Vowels
English has a particularly large number of vowel phonemes, and on top of that 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 represents this interdialectal correspondence. A commonly used system of lexical sets, devised by John C. Wells, is presented below; for each set, the corresponding phonemes are given for RP and General American, using the notation that will be used on this page.
| LS | RP | GA |
|---|---|---|
| PRICE | aɪ | |
| CHOICE | ɔɪ | |
| MOUTH | aʊ |
| LS | RP | GA |
|---|---|---|
| NURSE | ɜː(r) | ɜr |
| START | ɑː(r) | ɑr |
| NORTH | ɔː(r) | ɔr |
| FORCE | ɔr, oʊr | |
| NEAR | ɪə(r) | ɪr |
| SQUARE | eə(r) | ɛr |
| CURE | ʊə(r) | ʊr |
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. The feature descriptions given here (front, close, etc.) are abstracted somewhat; the actual pronunciations of these vowels are somewhat 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).
Consonants
The following table shows the 24 consonant phonemes found in most dialects of English, in addition to /x/, whose distribution is more limited. Fortis consonants are always voiceless, aspirated in syllable onset (except in clusters beginning with /s/), and sometimes also glottalized to an extent in syllable coda (most likely to occur with /t/, see T-glottalization), while lenis consonants are always unaspirated and un-glottalized, and generally partially or fully voiced. The alveolars are usually apical, i.e. pronounced with the tip of the tongue touching or approaching the roof of the mouth, though some speakers produce them laminally, i.e. with the blade of the tongue.[1]
| Labial | Dental | Alveolar | Post- alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nasal | m[a] | n[a] | ŋ | |||||
| Plosive/ affricate | fortis | p | t | tʃ | k | |||
| lenis | b | d | dʒ | ɡ | ||||
| Fricative | fortis | f | θ[b] | s | ʃ | x[c] | h | |
| lenis | v | ð[b] | z | ʒ | ||||
| Approximant | l[a] | r[d] | j[e] | w[f] |
- ^ Jump up to:a b c Most varieties of English have syllabic consonants in some words, principally [l̩, m̩, n̩], for example at the end of bottle, rhythm and button. In such cases, no phonetic vowel is pronounced between the last two consonants, and the last consonant forms a syllable on its own. Syllabic consonants are generally transcribed with a vertical line under the consonant letter, so that phonetic transcription of bottle would be [ˈbɒtl̩], [ˈbɑɾl̩], or [ˈbɔɾl̩] in RP, GA, and Australian respectively, and for button [ˈbʌʔn̩]. In theory, such consonants could be analyzed as individual phonemes. However, this would add several extra consonant phonemes to the inventory for English,[2] and phonologists prefer to identify syllabic nasals and liquids phonemically as /əC/.[3][4] Thus button is phonemically /ˈbʌtən/ or /ˈbɐtən/ and bottle is phonemically /ˈbɒtəl/, /ˈbɑtəl/, or /ˈbɔtəl/.
- ^ Jump up to:a b /θ, ð/ are realized as stops in accents affected by th-stopping, such as Hiberno-English and the New York accent. They are merged with /f, v/ in accents affected by th-fronting, such as some varieties of Cockney and African American Vernacular English. See Pronunciation of English ⟨th⟩.
- ^ The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is mainly used in Hiberno-, Scottish, South African and Welsh English; words with /x/ in Scottish accents tend to be pronounced with /k/ in other dialects. The velar fricative sometimes appears in recent loanwords such as chutzpah. Under the influence of Welsh and Afrikaans, the actual phonetic realization of /x/ in Welsh English and White South African English is uvular [χ], rather than velar [x].[5][6][7] Dialects do not necessarily agree on the exact words in which /x/ appears; for instance, in Welsh English it appears in loanwords from Welsh (such as Amlwch /ˈæmlʊx/), whereas in White South African English it appears only in loanwords from Afrikaans or Xhosa (such as gogga /ˈxɒxə/ ‘insect’).[5][7]
- ^ This phoneme is conventionally transcribed with the basic Latin letter ⟨r⟩ (the IPA symbol for the alveolar trill), even though its pronunciation is usually a postalveolar approximant [ɹ̠]. The trill does exist but it is rare, found only in Scottishdialects and sporadically in Received Pronunciation preceding a stressed vowel in highly emphatic speech or when placing special emphasis on a word. See Pronunciation of English /r/.
- ^ The sound at the beginning of huge in most accents[verification needed] is a voiceless palatal fricative [ç], but this is analysed phonemically as the consonant cluster /hj/ so that huge is transcribed /hjuːdʒ/. As with /hw/, this does not mean that speakers pronounce [h] followed by [j]; the phonemic transcription /hj/ is simply a convenient way of representing the single sound [ç].[8] The yod-dropping found in Norfolk dialect means that the traditional Norfolk pronunciation of huge is [hʊudʒ] and not [çuːdʒ].
- ^ In some conservative accents in Scotland, Ireland, the southern United States, and New England, the digraph ⟨wh⟩ in words like which and whine represents a voiceless w sound [ʍ], a voiceless labiovelar fricative[9][10][11] or approximant,[12] which contrasts with the voiced w of witch and wine. In most dialects, this sound is lost, and is pronounced as a voiced w (the wine–whine merger). Phonemically this sound may be analysed as a consonant cluster /hw/, rather than as a separate phoneme */ʍ/, so which and whine are transcribed phonemically as /hwɪtʃ/ and /hwaɪn/. This does not mean that such speakers actually pronounce [h] followed by [w]: this phonemic transcription /hw/ is simply a convenient way of representing a single sound [ʍ] when such dialects are not analysed as having an extra phoneme.[8]
KLIK LINK BELOW TO FIND OUT THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN BOTH OF THEM:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OnaKLNse6z2TU4-w5tgpmSA5dCdgW-lP/view?usp=sharing
ENGLISH PRONUNCIATION 