English phonology is the sound
system (phonology) of the English language, or to the study of
that system. Like many languages, English has wide variation in pronunciation, both historically and from dialect to dialect. In general, however,
the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (though not identical)
phonological system.
Phonological analysis of English often
concentrates on, or uses as a reference point, one or more of the prestige or standard accents, such
as Received Pronunciation for England,General American for the United
States, and General Australian for Australia.
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A phoneme of a language or
dialect is an abstraction of a speech sound or of a group of
different sounds which are all perceived to have the same function by speakers
of that language or dialect. For example, the English word "through"
consists of three phonemes: the initial "th" sound, the "r"
sound, and an "oo" vowel sound. Notice that the phonemes in this and
many other English words do not always correspond directly to the letters used
to spell them (English orthography is not as
strongly phonemic as that of certain other languages).
The phonemes of English and their number vary
from dialect to dialect, and also depend on the interpretation of the individual
researcher. The number of consonant phonemes is generally put at 24 (or
slightly more). The number of vowels is subject to greater variation; in the
system presented on this page there are 20 vowel phonemes in Received Pronunciation, 14–16 in General American and 20–21 in
Australian English. The pronunciation keys used in dictionaries generally
contain a slightly greater number of symbols than this, to take account of
certain sounds used in foreign words and certain noticeable distinctions that
may not be strictly speaking phonemic.
The following table shows the 24 consonant
phonemes found in most dialects of English. When consonants appear in
pairs, fortis consonants
(i.e., aspirated or voiceless) appear on the left and lenis consonants (i.e., lightly voiced or voiced) appear on the right:
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Consonant phonemes of
English
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m
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n
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ŋ
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p b
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t d
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k ɡ
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tʃ dʒ
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f v
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θ ð
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s z
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ʃ ʒ
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(x)2
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h
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r1, 5
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j
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w3
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l1
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1. Most varieties of
English have syllabic consonants, for example at the end of bottle and button.
In such cases, no vowel is pronounced between the last two consonants. It is
common for syllabic consonants to be transcribed with a subscript mark, so that
phonetic transcription of bottle would be [ˈbɒtl̩] and
for button [ˈbʌtn̩].
In theory, such consonants could be analysed as individual phonemes. However,
this would add several extra consonant phonemes to the inventory for English,[1] and phonologists prefer to
identify syllabic nasals and liquids phonemically
as /əC/.[2][3] Thus button is
phonemically /ˈbʌtən/ and
'bottle' is phonemically /ˈbɒtəl/.
2. The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is mainly restricted to Scottish English; words
with /x/ in Scottish accents tend to be pronounced
with /k/ in other dialects. The velar fricative may appear in
recently borrowed words such as chutzpah.
3. The sound at the
beginning of words spelt ⟨wh⟩
(e.g. which, why) is in some accents (e.g. much of the
American South, Scotland, and Ireland) a "voiceless w" sound, which
is a voiceless labiovelar fricative[4][5][6] or voiceless labiovelar approximant,[7] whereas other
accents have the voiced approximant [w]. The phonemic status of the voiceless
sound, for which the phonetic symbol is [ʍ],
is difficult to define. It would be possible to consider this sound to be a
separate phoneme, but phonologists prefer to treat it as a combination
of /h/ and /w/. Thus which (as pronounced by
speakers who have the "voiceless w") is transcribed phonemically
as /hwɪtʃ/.
This should not, however, be interpreted to mean that such speakers actually
pronounce [h] followed by [w]: the phonemic
transcription /hw/ is simply a convenient way of representing a single
sound[ʍ] without
analyzing such dialects as having an extra phoneme.[8]
4. A similar case to the
above is that of the sound at the beginning of huge; in accents in
which the initial consonant is voiceless, a voiceless palatal
fricative [ç] occurs, but the usual phonemic analysis is to treat
this as /h/ plus /j/ so that huge is
transcribed /hjuːdʒ/.
This transcription often gives rise to the incorrect belief that speakers
pronounce [h] followed by [j] in such contexts, but the
symbols in fact represent a single sound [ç].[8] The yod-dropping found in Norfolk dialect means that the
traditional Norfolk pronunciation of huge is [hʊudʒ] and
not [çuːdʒ].
5. The phonotactic constraints regarding the
phoneme /r/ differ among accents. In non-rhotic accents, such as Received Pronunciation and Australian
English, /r/ only appears before a vowel, whereas in rhotic
accents /r/ occurs in all positions.
The following table shows typical examples of
the occurrence of the above consonant phonemes in words.
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/p/
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pit
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/b/
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bit
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/t/
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tin
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/d/
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din
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/k/
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cut
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/ɡ/
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gut
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/tʃ/
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cheap
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/dʒ/
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jeep
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/f/
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fat
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/v/
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vat
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/θ/
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thin
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/ð/
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then
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/s/
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sap
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/z/
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zap
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/ʃ/
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she
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/ʒ/
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measure
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/x/
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loch
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/w/
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we
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/m/
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map
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/l/
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left
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/n/
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nap
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/r/
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run
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/j/
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yes
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/h/
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ham
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/ŋ/
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bang
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The distinctions between
the nasals are neutralized in some environments. For example, before a
final /p/, /t/ or /k/ there is only one nasal sound
that can appear in each case:[m], [n] or [ŋ] respectively
(as in the words limp, lint, link –
note that the n of link is
pronounced [ŋ]). This effect can even occur across syllable or word
boundaries, particularly in stressed syllables: synchrony is
pronounced as [ˈsɪŋkɹəni] whereas synchronic may
be pronounced either as [sɪŋˈkɹɒnɨk] or as [sɪnˈkɹɒnɨk]. For other possible
syllable-final combinations, see Coda in the
Phonotactics section below.
