Coalescence (linguistics)

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In linguistics, coalescence is a phonological process by which a sound is affected by both the processes of assimilation and deletion.

This can be seen in the Middle English process of ng-coalescence (see Phonological history of English consonants), where the word-final /g/ is assimilated and then deleted following [ŋ].

For example, MI [sɪŋg] became Modern English [sɪŋ] through the assimilation and then deletion of the word-final /g/.