Nasals and other

consonants
Fontica y Fonologa I
2015

- Nasals /m/
/n/ //
- /l/ /r/ /j/ /w/

CONSONANTS
CONTINUANTS
They usually have no FRICTION noise
But in other ways different from each
other

Nasals
Air escapes through the/m/
nose
soft palate is lowered
/n/ //

Air does not pass through the mouth complete closure

at some point
3 types of closure: bilabial, alveolar, and velar ( /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/
/k/ /g/)

Nasals /m/ /n/ //

/m/ and /n/ distributions similar to
plosives
// different
problems to foreign speakers
place of articulation is the same as /k/
and /g/
distribution is unusual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcq9m2Q9Plo

(i) Never in initial position

(ii) In medial position quite frequent
BBC English (rule)
When may / / be pronounced without a
following plosive? /g/ /k/

nk middle of a word /k/ always

THINKING /k/
ng middle sometimes / g/ or //

2
MORPHOLOGY MORPHEMES
morpheme
s
sing
-// without /g/ at the end of a morpheme +er
-/ g/ if it is in the middle of a morpheme hang +
er

Words ending orthographically with ng

ALWAYS //
e.g. song, bang, sing, thing, long

EXCEPTION TO THE MORPHEME-BASED RULE

Comparative and superlative forms of adjectives

single morpheme
longer /lg/ longest /lgst/
stronger /strg/ strongest/stgst/

(iii) It rarely occurs after a diphthong or long vowel

PHONETICALLY SIMPLE BUT PHONOLOGICALLY COMPLEX

EXERCISE
- /g/ or //? Transcribe phonemically these words
younger language single ringing

/jg/ /lgwd/ /sgl/ /r/

The consonant /l/

LATERAL APPROXIMANT
Complete closure between the centre of the
tongue and the alveolar ridge
Air escapes along the sides of the tongue

The consonant /l/

DISTRIBUTION
Initial, medial and final position /lk//ple/ /k:l/
BBC English REALISATION of /l/ before vowel

sounds different in other contexts

DARK /l/

CLEAR /l/

eel /i:l/

lea /li:/

The consonant /l/

Clear /l/ never occurs before consonants or a pause
Dark /l/ never occurs before vowels

Allophones of the phoneme /l/ in complementary

distribution

The consonant /l/

Another allophone of /l/ when it

follows /p/, /t/ beginning of a stressed

syllable. e.g. play, clear
/l/ devoiced and pronounced as a

fricative

The consonant /r/

POST-ALVEOLAR APPROXIMANT

(Approximant

ARTICULATION

an articulation in which the articulators

approach each other but do not get close enough to
produce a complete consonant)

tip of the tongue approaches the

alveolar area never makes contact with any part
of the roof of the mouth (post-alveolar)
Beginning of a syllable preceded by /p/, /t/, /k/
voiceless & fricative
Tongue slightly curled backwards, tip raised
(retroflex)
Lips slightly rounded (dont exaggerate)

The consonant /r/

DISTRIBUTION BBC Accent /r/ occurs only

before vowels
(i)
(ii)
(iii)

Accents
/r/ in final position and before a consonant

RHOTIC
/r/ only before vowels (BBC English) NONRHOTIC

The consonants /j/ and /w/

APPROXIMANTS
PHONETICALLY like VOWELS
PHONOLOGICALLY like CONSONANTS

ARTICULATION
/j/ practically the same as a front close vowel[i], but
very short
/w/ [u]

The consonants /j/ and /w/

DISTRIBUTION
We use them like consonants:
- They occur before vowel phonemes e.g.
/ju:nv:st/
- an apple , an umbrella a way, a yard
- the aunt , the wild
We hear friction noise in /j/ or /w/ Preceded by /p/
/t/ /k/ at the beginning of a syllable.

e.g. /ple/, /tre/, /kwk/, /kju:/ have devoiced and

fricative /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/