Types of Stop Deletion

b. Types of Stop Deletion

The main forms of stop deletion that occur in English words can be made into three categories. Regarding the observation done of this study, the present writer classifies stop deletion as permanent deletion, non-permanent deletion, and variety-dependent deletion. These categories concern with the nature of the stop in the deletion. Permanent deletion is deletion of stops in permanent condition. In other words, it does not appear anymore in any English words because the sound for the consonant is already deleted to suit the phonotactic idealization. Phonotactic is the arrangement of phonemes in the specified language to make well-formed syllables and words Giegerich, 1992: 151. In other words, it deals with the permissible sequence, cluster, or position of word in English language. Moreover, it is related to the so-called phonotactic constraints which cannot be complied by the sound clusters of the syllable or word Fasold and Connor-Linton, 2006: 41. Hence, this type of deletion is also in line with the sound change. That is, it is the sound which occurred or found in Old English and Middle English but no longer exists in modern pronunciation. The examples are in the words knight, knock, and knee O’Grady et al., 2005: 255. In Old and Middle English, the k was pronounced just as the spelling. Nonetheless, in Modern English, the k is sequentially lost to refine the modern pronunciation. As a result, the words still have their spellings but the pronunciation has been adjusted into English phonology, becoming na t, n k, and niː. Thus, they can be classified as a diachronic phonology that was systematic and also closely associated with word borrowing. Next, non-permanent deletion can be denoted as deletion that occurs in particular event. That is, the deletion occurs in some fussy words but it does not happen in some other derived words. Otherwise, it happens because of the phonological conditioning Bybee, 2003: 97. For instance, the words sign, signal, and signaler are connected by the same morphological linking i.e. derived from the same morpheme. However, in the case of its phonology, they are not similarly pronounced. In word sign sa n, the g is not pronounced but it is pronounced for the other two words signal ˈs ɡnəl and signaler ˈs ɡnələr. With this respect, it can be assumed that the deletion is not permanent in all derived- words. It may appear in some words but not to the others. Hence, there must be an operation of the general rules in applying this deletion and this case can be stated as phonological phenomena. Likewise, it can be explained using a phonological rule for the underlying representation. Lastly, variety dependent is a type of deletion which counts on two factors. First is the case of casual speech and second is the case of regional variation. In the case of casual speech, people may have variation in pronouncing words, especially when it is in informal situation or probably in rapid speech. To be exact, the sound is deleted for the sake of phonological simplification or more specifically, consonant cluster simplification. For example, in the word grandma may be uttered as ˈɡrænm or even ˈɡræmm in a rapid speed. Otherwise, the word desk is pronounced as des in African-American English AAE pronunciation Giegerich, 1992: 284; Finegan, 2004: 386. However, when dealing with formal situation, the word will be pronounced as standard pronunciation. In this case, the d is not pronounced. The second case, regional variation deals with the area in which the local people may have variation in speech. For example, the word often may be uttered as ˈ fən, ˈ ftən, ˈɔːfən, and ˈɔːftən in some British Area while ˈɔːfən, ˈ ːfən, ˈɔːftən, ˈ ːftən, ːfən, ːftən, fn, ftn, fən, ɔːfn, ɔːftn, ɔːftən, ɔːfən, and ˈ ːfən are pronounced in some other dialects Jones, 1919: 17. For this study, the variant- dependent of deletion is taken from the pronunciation of the LPD that depends on the phonetic transcriptions provided in the dictionary. It is basically in the form of British English and American English General American.

5. Phonological Rule