Allophones involving Plosive

Sounds
Release Types
 INCOMPLETE RELEASE (OR INCOMPLETE
PLOSION)
• Whenever 2 plosive sounds come together,
the air escapes through the second one, for
that reason we say that one articulation is
incomplete.
• Plosive sounds: p/t/k/b/d/g
• Plosive + Affricate
 Examples
• «Tiptoe» ˈtʰɪpt͜ əʊ
• «Don´t take pills» ˈdəʊnt‿ˈtʰeɪk‿ˈpʰɪlz
• «Abduction» əbˈ͜ dʌkʃən
• «Aptitude» ˈæpt͜ ɪtju:d
• «He begged» hɪ ˈbegd ͜
• Stop cheering! stɒp‿tʃɪərɪŋ
• Stop George! stɒp‿dʒɔ:dʒ

• *This allophone might occur within the same word or at

word boundaries.
 NASAL RELEASE
• Whenever any of the plosive sounds
is followed by either /m/ or /n/, the
air will be released nasally.

• p/b/t/d/k/g + n/m
 EXAMPLES
• «hidden» ˈhɪdn͜
• «shouldn´t» ˈʃʊdn
͜ t
• «administrator» ædm ͜ ɪnɪsˈtreɪtə
• «Take me home» ˈteɪk‿mɪ ˈhəʊm
• «I don´t mind» ɑɪ ˈdəʊnt‿ˈmɑɪnd
• At night
• Midnight
 LATERAL RELEASE
• This allophone will occur if one of the two
alveolar plosive sounds (t/d) is followed by the
lateral sound (l).

• t/d + l
• The air will be released laterally
 EXAMPLES
• «Atlas» ætl͜ əs
• «Dreadlocks» ˈdredl͜ ɒks
• «Idle» ˈɪdl͜
• «Did Laura tell you?» dɪd‿ˈlɔ:rə ˈtʰel jə
• «She taught Literature» ʃɪ ˈtʰɔ:t‿ˈlɪtrətʃə
 Practice:
• Transcribe the following text marking:
aspiration, dentalization and releases.