Part of Speech: Noun
Sense: A phonological process where a sound becomes more like a neighboring sound in terms of pronunciation due to its surroundings.
Usage: In linguistics, surface assimilation refers to the modification of a sound to match the characteristics of a nearby sound, typically in terms of voicing, place of articulation, or manner of articulation.
Sample Sentence: Despite being pronounced separately, the /s/ and /p/ sounds in "cups" undergo surface assimilation, making them sound like /sp/ due to the influence of the /s/ sound.
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