An allophone is one of a set of
multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a
single phoneme. For example, the phoneme /t/ is pronounced differently in tonsilsthan
in button, and still differently in cat.
All of these "t" sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, since no
two words can be distinguished from each other solely on the basis of which of
these pronunciations is used.
Although regional variation is very great
across English dialects, certain instances of allophony can be observed in all
(or at least the vast majority) of English accents. (See alsoAllophones of vowels below.)
·
Many dialects have two allophones of /l/ – the
"clear" L and the "dark" or velarized L. The clear variant is used
before vowels (or sometimes only before stressed vowels), the dark variant in
other positions. In some dialects, /l/ may be always clear (e.g.
Wales, Ireland, the Caribbean) or always dark (e.g. Scotland, most of North
America, Australia, New Zealand).
·
Depending on dialect, /r/ has at least the following
allophones in varieties of English around the world:
·
alveolar tap [ɾ]
·
post-alveolar flap [ɽ]
·
alveolar trill [r]
In the traditional
Tyneside accent in the North of England, /r/ was pronounced as
a voiced uvular fricative [ʁ], but this is probably
now extinct.[9]
In some rhotic accents,
such as General American, /r/ when not followed by a vowel is
realized as an r-coloring of the preceding
vowel or its coda.
For many
speakers, /r/ is somewhat labialized, as in reed [ɹʷiːd] and tree [tʰɹ̥ʷiː]. In the latter case,
the [t] may be slightly labialized as well.[10]
·
Postalveolar consonants are also usually labialized (e.g. /ʃ/ is
pronounced [ʃʷ] and /ʒ/ is
pronounced [ʒʷ]).
·
The voiceless
stops /p/, /t/ and /k are aspirated ([pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ])
at the beginnings of words (for example tomato) and
at the beginnings of word-internal stressed syllables (for
example potato). They are unaspirated
([p], [t], [k]) after /s/ (stan, span, scan) and
at the ends of syllables.[11]
·
In American English, both /t/ and /d/ can be pronounced as a voiced flap [ɾ] in
certain positions: when they come between a preceding stressed vowel (possibly
with intervening/r/) and precede an unstressed vowel or syllabic L. Examples include water, bottle, petal, peddle (the
last two words sound alike). The flap may even appear at word boundaries, as
in put it on. When the combination /nt/ appears in such
positions, some American speakers pronounce it as a nasalized flap that may
become indistinguishable from /n/, so winter may be
pronounced as similar or identical to winner.[12]
·
In many accents of English, voiceless stops
(/p/, /t/, /k/ and /tʃ/ are glottalized. This may be heard either as a
glottal stop preceding the oral closure ("pre-glottalization" or
"glottal reinforcement") or as a substitution of the glottal
stop [ʔ] for the oral stop
(glottal replacement). Pre-glottalization normally occurs in British and
American English when the voiceless consonant phoneme is followed by another
consonant or when the consonant is in final position. Thus football and catching are
often pronounced [ˈfʊʔtbɔːl] and[ˈkæʔtʃɪŋ], respectively. Glottal replacement often happens in cases such
as those just given, so that football is frequently
pronounced [ˈfʊʔbɔːl]. In addition, however,
glottal replacement is increasingly common in British English
when /t/ occurs between vowels if the preceding vowel is stressed;
thus getting better is often pronounced by younger speakers
as [ˈɡeʔɪŋ ˌbeʔə].[13]
·
Final /t/ as in cat is not usually
audibly released. However, in speech with careful enunciation, in all
situations /t/ may be pronounced as [t] or [tʰ].
The foregoing features mean that English
voiceless plosive consonants have a wide range of different allophones.[14]:pp.62-67)
The vowels of English differ considerably between
dialects. Because of this, corresponding vowels may be transcribed with various
symbols depending on the dialect under consideration. When considering English
as a whole, lexical
sets are often used,
each named by a word containing the vowel or vowels in question. For example,
the LOT set consists of words which, like lot,
have /ɒ/ in Received Pronunciation and /ɑ/ in General American. The
"LOT vowel" then refers to the vowel that appears in those words
in whichever dialect is being considered, or (at a greater level of abstraction) to a diaphoneme which transcends all dialects.
A commonly used system of lexical sets is presented below; for each set, the
corresponding phonemes are given for RP (first column) and General American
(second column), using the notation that will be used on this page.
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For a table that shows the pronunciations of
these vowels in a wider range of English dialects, see IPA chart for English dialects.
The following tables show the vowel phonemes of
three standard varieties of English. The notation system used here for Received
Pronunciation (RP) is fairly standard; the others less so. For different ways
of transcribing General American, see Transcription variants below. The feature
descriptions given here (front, close, etc.) are abstracted somewhat; the
actual pronunciations of these vowels are more accurately conveyed by the IPA symbols used (see Vowel for a chart indicating the meanings of
these symbols; though note also the points listed below the following tables).
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The differences between these tables can be
explained as follows:
1.
The absence of length marks in the General American table is
largely a matter of notational convention.
2.
In General American, the vowels [ə], [ʌ] and [ɜ] may
be considered a single phoneme.
3.
General American lacks a phoneme corresponding to RP /ɒ/ (LOT, CLOTH),
instead using /ɑ/ or /ɔ/ in
such words.
4.
General American does not have the centering diphthong
phonemes /ɪə/, /ɛə/,
and /ʊə/;
in NEAR, SQUARE, and CURE it has the combinations /ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʊr/.
