ALLOPHONES

1- Aspiration and Unaspiration

This refers to the extra puff of air with which the three voiceless plosive phonemes /p, t, k/ when
they are followed by vowel phonemes or consonant phonemes /w, r, l, j/ in prominent syllables.

The diacritic symbol to mark aspiration is [ʰ]. This diacritic is only used when /p, t, k/ are followed
by vowel phonemes in prominent syllables:

[ɪm'pʰɔ:tnt]    [dɪk'tʰeɪʃn]    ['kʰæri]

When /p, t, k/ are preceded by /s/ in prominent syllables, unaspiration take place, thus, 

['spɔɪlɪŋ]    [ɪk'spens]    [ɪn'stɔ:l]

When /p, t, k/ are followed by /w, r, l, j/ in prominent syllables, the symbol of aspiration is not
used.

2- Devoicing Group C

This refers to the loss of the voicing (vibration of the vocal folds) that characterizes voiced
consonant phonemes in certain phonetic contexts.

Devoicing is marked [∘] in allophonic transcription.

Consonant phonemes of Group C (voiced)

m n ŋ l r j w

Only a group of consonant phonemes are devoiced. Devoicing affects /l, r, j, w/ when they are
preceded by aspirated / p, t, k /.

['kr̥aɪɪŋ]    [pl ̥eɪs]    [ə'tju:n] 

̥   ['kw̥ estʃn]

3- Devoicing Group B

They are devoiced:

 after and before pauses 

 after and before voiceless consonants of Group A: /p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /ʃ/ /s/ ʧ/ /Ɵ/

Consonant phonemes of Group B (voiced)

b d g v ð z ʒ dʒ
[vɪzɪtɪd̥ pærɪs] is devoiced because it is used before a voiceless consonant phoneme of Group A. 

[streɪndʒ̥ si:dz̥//]  [dʒ̥] is devoiced because it is used before a voiceless consonant phoneme of
Group A and [z̥] is devoiced because it is used before a pause.  
[əbaʊt ð̥ ə] is devoiced because it is used after a voiceless consonant phoneme of Group A. 

 
[//b̥ɒbz] is devoiced because it is used after a pause.

[mærɪd̥ tu] is devoiced because it is used before a voiceless consonant phoneme of Group A.

4- Release:

This refers to the different ways in which the six plosive phonemes release the air depending on
the phonetic context where they are used.

p b
t d
k g
There are 4 types of release:

Oral release

The six plosives have oral release when followed by:

 vowels
 semi consonants /w, j/.

Oral release is left unmarked in allophonic transcription.

[wi 'fi:ld ɪt 'ɪn]

Non-audible release

The six plosives have non-audible release when they are used in clusters formed by:

 two consecutive plosives

 plosive + affricate.

This type can take place within words and at word boundary. It is marked [‿] in allophonic
transcription.

Examples:
Inside a word: [stɒp‿t] [lʊk‿t]
 At word boundary: [ðæt‿'beɪbi] ['stɒp‿'tʃəʊkɪŋ]

Nasal release

The six plosives have nasal release when they are followed by nasal phonemes /m, n/. This type
can take place within words and at word boundary. It is marked [‿] in allophonic transcription.

Examples:
Inside a word: [kʊd‿nt]   ['tɒp‿məʊst]
At word boundary: [ət‿'naɪt] [aɪ 'laɪk‿'məʊst əv ðm]

Lateral release

Only /t, d/ have lateral release when they are followed by /l/. This type can take place within
words or at word boundary as well. Lateral release is marked [‿] in allophonic transcription.

Examples:
Inside a word: ['met‿l] ['med‿l]
At word boundary: [aɪd‿laɪk] [ðæt‿lɪt‿l bɔɪ]

The following example includes the three types of release marked [‿] in allophonic transcription:

[wid‿'laɪk‿tə 'spi:k tə ðæt‿'mænɪdʒə]

5- Variations of place of articulation

Dentalization

The alveolar consonant phonemes /t, d, n, l/ are dentalized when they are followed by the dental
consonant phonemes /ð, θ/ within words or at word boundary. Dentalization is marked [  ̪] in
allophonic transcription [t̪] [d̪ ] [n̪] [l ̪].

