"Process continuum"

[ronbutters at AOL.COM]

What you describe as a "process continuum" is what linguists call "variable rule". That is why I said that the CCS rule is variable. However, linguists rarely use the term "slurred speech" except in describing the speech of people who are intoxicated; "unintelligible speech" is not studiable, is it?

It is well-known that /t/ and /d/ are variably deleted after /n/ in DON'T and WON'T. I have also heard this in CAN'T as well, though that can lead to ambiguity. N'T deletion is far less global than the CRR.

In a message dated 9/3/08 11:17:04 PM, strangeguitars at GMAIL.COM writes:

  The final consonant cluster
> reduction rule that I'm aware of only affects [t] and [d], and it
> doesn't have much to do with voicing, but rather what kinds of
> consonants are next to the [t] or [d] in question.  It's not simple
> enough to make a one-sentence rule about; and the processes involved
> form a "process continuum" that ranges from speaking in citation forms
> to slurred and unintelligible speech.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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