(However in some descriptions these words are analyzed as diphthongs even in
rhotic dialects.[16][page needed])
5.
In certain General American dialects, the diphthongs /ɪə/ and /eə/ can
be found in words such as "ideas" and "rail,"
respectively.
6.
The different notations used for the vowel of GOAT in RP
and General American (/əʊ/ and /oʊ/)
reflect a difference in the most common phonetic realizations of that vowel.
7.
The different notations used here for some of the Australian
vowels reflect the phonetic realization of those vowels in Australian: a
central [ʉː] rather
than [uː] in GOOSE, a
more closed [e] rather than [ɛ] in DRESS, an
open-mid [ɔ] rather than
RP's [ɒ] in LOT and CLOTH,
a more close [oː] rather
than [ɔː] in THOUGHT, NORTH and FORCE,
a fronted [a]rather than [ʌ] in STRUT, a
fronted [aː] rather
than [ɑː] in CALM and START,
and somewhat different pronunciations of most of the diphthongs.
8.
The Australian monophthong /eː/ corresponds
to the RP diphthong /ɛə/ (SQUARE).
9.
Australian has the bad–lad split, with distinctive short
and long variants of [æ] in various words of the TRAP set.
10. The vowel /ʊə/ is
often omitted from descriptions of Australian, as for most speakers it has
split into the long monophthong /oː/ (e.g. poor, sure)
or the sequence /ʉː.ə/(e.g. cure, lure).[17]
Other points to be noted are these:
·
Although the notation /ʌ/ is used for the
vowel of STRUT in RP, the actual pronunciation is closer to a near-open central vowel [ɐ]. The symbol ʌ
continues to be used for reasons of tradition (it was historically a back
vowel) and because it is still back in other varieties.[18]
·
A significant number of words (the BATH group) have /æ/ in
General American, but /ɑː/ in RP (and
mostly /aː/ in Australian).
·
In General American (which is a rhotic accent – /r/ can occur
in positions where it does not precede a vowel), many of the vowels can
be r-colored by way of
realization of a following /r/. This is often transcribed phonetically
using a vowel symbol with an added retroflexion diacritic [˞]; thus the symbol [ɚ] has been created
for an r-colored schwa(sometimes called
"schwar") as in LETTER, and the vowel
of START can be modified to make [ɑ˞] so that the word
'start' may be transcribed [stɑ˞t]. Alternatively, the START vowel
might be written [stɑɚt] to indicate an r-colored offglide. The vowel /ɜ/ (as in NURSE) is
generally always r-colored, and this can be written [ɝ] (or as a
syllabic [ɹ̩]).
·
In RP and other dialects, many words from the CURE group
are coming to be pronounced by an increasing number of speakers with
the NORTH vowel (so sure is often pronounced
like shore). Also the RP
vowels /ɛə/ and /ʊə/ may be monophthongized
to [ɛː] and [oː] respectively.[19]
·
Long vowels are often not pronounced as pure monophthongs. In
particular, the vowels of FLEECE and GOOSE are usually
pronounced as narrow diphthongs: [ɪi], [ʊu].
Listed here are some of the significant cases
of allophony of vowels found within standard
English dialects (see also Allophones of
consonants above).
·
There is a tendency for many vowels to be pronounced with greater
length in open syllables than closed syllables, and with greater
length in syllables ending with a voiced consonant than with a
voiceless one. For example, the /aɪ/ in advise is
longer than that in advice.
·
In many accents of English, tense vowels
undergo breaking before /l/, resulting in pronunciations
like [piəɫ] for peel, [puəɫ] for pool, [peəɫ] for pail,
and [poəɫ] for pole.
·
In RP, the vowel /əʊ/ may be pronounced more back,
as [oʊ], before /l/, as in goal. In Australian English
the vowel /əʉ/ is similarly backed to [oʊ] before /l/.
·
The vowel /aɪ/ may be pronounced less open before a voiceless consonant.[14]:p.66 Thus writer may
be distinguished from rider even when flapping causes
the /t/ and /d/ to be pronounced identically.
Unstressed syllables in English may contain almost any vowel,
but there are certain sounds – characterized by central position and
weakness – that are particularly often found as the nuclei of syllables of this
type. These include:
·
schwa, [ə], as
in COMMA and (in non-rhotic dialects) LETTER; also
in many other positions such as about, photograph, paddock,
etc. This sound is essentially restricted to unstressed syllables exclusively.
In the approach presented here it is identified with the phoneme /ə/,
although other analyses do not have a separate phoneme for schwa and regard it
as a reduction or neutralization of other vowels in syllables with the lowest
degree of stress.
·
r-colored schwa, [ɚ], as
in LETTER in General American and some other rhotic dialects,
which can be identified with the underlying sequence /ər/.
·
syllabic consonants: [l̩] as in bottle, [n̩] as
in button, [m̩] as in rhythm.
These may be phonemized either as a plain consonant or as a schwa followed by a
consonant; for example button may be represented
as /ˈbʌtn/ or /ˈbʌtən/.
·
[ɪ], as in roses, making, expect.
This can be identified with the phoneme /ɪ/, although in unstressed
syllables it may be pronounced more centrally (in American tradition thebarred i symbol /ɨ/ is
used here), and for some speakers (particularly in Australian and New Zealand
and some American English) it is merged with /ə/ in these syllables.
Among speakers who retain the distinction there are many cases where free variation between /ɪ/ and /ə/ is
found, as in the second syllable of typical. (The OED has recently adopted the
symbol /ᵻ/ to indicate such cases.)
