English Consonant Phonemes

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English Consonant Phonemes

Labial Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar


(incl Bilabial, (Interdental) (incl Alveolar, (incl Affricate (incl Pharyngeal
Labiodental, Lateral, and and Sibilant) and Labiovelar)
and Labiovelar) Retroflex)

p t t k
Voiceless
Vl
Stop pat tack chat cat

Voiced
Vd b bat d dad d Joe get

Fricative
Vl f fat thigh s sit shit h hat

v z
(incl Sibilant)
Vd
vat thy zit azure

Nasal (Vd) m dim n din ding

Semivowel
(Vd) w wing j(y) you ( what )

l
Lateral
Liquid (Vd)
let

r
Retroflex
Liquid (Vd) ring

Vl Stops /p,t,t,k/ are aspirated [p,t,t,k] syllable-initially before stressed vowel:


spin [spn] ~ pin [pn], stop[stap] ~ top [tap], scoff [skf] ~ cough [kf], etc.
Palatal Affricates /t,d/ end in sibilants and pattern with others /s,,z,/ in final {-Z}
suffixes: churches /trtz/, judges /ddz/, kisses /ksz/, Besss /bsz/, etc.
Resonants (Nasals and Liquids) can be syllabic (i.e, function as vowels):
gargle /arl/ [arl], happen /hpn/ [hpn], purple /prpl/ [prpl]
All consonants are subject to fast speech rules of deletion, reduction, or merger:
[ditt] Did you eat yet?, [kpj] Can I help you?, [zis] Is there anything else?

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