Meaning of yod coalescence | Babel Free

Definitions

A process in English phonology whereby the clusters [dj], [tj], [sj], and [zj] become [dʒ], [tʃ], [ʃ], and [ʒ], respectively, through mutual assimilation.

uncountable

Examples

“Some English dialects with /dj/ and /tj/ within a morpheme have gradient amounts of affrication, from [dj] in careful speech to extreme “yod coalescence” approximating [dʒ][…].”

“In words such as nature this process is long complete; but there are many other words where this ‘yod coalescence’ is still variable.”

“In the sequence would you, the female speaker uses yod coalescence: The alveolar plosive /d/ and the palatal approximant, /j/, merge to form the affricate [dʒ].”

“Awareness of the fact that Yod Coalescence is somewhat stigmatized leads to hypercorrection in would-be elegant speech, with the use of [tj, dj] in place of [tʃ, dʒ] in words such as chew, June.”

“In this investigation, the linguistic context is restricted to /j/ after /t, d/ in stressed syllables within a word (e.g. tune, duke). This is the environment in which Yod Coalescence is not (yet) fully acceptable within RP.”

“EE speakers typically use Yod Coalescence in stressed syllables as in Tuesday [ˈtʃuːzdeɪ] or duke [ˈdʒuːk].”

“As for the native speakers of English, the only phonostylistic processes all three of them applied…were the following: nasal assimilation in triumph and palatalization (“Yod coalescence”) in Tell me what you want.”

“London and Southeastern English accents have variable Yod dropping and Yod coalescence.”

“However, what was somewhat surprising was the extended use of Yod coalescence in word-initial positions (e.g., ‘Tuesday’).”

CEFR level