·
[ʊ], as in argument, today,
for which similar considerations apply as in the case of [ɪ]. (The
symbol /ᵿ/ is sometimes used in these cases, similarly to /ᵻ/.)
Some speakers may also have a rounded schwa, [ɵ], used in words like omission [ɵˈmɪʃən].[21]
·
[i], as in happy, coffee, in
many dialects (others have [ɪ] in this position).[22] The phonemic
status of this [i] is not easy to establish. Contemporary accounts regard it as
a symbol representing a close front vowel that is neither the vowel
of KIT nor that of FLEECE; it occurs in contexts where the
contrast between these vowels is neutralized.[23][24][25]Strictly speaking,
therefore, [i] is not a phoneme but an archiphoneme. See happy-tensing.
·
[u], as in influence, to each.
This is the back rounded counterpart to [i] described above; its
phonemic status is treated in the same works as cited there.
Vowel reduction in unstressed
syllables is a significant feature of English. Syllables of the types listed
above often correspond to a syllable containing a different vowel ("full
vowel") used in other forms of the same morpheme where that
syllable is stressed. For example, the first o in photograph,
being stressed, is pronounced with the GOAT vowel, but inphotography,
where it is unstressed, it is reduced to schwa. Also, certain common words (a, an, of, for,
etc.) are pronounced with a schwa when they are unstressed, although they have
different vowels when they are in a stressed position (see Weak and strong forms in English).
Some unstressed syllables, however, retain full
(unreduced) vowels, i.e. vowels other than those listed above. Examples are
the /æ/ in ambition and
the /aɪ/ in finite. Some phonologists regard such
syllables as not being fully unstressed (they may describe them as having tertiary
stress); some dictionaries have marked such syllables as havingsecondary stress. However linguists such
as Ladefoged[26] and Bolinger[21] regard this as a difference
purely of vowel quality and not of stress,[27] and thus argue
that vowel reduction itself is phonemic in English. Examples of words where
vowel reduction seems to be distinctive for some speakers[28] include chickaree vs. chicory (the
latter has the reduced vowel of HAPPY, whereas the former has
the FLEECE vowel without reduction), and Pharaoh vs. farrow (both
have the GOAT vowel, but in the latter word it may reduce
to [ɵ]).
The choice of which symbols to use for phonemic
transcriptions may reveal theoretical assumptions or claims on the part of the
transcriber. English "lax" and "tense" vowels are
distinguished by a synergy of features, such as height, length, and contour (monophthong vs. diphthong); different traditions in the
linguistic literature emphasize different features. For example, if the primary
feature is thought to be vowel height, then the non-reduced vowels of General
American English may be represented according to the table to the left and
below. If, on the other hand, vowel length is considered to be the deciding factor,
the symbols in the table to the below and center may be chosen (this convention
has sometimes been used because the publisher did not have IPA fonts available,
though that is seldom an issue any longer.) The rightmost table lists the
corresponding lexical
sets.
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If vowel transition is taken to be paramount,
then the chart may look like one of these:
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or
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(The transcriber at left assumes that there is
no phonemic distinction between semivowels and approximants, so
that /ej/ is equivalent to /eɪ̯/.)
Many linguists combine more than one of these
features in their transcriptions, suggesting they consider the phonemic
differences to be more complex than a single feature.
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or
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Lexical stress is phonemic in English. For example, the
noun increase and the verb increase are
distinguished by the positioning of the stress on the first syllable in the
former, and on the second syllable in the latter. (See initial-stress-derived noun.) Stressed syllables in English are louder than
non-stressed syllables, as well as being longer and having a higher pitch.
In traditional approaches, in any English word
consisting of more than one syllable, each syllable is
ascribed one of three degrees of stress: primary, secondary or unstressed.
Ordinarily, in each such word there will be exactly one syllable with primary
stress, possibly one syllable having secondary stress, and the remainder
unstressed. For example, the word amazing has primary
stress on the second syllable, while the first and third syllables are
unstressed, whereas the word organization has
primary stress on the fourth syllable, secondary stress on the first, and the
second, third and fifth unstressed. This is often shown in pronunciation keys
using the IPA symbols for
primary and secondary stress (which are ˈ and ˌ respectively), placed before
the syllables to which they apply. The two words just given may therefore be
represented (in RP) as /əˈmeɪzɪŋ/ and /ˌɔːɡənaɪˈzeɪʃən/.
Some analysts identify an additional level of
stress (tertiary stress). This is generally ascribed to syllables that
are pronounced with less force than those with secondary stress, but
nonetheless contain a "full" or "unreduced" vowel (vowels
that are considered to be reduced are listed under Vowels in unstressed
syllables above).
Hence the third syllable oforganization, if pronounced
with /aɪ/ as shown above (rather than being reduced
to /ɪ/ or /ə/), might be said to have tertiary stress. (The
precise identification of secondary and tertiary stress differs between
analyses; dictionaries do not generally show tertiary stress, although some
have taken the approach of marking all syllables with unreduced vowels as
having at least secondary stress.)
In some analyses, then, the concept of lexical
stress may become conflated with that of vowel reduction. An approach which
attempts to separate these two is provided by Peter Ladefoged, who states that it is
possible to describe English with only one degree of stress, as long as unstressed syllables are phonemically
distinguished for vowel reduction.[29]In this approach, the
distinction between primary and secondary stress is regarded as a phonemic or
prosodic detail rather than a phonemic feature – primary stress is seen as an
example of the predictable "tonic" stress that falls on the final stressed
syllable of a prosodic unit. For more details of this analysis, see Stress and vowel reduction in English.
