6.5 Dissimilation
•Compared
with assimilation in English, dissimilation is less common. Dissimilation means the changes which occur when one of two recurring sounds is altered to become
less like its neighbor
(p. 215, Bronstein). In these instances, either one of the two
repeated sounds is dropped or it is changed into a different
sound. For example, in “governor” the first /r/ is dropped
and pronounced as /ÈgÃvn1Ô/
without pronouncing the first /r/ sound. According to
Celce-Murcia et al. (1996), “In
English, the process of dissimilation can be ignored for pedagogical
purpose” (p.
162). However, they still listed seven categories for instances of
deletion (p. 162).