2

I am an non native English speaker in where the some pronunciations taught have been obsolete in British English . Recently, I've got some time to do my research and discovered something called yod-coalescence.

Yod-coalescence sometimes occurs with clusters, like /dj/ and /tj/ which coalesce into /dʒ/ and /tʃ/ respectively.

For example, during would be pronounced as /dʒʊərɪŋ/ instead of /djʊərɪŋ/, and Tuesday would be pronounced as /tʃuːzdeɪ/ instead of /tjuːzdeɪ/.

How common is it in modern RP?

Improve this question
4
  • The difficulty is with "modern RP" - there isn't really a well-defined RP any longer. As far as the yod-coalescence is concerned, it is very common indeed in all but the most careful speech.
    – Greybeard
    Jun 14, 2020 at 16:40
  • Everyone speaks like a barrow-boy these days; even younger royalty.
    – Michael Harvey
    Jun 14, 2020 at 21:48
  • 1
    But I don't agree that RP is altogether dead.
    – Michael Harvey
    Jun 14, 2020 at 21:49
  • One of my favourite jokes riffs on this tendency: "Why was Anne Boleyn found with Henry VIII's toothmarks all over her?" "Because he's Tudor."
    – Prime Mover
    Jun 14, 2020 at 22:32

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

It is increasingly common.

As some commenters pointed out, it is not necessarily easy to find out what constitutes "modern RP", or whether such a thing exists, but as concerns the standard varietie(s) based on southern English speech used as a model for learners, yod coalescence at the beginning of stressed syllables traditionally pronounced with /tj, dj/ is now accepted as part of the standard, if not more common.

John Wells marked pronunciations with coalescence as "non-RP" in the 2000 edition of the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, but he dropped it for the 2008 edition (here's a video of him explaining it).

The 2011 edition of the Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary went so far as to give priority to pronunciation with /tʃ, dʒ/ over /tj, dj/, saying "it now seems /tʃuːn/ and /dʒuːn/ are more widely used and these pronunciations are given priority for most such words, with the /tj/ and /dj/ pronunciations as second choice" (pp. xviii–xix).

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.