For stress as a prosodic feature (emphasis of
particular words within utterances), see Prosodic stress below.
Phonotactics is the study of
the sequences of phonemes that occur in languages and the sound structures that
they form. In this study it is usual to represent consonants in general with
the letter C and vowels with the letter V, so that a syllable such as 'be' is
described as having CV structure. The IPA symbol used to show a division between
syllables is the dot [.]. Syllabification is the process of dividing
continuous speech into discrete syllables, a process in which the position of a
syllable division is not always easy to decide upon.
Most languages of the world
syllabify CVCV and CVCCV sequences as /CV.CV/ and /CVC.CV/ or /CV.CCV/,
with consonants preferentially acting as the onset of a syllable containing the
following vowel. According to one view, English is unusual in this regard, in
that stressed syllables attract following consonants, so that ˈCVCV and ˈCVCCV syllabify
as /ˈCVC.V/ and /ˈCVCC.V/, as long as the consonant
cluster CC is a possible syllable coda; in
addition, /r/ preferentially syllabifies with the preceding vowel
even when both syllables are unstressed, so that CVrV occurs
as /CVr.V/. This is the analysis used in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary.[30] However, this view
is not widely accepted, as explained in the following section.
The syllable structure in English is (C)3V(C)5,
with a near maximal example being strengths (/strɛŋkθs/,
although it can be pronounced /strɛŋθs/).[31] From the phonetic
point of view, the analysis of syllable structures is a complex task: because
of widespread occurrences of articulatory overlap, English speakers rarely produce
an audible release of individual consonants in consonant clusters.[32] This
coarticulation can lead to articulatory gestures that seem very much like
deletions or complete assimilations. For example,hundred pounds may
sound like [ˈhʌndɹɪb pʰaʊndz] and 'jumped back' (in slow
speech, [ˈdʒʌmptbæk]) may sound like [ˈdʒʌmpbæk], but X-ray[33] and electropalatographic[34][35][36] studies
demonstrate that inaudible and possibly weakened contacts or lingual gestures
may still be made. Thus the second /d/ in hundred pounds does
not entirely assimilate to a labial place of articulation, rather the labial
gesture co-occurs with the alveolar one; the
"missing" [t] in 'jumped back' may still be articulated,
though not heard.
Division into syllables is a difficult area, and
different theories have been proposed. A widely accepted approach is the
maximal onsets principle:[37] this states that, subject to
certain constraints, any consonants in between vowels should be assigned to the
following syllable. Thus the word 'leaving' should be divided /ˈliː.vɪŋ/ rather
than */ˈliːv.ɪŋ/, and 'hasty' is /ˈheɪ.sti/ rather than
*/ˈheɪs.ti/ or */ˈheɪst.i/. However, when such a division results in an
onset cluster which is not allowed in English, the division must respect this.
Thus if the word 'extra' were divided */ˈɛ.kstrə/ the resulting onset of
the second syllable would be /kstr/, a cluster which does not occur in
English. The division /ˈɛk.strə/ is therefore preferred. If assigning
a consonant or consonants to the following syllable would result in the preceding
syllable ending in an unreduced short vowel, this is avoided. Thus the word
'comma' should be divided /ˈkɒm.ə/ and not */ˈkɒ.mə/, even though the
latter division gives the maximal onset to the following syllable, because
English syllables do not end in /ɒ/.
In some cases, no solution is completely
satisfactory: for example, in British English (RP) the word 'hurry' could be
divided /ˈhʌ.ri/ or /ˈhʌr.i/, but the former would result in an
analysis with a syllable-final /ʌ/ (which is held to be non-occurring)
while the latter would result in a syllable final /r/ (which is said
not to occur in this accent). Some phonologists have suggested a compromise
analysis where the consonant in the middle belongs to both syllables, resulting
in an analysis of 'hurry' which comprises the
syllables /hʌr/ and/ri/, and the medial /r/ is described
as ambisyllabic.
Where the division coincides with a word
boundary, or the boundary between elements of a compound word, it is not usual
to insist on the maximal onsets principle in a way that divides words in a
counter-intuitive way; thus the word 'hardware' would be
divided /ˈhɑː.dweə/ by the M.O.P., but dictionaries prefer the
division /ˈhɑːd.weə/. For discussion of this topic, see Gimson,[38] Giegerich[39] or Kreidler[40]
In the approach used by the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, Wells[30] claims that
consonants syllabify with the preceding rather than following vowel when the
preceding vowel is the nucleus of a more salient syllable, with stressed syllables
being the most salient, reduced syllables the least, and full unstressed vowels
("secondary stress") intermediate. But there are lexical differences
as well, frequently but not exclusively with compound words. For example,
in dolphin and selfish, Wells argues that the
stressed syllable ends in /lf/, but in shellfish, the /f/ belongs
with the following syllable: /ˈdɒlf.ɪn/, /ˈsɛlf.ɪʃ/ → [ˈdɒlfɨn],
[ˈsɛlfɨʃ], but /ˈʃɛl.fɪʃ/ → [ˈʃɛlˑfɪʃ], where
the /l/ is a little longer and the /ɪ/ is not reduced.
