ABSTRACT
A frequently observed phenomenon in connected speech is the so-called ‘instability’ of alveolar consonants, the tendency for alveolars to elide or to be assimilated to the place of articulation of a following consonant. The phenomenon occurs for both alveolar plosives within words and at word boundaries. O’Connor cites as examples the tin in Tin Pan Alley produced as /tım/, nutcracker as /nʌkkrækə/ and so on (O'Connor 1973: 250). Gimson (1989) points to the instability of both nasals and plosives at word boundaries but suggests the bilabial assimilations (as in /ðæp pзːsņ/ for that person) are far less common than the velar assimilations (such as /ʃɔːk kʌt/ for short cut (Gimson 1989: 310). The instability of alveolars has been noted also in languages other than English (e.g. German: see Kohler and Hardcastle 1974; Kohler 1976): there is some suggestion it may be a language universal.
