Coarticulation is the phenomenon of overlapping sounds when two or more consonants or vowels are pronounced consecutively. This word is frequently used in linguistics to describe the blending of speech sounds that occurs in normal speech. However, there are several other synonyms that can be used to describe this phenomenon. One example is "anticipatory assimilation," which refers to a sound that changes to match a sound that has not yet been articulated. Another synonym is "progressive assimilation," which refers to a sound that changes to match a sound that has previously been articulated. Similarly, "regressive assimilation" refers to a sound that changes backward to match a sound that comes later in the word. These synonyms are often used interchangeably with coarticulation in the study of speech sounds.