Difference between revisions of "English consonants"
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| − | The following table shows the 24 consonant phonemes found in most varieties of English. Stop (plosive) and fricative consonants are always voiceless or voiced. Stops are phonetically aspirated or unaspirated, depending on syllable position. The alveolars are usually apical, with the tongue bent upwrad, unlike their counterparts in East Asian languages, which are typically laminal, or with a flat tongue blade. For pairs in one cell in the table, the left one is voiceless, while the right is voiced, e.g., [f v] = [-voice, +voice]. | + | The following table shows the 24 consonant phonemes found in most varieties of English. Stop (plosive) and fricative consonants are always voiceless or voiced. Stops are phonetically aspirated or unaspirated, depending on syllable position. The alveolars are usually apical, with the tongue bent upwrad, unlike their counterparts in East Asian languages, which are typically laminal, or with a flat tongue blade. Sounds in parentheses are not regular phonemes of standard English varieties, but are common allophones or variants in different dialects. For pairs in one cell in the table, the left one is voiceless, while the right is voiced, e.g., [f v] = [-voice, +voice]. |
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| − | ! Plosive / | + | ! Plosive / affricate |
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| ɹ | | ɹ | ||
| j | | j | ||
| (ʍ) w | | (ʍ) w | ||
| + | | | ||
| + | |- | ||
| + | ! Lateral | ||
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| + | | l | ||
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| + | ! Tap | ||
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| + | | | ||
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| + | | (ɾ) | ||
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| + | |- | ||
| + | ! Trill | ||
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| + | | (r) | ||
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Revision as of 06:23, 27 August 2019
The following table shows the 24 consonant phonemes found in most varieties of English. Stop (plosive) and fricative consonants are always voiceless or voiced. Stops are phonetically aspirated or unaspirated, depending on syllable position. The alveolars are usually apical, with the tongue bent upwrad, unlike their counterparts in East Asian languages, which are typically laminal, or with a flat tongue blade. Sounds in parentheses are not regular phonemes of standard English varieties, but are common allophones or variants in different dialects. For pairs in one cell in the table, the left one is voiceless, while the right is voiced, e.g., [f v] = [-voice, +voice].
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post-alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | ||||
| Plosive / affricate | p b | t d | tʃ dʒ | k g | (ʔ) | ||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | (x) | h | |
| Approximant | ɹ | j | (ʍ) w | ||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||
| Tap | (ɾ) | ||||||
| Trill | (r) |
In North American English, the /t/ between vowels is often realized as an alveolar flap /ɾ/. The fricative /x/ occurs in Scottish and Welsh dialects. The glottal stop /ʔ/ is an allophone of /t/ in some British dialects, e.g., intervocallically, or before syllable /n/ and /l/ as in button and bottle.
