A feature of connected speech when a sound changes to another sound because of a neighboring sound, e.g. in ten boys /n/ followed by /b/ changes to /m/ as in /tembɔɪz/ is called what?

• A. Assimilation
• B. Elision
• C. Linking
• D. Insertion

Answer: (A)

This question tests assimilation: a sound changes to become more like a neighboring sound in connected speech. In ten boys, the nasal /n/ is produced before the following bilabial consonant /b/, so it shifts to the bilabial nasal /m/. That place-of-articulation match makes the sequence easier to pronounce, yielding /tembɔɪz/. This is regressive assimilation—the influence comes from the sound that follows. It’s not elision (loss of a sound), not linking (the joining of words without a sound change), and not insertion (adding a sound). So assimilation best explains the change.