[THE APPRENTICE]

Dear members and friends.

In connected speech, as well as in isolated words, when the /t/ and /y/ sounds find each other, they assimilate the /tʃ/ sound as in ''nice to meet you''; I don't want to hurt you''; picture'' and so forth. I would like to know if you native speakers merge the /t/ and /y/ phonemes in the examples below:

(a) How about you?

(b) Not yet.

(c) Mom hasn't cooked yet.

I've never heard YET merging into another sound which is prior to it.

[susan53]

The sound you're talking about is called the yod, and it's IPA symbol is/j/ - but you're right in everything you say about it. The change you're talking about is called yod coalescence, so the pronunciation of the words in your examples might be :

about you : /əbaʊt juː/ or /əbaʊːʧuː/
not yet : /nɒt jet/ or /nɒʧet/
cooked yet: /kʊkt jet/ or /kʊkʧet/

And as an example of yod coalescence with a /d/ sound , the final two words in Have you heard yet? could be /hɜːd jet/ or /hɜːʤet/

[THE APPRENTICE]

Thank you Susan53 for answering.

I know this is called yod coalescence; I posted a thread about it before. As you know, The consonant T is part of the plosive or stop consonants (p,t,k, b,d,g). The phonemes /t/ and /d/ are alveolar plosive/stop; /p/ and /b/ are bilabial plosive/stop while /k/ and /g/ are velar plosive/stop. It seems to me that this is the reason (why) they're also called stop consonants; a stop can be made at the /t/ sound, and YOU/YET pronounced alone.

[susan53]

No, that'a not the reason. Every consonant is described with three terms - voiced vs unvoiced (whether the vocal cords are vibrated when the sound is made); place of articulation (where in the vocal tract the sound is made) and manner of articulation (how it is made acoustically). So eg /p/ is an unvoiced bilabial plosive (or stop) and /v/ is a voiced labiodental fricative. The terms plosive/stop are alternative terms referring to the manner of articulation of the sound - ie how it is actually produced. Plosive/stop sounds are made by momentarily blocking (or stopping - hence the term) the airflow from the lungs by "closing" its passage with two articulators (parts of the vocal tract). So eg for /p/ and /b/ which are bilabial sounds (place of articulation), the airflow is stopped by closing the two lips. For /t/ and /d/, which are alveolar sounds (place), the airflow is stopped by bringing the front of the tongue up to the alveolar ridge just behind the teeth; for /k/ and (g/ the airflow is stopped by bringing the back of the tongue up to the velum or soft palate (again, the place of articulation. The air builds up behind the two articulators and then is suddenly released, so that it "explodes" outwards - hence the term plosive.

So "stop" and "plosive" refer to the two successive phases of the production of the sound - the manner of articulation. Nothing else. the VPM description of the sounds you specify would be

/p/ unvoiced bilabial plosive (or stop)
/b/ voiced bilabial plosive (or stop)
/t/ unvoiced alveolar plosive (or stop)
/d/ voiced alveolar plosive (or stop)
/k/ unvoiced alveolar plosive (or stop)
/g/ voiced alveolar plosive (or stop)