation occurring in carrier sentences than in the read passage and, to a more limited extent, in function than in content words.

Dynamic blending and assimilation in Catalan lingual fricative sequences. An ultrasound and acoustic study

“…This has been found to be the case for /n/+ velar, labial sequences in English and German which may exhibit assimilation, no assimilation or reduction of the alveolar gesture, as opposed to several Romance languages such as Italian, Spanish and Catalan where the nasal assimilates to the following heterorganic consonant practically all the time and traces of the C2 lingual gesture are not likely to occur during C1 (see Kochetov et al 2021 for a summary and Bergman 2012 for articulatory data for /n#g/ in German). Regarding the fricative consonant sequences of interest, the production of /s#S/ has been shown to involve not only regressive assimilation but also blending in German (Pouplier & Hoole 2016), which clearly violates the prediction that /s/ should assimilate to /S/ in these circumstances.…”