Similarly, in toe-strap Wells argues that the
second /t/ is a full plosive, as usual in syllable onset, whereas
in toast-rack the second /t/ is in many dialects
reduced to the unreleased allophone it takes in syllable codas, or even
elided: /ˈtoʊ.stræp/, /ˈtoʊst.ræk/ → [ˈtʰoˑʊstɹæp],
[ˈtoʊs(t̚)ɹʷæk]; likewise nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/ → [ˈnʌɪtɹ̥ʷeɪt] with
a voiceless /r/ (and for some people an affricated tr as
in tree), vs night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/ → [ˈnʌɪt̚ɹʷeɪt] with
a voiced /r/. Cues of syllable boundaries include aspiration of syllable
onsets and (in the US) flapping of coda /t, d/ (a tease /ə.ˈtiːz/ → [əˈtʰiːz] vs. at
ease /æt.ˈiːz/ → [æɾˈiːz]), epenthetic stops
like [t] in syllable codas (fence /ˈfɛns/ → [ˈfɛnts]but inside /ɪn.ˈsaɪd/ → [ɪnˈsaɪd]),
and r-colored vowels when the /r/ is in the coda vs. labialization
when it is in the onset (key-ring /ˈkiː.rɪŋ/ → [ˈkʰiːɹʷɪŋ] but fearing /ˈfiːr.ɪŋ/ →[ˈfɪəɹɪŋ]).
|
All single consonant phonemes except /ŋ/
|
|
|
Stop plus approximant other than /j/:
/pl/, /bl/, /kl/, /ɡl/, /pr/, /br/, /tr/,[1] /dr/,[1] /kr/, /ɡr/, /tw/, /dw/, /ɡw/,/kw/, /pw/
|
play, blood, clean,
glove, prize, bring, tree,[1] dream,[1] crowd,
green, twin, dwarf, language, quick, puissance
|
|
Voiceless fricative
plus approximant other than /j/:[2]
/fl/, /sl/, /θl/,[3] /fr/, /θr/, /ʃr/, /hw/,[4] /sw/, /θw/, /vw/
|
floor, sleep,
thlipsis,[3] friend, three, shrimp, what,[4] swing,
thwart, reservoir
|
|
Consonant
plus /j/ (before /uː/ or /ʊr/):
/pj/, /bj/, /tj/,[5] /dj/,[5] /kj/, /ɡj/, /mj/, /nj/,[5] /fj/, /vj/, /θj/,[5] /sj/,[5]/zj/,[5] /hj/, /lj/[5]
|
pure, beautiful, tube,[5] during,[5] cute,
argue, music, new,[5] few, view, thew,[5] suit,[5]Zeus,[5] huge,
lurid[5]
|
|
/s/ plus voiceless
stop:[6]
/sp/, /st/, /sk/
|
speak, stop, skill
|
|
/s/ plus nasal other
than /ŋ/:[6]
/sm/, /sn/
|
smile, snow
|
|
/s/ plus voiceless
fricative:[3]
/sf/, /sθ/
|
sphere, sthenic
|
|
/s/ plus voiceless
stop plus approximant:[6]
/spl/, /skl/,[3] /spr/, /str/, /skr/, /skw/, /smj/, /spj/, /stj/,[5] /skj/
|
split, sclera, spring,
street, scream, square, smew, spew, student,[5] skewer
|
|
/s/ plus voiceless
fricative plus approximant:[3]
/sfr/
|
sphragistics
|
Notes:
1.
For a number of speakers, /tr/ and /dr/ tend
to affricate, so that tree resembles "chree",
and dream resembles "jream".[41][42][43] This is sometimes
transcribed as [tʃr] and[dʒr] respectively, but the
pronunciation varies and may, for example, be closer
to [tʂ] and [dʐ][44] or with a
fricative release similar in quality to the rhotic,
i.e. [tɹ̝̊ɹ̥], [dɹ̝ɹ], or[tʂɻ], [dʐɻ].
2.
In some dialects[which?], /wr/ (rather
than /r/) occurs in words beginning in wr- (write, wrong, wren, etc.).[citation needed]
3.
Words beginning in unusual consonant clusters that originated in
Latinized Greek loanwords tend to drop the first phoneme, as in */bd/, */fθ/,
*/ɡn/, */hr/, */kn/, */ks/, */kt/, */kθ/, */mn/, */pn/, */ps/, */pt/, */tm/,
and */θm/, which have become /d/ (bdellium), /θ/ (phthisis), /n/ (gnome), /r/ (rhythm), /n/ (cnidoblast), /z/(xylophone), /t/ (ctenophore), /θ/ (chthonic), /n/ (mnemonic), /n/ (pneumonia), /s/ (psychology), /t/ (pterodactyl), /m/ (tmesis),
and /m/ (asthma). However, the
onsets/sf/, /sfr/, /skl/, /sθ/, and /θl/ have remained
intact.
5.
There is an on-going sound change (yod-dropping)
by which /j/ as the final consonant in a cluster is being lost. In
RP, words with /sj/ and /lj/ can usually be pronounced with
or without this sound, e.g., [suːt] or [sjuːt]. For some
speakers of English, including some British speakers, the sound change is more
advanced and so, for example,General American does not contain the
onsets /tj/, /dj/, /nj/, /θj/, /sj/, /stj/, /zj/,
or /lj/. Words that would otherwise begin in these onsets drop
the /j/: e.g., tube (/tuːb/), during (/ˈdʊrɪŋ/), new (/nuː/), Thule
(/ˈθuːliː/), suit (/suːt/), student (/ˈstuːdənt/), Zeus (/zuːs/), lurid
(/ˈlʊrɪd/). In some dialects, such Welsh English, /j/may occur in
more combinations; for example in /tʃj/ (chew), /dʒj/ (Jew), /ʃj/ (sure),
and /slj/ (slew).
6.
