The principle of economy on the phonetic- phonological level (in English and Georgian languages

Abstract

The work "Principle of economy on phonetic-phonological level (in English and Georgian languages)" is dedicated to a very relevant issue in linguistics. Sound changes such as assimilation,   sound reduction, sound coalescence, etc are deeply and thoroughly studied in traditional linguistics. However, it should be noted, that the main reason that causes these sound changes is left behind. We have researched this issue in the context of connected speech in the two structurally different  English and Georgian languages.

The object of research was „text“  and the  ongoing phonetic processes in it in fast connected speech, since the behavior of a sound pronounced in isolation and in the neighbourhood of other sounds differ a lot.

Based on the research we came to the conclusion that  the phonetic processes in fast connected speech are based on the tendency of the language to "economy", which means that all sound changes in connected speech, be it within a word or at the juncture, are aimed at simplifying oral speech, making pronunciation easier.

Using the contrastive method of investigation we stated the similarities  and differences  of phonetic changes  in oral connected speech  in the two languages .  

 The research showed that the English language has more tendency to economy than the Georgian language . In our opinion this is caused by the existence of neutral vowel -schwa in English, due to which the words undergo compression in connected speech, which in turn determines the rhythmicity of the English language.