Examples:
Inside a word: [ten̪ θ] [wɪd̪ θ]
At word boundary: [ɔl ̪ θru:] [ɪn̪ ðə] [ət̪ ðə]
Labiodentalization

The nasals /m, n/ are labiodentalized when they are followed by labiodental consonant
phonemes /f, v/ within words or at word boundary. Labiodentalization is marked [ɱ] in allophonic
transcription.  

Examples:
Inside a word: ['kʌɱfət] [ɪɱ'vaɪt]
At word boundary: ['tɪɱ 'vəʊtɪd] [ɪɱ 'fəʊkəs]
Postalveolar articulation

The alveolars /t, d, n, l/ are articulated in the post-alveolar area of the mouth when they are
followed by the post-alveolar/r/ within words or at word boundary. Post-alveolar articulation is
marked [  ̠] in allophonic transcription [t̠] [d̠ ] [n̠ ] [l ̠].

Examples:
Inside a word: ['bɔ:l ̠ru:m] ['kʌn̠ tr̠ i] ['lɔ:n̠ d̠ri]
At word boundary: [bɪ'gɪn̠ 'raʊz] ['sed̠ 'red]

Types of /l/ 

The /l/ sound can be pronounced in at least two different ways. These allophonic realisations are
commonly known as Clear /l/ and Dark /l/.

a) Clear /l/

This pronunciation occurs when /l/ appears before:

 vowel sounds
 semi-vowel /j/.

This feature could also be referred to as alveolar-only /l/, as it requires only that place of
articulation. The symbol used to represent this allophone is the same as "l", but with the usual
square brackets indicating the actual realisation: [l]    

Examples:
[læmp] – [ˈjeləʊ] – [kɔ:l aʊt]

b) Dark /l/

This realization of /l/ happens when the phoneme precedes:

 consonant sounds
 the semi-vowel /w/
 pauses

Because of the influence of the secondary place of articulation, this pronunciation is known
as velarised /l/. This allophone is said to represent a case of DOUBLE ARTICULATION of the same
sound. The symbol to represent it is the one for "l" with a tilde across it [ɫ].  

Examples:
[wɪsɫ] - [maɪˈseɫf] - [ɔ:ɫweɪz]

6- Syllabicity

When vowel phonemes are omitted in unstressed syllables and consonant phonemes function as

the central elements in those syllables, the result refers to syllabicity. If a vowel is omitted or
elided, the consonant that takes its place is called syllabic.
Syllabicity is marked [ˌ]. The most important syllabic consonants in English are [l ̩] and [n̩].
Examples:
[pɑ:sl ̩] [pedl ̩] [kʌpl ̩] [bʌtn̩ ] [sevn̩ ] [ˈfæʃn̩ ]

7- Vowel length

Fully long vowels [:]

Long pure vowels and diphthongs are fully long:

A) in open prominent syllables. For example:

now [na:ʊ] knew [nju:] who [hu:] door [dɔ:] floor

[fl ɔ:] hair [he:ə]

B) in prominent syllables closed by a voiced

sound. For example: 

Keys [kiːz] Boom [buːm] Room [ruːm] Warn [wɔːn]

Beard [bɪːəd] All [ɔːl] Eyes [aːɪz]

Half long vowels [ˑ]

Long pure vowels and diphthongs are half long:

A) in prominent syllables closed by a voiceless sound. For example:

Jerked [dʒɜˑkt] Awake [ə'weˑɪk] Brought [brɔˑt] Face [feˑɪs] Make [meˑɪk]

B) in prominent syllables followed by other syllables in the same word. For example:

Keeper ['kiˑpə] Shouted ['ʃaˑʊtɪd] Easily ['iˑzili] Holding ['həˑʊldɪŋ] Completely [kəm'pliˑtli]

C) in non-prominent syllables. For example:

They [ðeˑɪ] Out [aˑʊt] Way [weˑɪ]