User:Erutuon/English language

Phones

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This table shows the consonant sounds in English. Phonemes are unmarked, but allophones are enclosed in parentheses, and dialectal phones are marked with asterisks.

Consonant phones of English
Bilabial Labio-
dental
Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal        ()   m       ()   n                ŋ
Stop ()  p     b ()  t     d ()    k    ɡ     ʔ
Affricate (tʃʰ)        
Fricative f    v θ    ð s    z          ʃ      ʒ     x*     h
Flap ɾ*
Trill ()    r
Approximant (ç)    j ʍ*    w
Lateral l (ɫ    )
  • Fortis stops and affricates /p t k/ are always voiceless. They are aspirated [pʰ tʃʰ kʰ] when they occur alone at the beginning of stressed syllables, as in pin [pʰɪn], but are unaspirated in other cases, as in spin [spɪn]. At the end of words, they are frequently preglottalized, as in nip [nɪˀp].
  • Lenis stops and affricates /b d ɡ/ are always unaspirated. They are partially voiced at the beginning and end of words, as in bin [p̬ɪn] and nib [nɪp̬], and fully voiced between vowels, as in about [əˈbaʊt].
  • The dental fricatives /θ, ð/ are lost in some dialects, and instead pronounced as labiodental fricatives [f, v], or dental or alveolar stops [t, d] (th-fronting or th-stopping). Both pronunciations occur in Southern England, Ireland, and in African American Vernacular English.
  • The alveolar stops /t, d/ are pronounced as an alveolar flap [ɾ] between vowels in the United States, Canada, Australian, and New Zealand (intervocalic alveolar-flapping).
  • The alveolar stop /t/ is pronounced as a glottal stop [ʔ] before nasals in most dialects, as in button [ˈbʌʔ.n̩], and after vowels in Southern England, as in butter [ˈbʌʔə] and what [ˈwɒʔ].
  • The rhotic consonant /r/ is the approximant [ɹ] in most dialects, but sometimes a trill or flap [r ɾ] in Scottish, Irish, and Indian English.
  • In RP, the lateral approximant /l/ is pronounced as clear or plain [l] before vowels, but dark or velarized [ɫ] after vowels at the end of syllables. In some dialects, dark l is pronounced as a labiovelar approximant [w], and in American and Scottish English most cases of /l/ are pronounced as dark [ɫ].
  • Conservative dialects like Scottish English contrast a voiceless [ʍ] in whine, typically analyzed as the sequence /hw/, with the voiced [w] in wine. The voiceless sound has merged with voiced [w] in most dialects.
  • [ç] is the pronunciation of the sequence /hj/ as in huge.
  • Sonorants /j, l, n, m, r, w/ become voiceless /ç, l̥, m̥, n̥, ɹ̥, ʍ/ after voiceless obstruents (stops, affricates, fricatives): please [ˈpl̥iːz], Cockney [ˈkɒkn̥i].
  • The glottal fricative /h/ is lost in Cockney and Yorkshire English.
Consonant phones of English: without allophonically voiceless sonorants
Bilabial Labio-
dental
Dental Alveolar Post-
alveolar
Palatal Velar Glottal
Nasal                m                n                ŋ
Stop ()  p     b ()  t     d ()    k    ɡ     ʔ
Affricate (tʃʰ)        
Fricative f    v θ    ð s    z          ʃ      ʒ     x*     h
Flap ɾ*
Trill r
Approximant       j ʍ*    w
Lateral l (ɫ)