Coarticulation as one of the connected speech processes

Abstract

One of the phonetic aspects of connected speech is coarticulation. This phonetic phenomenon  is distinguished from other phonetic phenomena by both similar and different features. Some linguists consider this phenomenon as assimilation. Others equate it with adaptation or accommodation. However, the coarticulation process is a changing  of articulation when different segments are joined or separated. Coarticulation effect may be classified to the term of segmental classes. Influence of consonants and vowels to each other - thus V-to-C and C-to-V is meant in this case. The second type of coarticulation is the influence of consonants to vowels - thus  C-to-V. Four types of coarticulation are distinguished according to the place of articulation of sounds of speech. Farnetani E. and Recasens D. defined these types of coarticulation as follows-lingual, labial, glottal and velar. In this article the differentiating features of the coarticulation process, its phonotactic rules are analyzed, and the modern approaches of linguists to this process are compared.