----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, April 16, 2000 2:38
PM
Subject: Re: [phoNet] Assimilation of
English consonants
Self-correction. Sorry.
Piotr
There is
no inconsistency here, just different preferences. Different languages
permit different kinds of assimilation. English has no (or very little)
voicing assimilation, which is obligatory in Lithuanian, Russian or Polish
(I have ryba 'fish' with [b], but rybka
'little fish' with [p], as well as devoicing before a pause). This is why
speakers of these language have to deliberately practise the pronunciation
of English words like anecdote /kd/, phrases and compounds like mad cow /d#k/
or backbone /k#b/, "minimal pairs" like
dog : dock, etc., until they "unlearn"
their native habits while speaking English.