place assimilation is obligatory within the word, but optional across a word or compound boundary, e.g. szénpor ~ ('coal-dust'), nagyon káros ~ ('very harmful'), olyan más ~ ('so different'). Sibilant assimilation Voiceless sibilants form a voiceless geminate affricate with preceding alveolar and palatal stops (d , gy , t , ty ): Clusters ending in sz or c give : metszet 'engraving, segment', ötödször 'for the fifth time', négyszer 'four times', füttyszó 'whistle (as a signal)'; átcipel 's/he lugs (something) over', nádcukor 'cane-sugar'. Clusters ending in s or cs give : kétség 'doubt', fáradság 'trouble', egység 'unity', hegycsúcs 'mountain-top'. Two sibilant fricatives form a geminate of the latter phoneme; the assimilation is regressive as usual: sz or z + s gives : egészség 'health', község 'village, community'; sz or z + zs gives : vadászzsákmány 'hunter's game'; száraz zsömle 'dry bread roll'; s or zs + sz gives : kisszerű 'petty', rozsszalma 'rye straw'; s or zs + z gives : tilos zóna 'restricted zone', parázs zene 'hot music'. Clusters zs+s , s+zs , z+sz and sz+z are rather the subject of the voice assimilation. If one of the two adjacent sibilants is an affricate, the first one changes its place of articulation, e.g. malacság , halászcsárda 'Hungarian fish restaurant'. Sibilant affricate–fricative sequences like are pronounced the same as geminate affricate during normal speech. Sibilant assimilation can be omitted in articulated speech, e.g. to avoid homophony: rozsszalma ~ 'rye straw' ≠ rossz szalma 'straw of bad quality', and rossz alma 'apple of bad quality' as well. NB. Letter cluster szs can be read either as sz+s , e.g. egészség 'health', or as s+zs , e.g. liszteszsák 'bolting-bag' depending on the actual morpheme boundary. Similarly zsz is either zs + z , e.g. varázszár 'magic lock', or z + sz , e.g. házszám 'street-number'; and csz: cs + z ~ c + sz . Moreover, single digraphs may prove to be two adjacent letters on morpheme boundary, like cs: cs ~ c + s ; sz: sz ~ s + z , zs: zs ~ z + s . Palatal assimilation Combination of a "palatalizable" consonant and a following palatal consonant results in a palatal geminate. Palatalizable consonants are palatal ones and their non-palatal counterparts: d ~ gy , l ~ ly , n ~ ny , ty ~ t . Full palatal assimilation occurs when the ending palatal consonant is