Many clusters beginning with /ʃ/ and paralleling native
clusters beginning with /s/ are found initially in German and Yiddish
loanwords, such as /ʃl/, /ʃp/, /ʃt/, /ʃm/, /ʃn/, /ʃpr/, /ʃtr/ (in
words such as schlep, spiel, shtick,
schmuck, schnapps, Shprintzen's,
strudel). /ʃw/ is
found initially in the Hebrew loanword schwa. Before /r/however, the native cluster
is /ʃr/. The opposite cluster /sr/ is found in loanwords such
as Sri Lanka, but this can be nativized by changing it
to /ʃr/.
Other onsets
Certain English onsets appear only in
contractions: e.g., /zbl/ ('sblood),
and /zw/ or /dzw/ ('swounds or 'dswounds).
Some, such as /pʃ/ (pshaw), /fw/ (fwoosh),
or /vr/(vroom), can occur in interjections. An archaic voiceless
fricative plus nasal exists, /fn/ (fnese), as does an
archaic /snj/ (snew).
A few other onsets occur in further
(anglicized) loan
words,
including /bw/ (bwana), /mw/ (moiré), /nw/ (noire), /zw/ (zwieback), /kv/ (kvetch), /ʃv/ (schvartze), /tv/ (Tver),/vl/ (Vladimir),
and /zl/ (zloty).
Some clusters of this type can be converted to
regular English phonotactics by simplifying the cluster: e.g. /(d)z/ (dziggetai), /(h)r/ (Hrolf), /kr(w)/ (croissant), /(p)f/ (pfennig),/(f)θ/ (phthalic),
and /(t)s/ (tsunami).
Others can be substituted by native clusters
differing only in voice: /zb ~ sp/ (sbirro),
and /zɡr ~ skr/ (sgraffito).
·
All vowel sounds
·
/r/ in rhotic
varieties of English (e.g. General American) in certain situations
(see below under word-level rules)
Most (in theory, all) the following except those
that end
with /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ or /dʒ/ can
be extended with /s/ or /z/ representing the morpheme -s/z-. Similarly,
most (in theory, all) the following except those that end
with /t/ or /d/ can be extended
with /t/ or /d/ representing the morpheme -t/d-.
Wells (1990) argues that a variety
of syllable codas are possible in English, even /ntr, ndr/ in words
like entry /ˈɛntr.ɪ/ and sundry /ˈsʌndr.ɪ/,
with /tr, dr/ being treated as affricates along the lines
of /tʃ, dʒ/. He argues that the traditional assumption that pre-vocalic
consonants form a syllable with the following vowel is due to the influence of
languages like French and Latin, where syllable structure is CVC.CVC regardless
of stress placement. Disregarding such contentious cases, which do not occur at
the ends of words, the following sequences can occur as the coda:
|
|
|
|
Lateral approximant plus stop or
affricate: /lp/, /lb/, /lt/, /ld/, /ltʃ/, /ldʒ/, /lk/
|
help, bulb, belt, hold, belch, indulge, milk
|
|
In rhotic varieties, /r/ plus stop
or
affricate: /rp/, /rb/, /rt/, /rd/, /rtʃ/, /rdʒ/, /rk/, /rɡ/
|
harp, orb, fort, beard, arch, large, mark,
morgue
|
|
Lateral approximant +
fricative: /lf/, /lv/, /lθ/, /ls/, /lʃ/
|
golf, solve, wealth, else, Welsh
|
|
In rhotic varieties, /r/ +
fricative: /rf/, /rv/, /rθ/, /rs/, /rz/, /rʃ/
|
dwarf, carve, north, force, Mars, marsh
|
|
Lateral approximant +
nasal: /lm/, /ln/
|
film, kiln
|
|
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + nasal or
lateral: /rm/, /rn/, /rl/
|
arm, born, snarl
|
|
jump, tent, end, lunch, lounge, pink
|
|
|
Nasal +
fricative: /mf/, /mθ/, /nθ/, /ns/, /nz/, /ŋθ/ in
some varieties
|
triumph, gloomth, month, prince, bronze,
length
|
|
Voiceless fricative plus voiceless
stop: /ft/, /sp/, /st/, /sk/
|
left, crisp, lost, ask
|
|
Two voiceless fricatives: /fθ/
|
fifth
|
|
Two voiceless stops: /pt/, /kt/
|
opt, act
|
|
Stop plus voiceless
fricative: /pθ/, /ps/, /tθ/, /ts/, /dθ/, /ks/
|
depth, lapse, eighth, klutz, width, box
|
|
Lateral approximant + two
consonants: /lpt/, /lfθ/, /lts/, /lst/, /lkt/, /lks/
|
sculpt, twelfth, waltz, whilst, mulct, calx
|
|
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + two
consonants: /rmθ/, /rpt/, /rps/, /rts/, /rst/, /rkt/
|
warmth, excerpt, corpse, quartz, horst,
infarct
|
|
Nasal + homorganic stop + stop or
fricative: /mpt/, /mps/, /ndθ/, /ŋkt/, /ŋks/, /ŋkθ/ in
some varieties
|
prompt, glimpse, thousandth, distinct, jinx,
length
|
|
Three obstruents: /ksθ/, /kst/
|
sixth, next
|
Note: For some speakers, a fricative
before /θ/ is elided so that these never appear
phonetically: /ˈfɪfθ/ becomes [ˈfɪθ], /ˈsiksθ/ becomes [ˈsikθ], /ˈtwɛlfθ/ becomes [ˈtwɛlθ].
