gh My, £ *%, = te Department of Culture and Communication 8 ae '§ Institutionen for kultur och kommunikation (IKK) %,s ENGLISH “Ain so The Vowels & Consonants of English Lecture Notes Nigel MuskThe Consonants of English Blass) e | 3 gts3 Bl] es |] 2 a | 23] & g liged = s 3 vowany = «| M vlv lv wvlv wlv wiv wily wily w Stops (Plosives) | pb td k g|? Fricatives fvie@ b/s z\/s 3 h Aifricates y & Nasals m n 4 lateral (approximants) ' Approximants we r j we The consonants in the table above are the consonant phonemes of RP (Recelved Pronunciation) and GA (General American), that is, the meaning-distinguishing consonant sounds (c.f. pat - bat). Phonemes are written within slashes //, e.g. /t/. Significant variations are explained in the footnotes. /p/ put, supper, lip It show, washing, cash /b/ bit, ruby, pub 1B] leisure, vision It) two, letter’, cat /h] home, ahead Jd} deep, ladder’, read 1'§1 chair, nature, watch 7k} ean, lucky, sick 143/— jump, pigeon, bridge /9/ gate, tiger, dog {mf man, drummer, comb iff fine, coffee, leaf /n{ no, runner, pin /v/ van, over, move // young, singer /8/ think, both MI) fet silly, fait /2] the, brother, smooth Irfan, carry, (GA car) Js/ soup, fussy, less Al you, yes 121 200, busy, use (w/— woman, way * isnot regarded as @ phoneme of standard English, but itis common in many varieties of British English {including contemporary RP), eg. watch [wo7t{] since [sun?s], meet them ['mi:7@am]. * }w/ isa voiced labio-velar approximant (semi-vowel). in American English letter’ and ‘ladder’ may also be pronounced with an alveolar flap [f]:[ler2y [eer] “in many varieties of British English (including RP) there is a distinction between clear‘ I] and dark (velarised) | TAL. Gear 1 comes before vowels (eg. “lt [let], ‘sity ['stll]}, whereas dark | eomes after vowels (eg, ‘mit’ Imrtk)) or at the end of a word (ex. ‘fa [f24), In American English dark [4] is used in all positions.The Vowels of English Front Central Back Close —©a: ‘The vowels in the table above are the vowel phonemes of RP (Received Pronunciation). All long vowels are followed by colons /:/. Most of the differences between British and American English are todo with the quality and length of the vowels. The most significant differences are explained in the footnotes. Jit] eat, sleep Js) under, enough, butter {If silly, baby (in final positions*) /at/ father, calm, can't®, car’, apart It) it, swim Jo} odd, want, cough fe/ edge, lead (=bly), said 12:1 of”, daughter, more [@/ apple, man 18] put, fll /3:/ earn, bird, occur? Jui! ooze, shoe, suit 12 above, support, possible, Africa, mother” Sin contemporary RP, American English and most southern varieties of British English. In conservative RP and Northern varieties of British English, this is pronounced /1/, as in ‘silly’: /stli/. In American English, this is pronounced with the open front vowel /22/, e.g. before /nt, f, s, 8/, as ‘con't’ /kzent/, hit jheef}, ‘grass’ /grzes), ‘both’ bx 7 In RP and many varieties of British English the ris not pronounced after a vowel (e.g. ‘car’ /kaz/, ‘or /31/}, but in GA and most American Varieties of English, the rafter a vowel is pronounced (e.g. car’ /kar/, ‘or’ /2F/). This rounded vowel is not found in American English. Instead it is pronounced as an unrounded /a/ (e.g. “odd” Jad, ‘wont’ ;want/). Insome (eastern) varieties of American English itis pronounced as the rounded back mid vowel /3/,e.g. before /1, f, 5, 8/, asin’song’ /son/, ‘cough’ /k3f/, toss’ /I>5/, ‘clotty /kI30/ In GA and most American Variet of English, this vowel is pronounced with an r-coloured vowel: /¥/ as in ‘earn’: /=n. This can also be written /3rn/ in ghonemic transcription ™ In GA and most American Varieties of English, final -er fs pronounced with an r-coloured vowel: /a/ asin ‘mother: /'madax/. This can also be written /'madar/ in shonemic transcription.