government

See collective noun.

Normal phonological processes are reflected in a variety of pronunciations for government. Most commonly, the first [n] of [guhv, -ern-m, uh, nt] assimilates to the immediately following [m], with the resulting identical nasal sounds coalescing to give the pronunciation [guhv, -er-m, uh, nt]. This pronunciation is considered standard and occurs throughout the U.S. For speakers in regions where postvocalic [r] is regularly lost, as along the Eastern Seaboard and in the South, the resulting pronunciation is [guhv, -, uh, -m, uh, nt] or, with loss of the medial unstressed vowel, [guhv, -m, uh, nt]. Further assimilation, in which the labiodental [v], in anticipation of the bilabial quality of the following [m], becomes the bilabial stop [b], leads in the South Midland and Southern U.S. to the pronunciation [guhb, -m, uh, nt]. See isn't.