·
Both the onset and the coda are optional
·
/j/ at the end of an onset cluster
(/pj/, /bj/, /tj/, /dj/, /kj/, /fj/, /vj/, /θj/, /sj/, /zj/, /hj/, /mj/, /nj/, /lj/, /spj/, /stj/, /skj/)
must be followed by /uː/ or /ʊə/
·
/ʊ/ is rare in syllable-initial position[46] (although, in the northern
half of England, [ʊ] is used for /ʌ/ and is common at the
start of syllables).
·
Sequences of /s/ + C1 + V̆ + C1,
where C1 is a consonant other than /t/ and V̆ is a short vowel,
are virtually nonexistent[47]
·
/ə/ does not occur in stressed syllables
·
/ʒ/ does not occur in word-initial position in native English
words although it can occur syllable-initial, e.g., luxurious /lʌɡˈʒʊəriəs/
·
/m/, /n/, /l/ and, in rhotic
varieties, /r/ can be the syllable nucleus (i.e. a syllabic consonant) in an unstressed syllable following another
consonant, especially /t/, /d/, /s/or /z/
·
Certain short vowel sounds, called checked vowels, cannot occur without a coda in a
single-syllable word. In RP, the following short vowel sounds are
checked: /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/, and /ʊ/.
Prosodic stress is extra stress
given to words or syllables when they appear in certain positions in an
utterance, or when they receive special emphasis.
According to Ladefoged's analysis (as referred
to under Lexical stress above), English
normally has prosodic stress on the final stressed syllable in an intonation unit. This is said to be the
origin of the distinction traditionally made at the lexical level between
primary and secondary stress: when a word like admiration (traditionally
transcribed as something like /ˌædmɨˈreɪʃən/) is spoken in isolation, or
at the end of a sentence, the syllable ra (the final stressed
syllable) is pronounced with greater force than the syllable ad,
although when the word is not pronounced with this final intonation there may
be no difference between the levels of stress of these two syllables.
Prosodic stress can shift for various pragmatic functions, such as
focus or contrast. For instance, in the dialogue Is it brunch tomorrow?
No, it's dinner tomorrow, the extra stress shifts from the
last stressed syllable of the sentence, tomorrow, to the
last stressed syllable of the emphasized word, dinner.
Grammatical function words are usually
prosodically unstressed, although they can acquire stress when emphasized (as
in Did you find the cat? Well, I found a cat).
Many English function words have distinct strong and weak pronunciations; for
example, the word a in the last example is
pronounced /eɪ/, while the more common unstressed a is
pronounced /ə/. See Weak and strong forms in English.
English is a stress-timed language. That is, stressed syllables
appear at a roughly steady tempo, and non-stressed syllables are shortened to
accommodate this.
English declarative sentences generally have a
pattern of rising pitch on the final stressed syllable followed by falling
pitch on the subsequent unstressed syllables (or on the last part of the final
stressed syllable itself, if it is also the last syllable of the sentence). But
if something is left unsaid, the final fall in pitch occurs only to a lesser
extent. Wh-questions,
and tag questions with declarative intent, follow the same
pattern as do declarative sentences.
In contrast, yes-no questions show pitch rising
on the last stressed syllable, and remaining high on any subsequent syllables.
English consonants have been remarkably stable
over time, and have undergone few changes in the last 1500 years. On the other
hand, English vowels have been quite unstable. Not surprisingly, then, the main
differences between modern dialects almost always involve vowels.
·
The high long vowels [iː] and [uː] in words
like price and mouth became diphthongized,
first to [əɪ] and [əʊ] (where they remain today in some
environments in some accents such as Canadian English) and later to their
modern values [aɪ] and [aʊ]. This is not unique to English, as
this also happened in Dutch (first shift only)
and German (both shifts).
·
The other long vowels became higher:
·
[eː] became [iː] (for example meet).
·
[aː] became [eː] (later diphthongized to [eɪ],
for example name).
·
[oː] became [uː] (for example goose).
·
[ɔː] become [oː] (later diphthongized
to [əʊ] (RP) and [oʊ] (GA), for example bone).
Later developments complicate the picture:
whereas in Geoffrey Chaucer's time food, good,
and blood all had the vowel [oː] and in William Shakespeare's time they all had the vowel [uː], in
modern pronunciation good has shortened its vowel
to [ʊ] and blood has shortened and lowered its vowel
to [ʌ] in most accents. In Shakespeare's day (late 16th-early 17th
century),[48] many rhymes were possible that no longer hold today.[49] For example, in
his play The Taming of the Shrew, shrew rhymed with woe.[50]
æ-tensing is a phenomenon
found in many varieties of American English by which the
vowel /æ/ has a longer, higher, and usually diphthongal pronunciation in
some environments, usually to something like [eə]. Some American accents,
for example those of New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, make a
marginal phonemic distinction between /æ/ and/eə/ although the
two occur largely in mutually exclusive environments.
The bad–lad split refers to the
situation in some varieties of southern British English and Australian English, where a long phoneme /æː/ in words
like bad contrasts with a short /æ/ in words
like lad.
The cot–caught merger is a sound
change by which the vowel of words like caught, talk,
and tall (/ɔː/), is pronounced the same as the vowel of words
like cot, rock, and doll (/ɒ/in New England /ɑː/ elsewhere). This merger is widespread in North American English, being found in approximately 40% of American speakers and virtually
all Canadianspeakers.
The father–bother merger is the
pronunciation of the short O /ɒ/ in words such as "bother"
identically to the broad A /ɑː/ of words such as "father",
nearly universal in all of the United States and Canada save New England and the Maritime provinces; many American
dictionaries use the same symbol for these vowels in pronunciation guides.
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