Phonetics Course 5 More On Consonants (Part 2) Simplified

/l/
silent half, walk, talk, should,
could, would, folk, calm,
The lateral palm, psalm, calf, salmon

approximant /ˈsæmən/, chalk /tʃɔːk/
/l/
1
Syllabic /l̩/
▪ Syllabic /ļ/: the /l/ sound has a central syllabic function, i.e. it often
occurs in a position more usually occupied by a vowel which is the
peak/centre of the syllable.
▪ It occurs after another consonant in unaccented syllables, ,

particularly in words ending with one or more consonant letters
followed by ‘le’: cattle, bottle, wrestle, muddle, couple, apple,
trouble, eagle, struggle.
▪ It also occurs in words spelt at the end with one or more consonant
letters followed by –al or –el: kernel, camel, pedal, parcel, quarrel,
special, equal
2
Clear [l]: the alveolar lateral approximant
▪This is /l/ in initial position and before vowels. Because all

English words which begin with L the next sound is a vowel or
a glide, English words never start with a dark /l/.
▪The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge but the air
stream escapes over the lowered sides (rims) of the tongue
which are not in contact with the palate.
▪look, location, lion, land, blow, blood, black, silly, feel it,
all over
4
Dark [ɫ]: the velarized alveolar lateral approximant
▪This is /l/ in final position (before a pause) and before

consonants.
▪The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge and at the
same time the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft
palate (secondary articulation).
▪hill, doll, feel, people, help, cold, film, health, filthy,
wealthy
5
6
Clear [l] vs dark [ɫ]

/m/ /n/
silent mnemonic silent -mn autumn,
Nasals: column, hymn,
Bilabial /m/ solemn, damn,

condemn
and alveolar
/n/
/ŋ/
&
Velar nasal ng tongue, sing, thing, lung,
/ŋ/ hang, longer

n + k, c, cc, sink, rank, monk, uncle,
qu, ch, ck, x conquer, anchor, anxious
/ŋk/ 7
Velar nasal /ŋ/
▪ Phonetically /ŋ/ is a simple phoneme, however, it is morphologically

complex.
▪ In initial position: /ŋ/ never occurs initially.
▪ If the following plosive is /k/, whether medially or finally, a /k/ sound will
always be pronounced, producing the cluster /ŋk/.
▪ In final position: in words ending orthographically with –ng, /ŋ/ is never
followed by /g/. Notice that the end of a word is necessarily the end of a
morpheme, so the same explanation to be offered below can also be applied
here.
8
/ŋ/ in medial position
▪In medial position, /g/ is never pronounced after /ŋ/ before a

following consonant (sings, banged), with the exception of the
consonants /w/, /j/ and /r/.
▪Examples: singular /sɪŋgjʊlǝ/, congress /kɒŋgres/, linguist

/lɪŋgwɪst/, language /læŋgwɪʤ/, congregate /kɒŋgrɪgeɪt/.
9
/w/
silent wr- wrap, wrong, wreck, wrath
The bilabial answer, sword, two, whole, whose
approximant
/w/ /j/
y yellow, yard, yes, young, year
& i union, onion, familiar, spaniel
The palatal /ju:/ spelt u, new, music, beauty, cure, pure,
approximant eu, ew, eau,
ui view, abuse, argue, accuse, huge,
/j/ educate, usual
& ✓ They must be followed by a vowel.
✓ They never occur in final position or before
Post-alveolar a consonant.
approximant
/r/
/r/ wr- wreckage, wrangler, write
rh rhythm, rhyme 10
Post-alveolar approximant /r/
▪ In the articulation of /r/ the tip of the tongue approximates/approaches
the alveolar area, but never actually touches/makes contact with any
part of the roof of the mouth/palate.
▪ Retroflex: with the /r/ sound the tongue is slightly curled backwards
with the tip raised, this carries the tongue-tip to a position further
back in the mouth compared to that for alveolar consonants.
▪ Notice: there is some degree of lip rounding in the production of /r/

particularly at the beginning of words.
11
Pronunciation of /r/ in BrE
❑In R.P. The /r/ sound is only pronounced when it is followed by a
vowel, i.e. before a vowel. Because the /r/ sound is only followed by
a vowel when it comes initial in a word, it is often pronounced in
initial position.
➢Right, ring, cream, arrange

❑The /r/ sound is not pronounced when it is followed by a
consonant or when it comes final (followed by a pause).
➢Floor, fire, work, dark, firm, court

12

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/l/

silent half, walk, talk, should,

could, would, folk, calm,

The lateral palm, psalm, calf, salmon

▪ It occurs after another consonant in unaccented syllables, ,

▪This is /l/ in initial position and before vowels. Because all

▪This is /l/ in final position (before a pause) and before

Clear [l] vs dark [ɫ]

Bilabial /m/ solemn, damn,

/ŋ/ hang, longer

▪ Phonetically /ŋ/ is a simple phoneme, however, it is morphologically

▪In medial position, /g/ is never pronounced after /ŋ/ before a

▪Examples: singular /sɪŋgjʊlǝ/, congress /kɒŋgres/, linguist

▪ Notice: there is some degree of lip rounding in the production of /r/

➢Right, ring, cream, arrange

➢Floor, fire, work, dark, firm, court

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