What is assimilation in phonetics?

Assimilation in phonetics refers to the process where a phoneme alters its articulation to become more similar to a neighboring sound. This phenomenon occurs in various languages and can happen at different levels, including within words and across word boundaries. The key aspect of assimilation is that it involves the interaction between sounds, where one sound takes on characteristics (such as place or manner of articulation) from another sound that is adjacent.

For example, in rapid speech, the word "input" might be pronounced as "imput" where the /n/ assimilates to the bilabial /p/, making it easier and more fluid to pronounce. This illustrates how sounds can influence one another, leading to changes that optimize ease of pronunciation and fluidity in speech.

The other options do not accurately describe assimilation in phonetics. The blending of two languages refers to language contact phenomena rather than sound interaction, identification of vowel sounds only is too narrow and may miss consonantal assimilation, and elimination of speech sounds doesn't capture the essence of how sounds modify to resemble each other in assimilation. Thus, understanding assimilation in terms of phonemic adaptation to neighboring sounds is crucial.