Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

ENGLISH PHONEMIC AND ALLOPHONIC HANDBOOK

(revised to 2017)

Phonemic Phonetic
Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position of Occurrence Examples
Transcription Transcription
  Initial / medial ´back´  
 Unreleased in syllable-final ´absent´  
 Bilabial Stop Voiced position before a consonant  
(plosive) Final released (when emphatic) ‘Where’s the  
club?’
Devoiced  Before a voiceless consonant or silence ‘Bob took it’  
*Note: ‘b’ is silent as in ‘climb’, ‘comb’, ‘debt’, ‘dumb’, &c.
 Stop  Initial ‘Dame’  
 (plosive) Voiced  Medial (same as above in RP) ‘lady’  
 Tap/Flap Voiced  Intervocalic (in SAE) ‘lady’  
 Alveolar Final released (when emphatic) ‘Dad!’  
Stop Voiced Unreleased in syllable-final ‘pad Thai’  
(plosive) position before a consonant
Devoiced  Before a voiceless consonant or silence ‘Call the guard!’  
Dental Stop Voiced  Before dental consonants ‘add theirs’  
  Initial / medial ‘goal’  
  Final released (when emphatic) ‘Such a pig!’  
 Stop Voiced Unreleased in syllable-final ‘fig’  
 (plosive)
position before a consonant
 Velar
Devoiced  Before a voiceless consonant or silence ‘Pick the bag’  
Fricative Voiced Initial (Old English) / Intervocalic (Iberian Spanish) ‘ghost’ ‘lago’  
Approximant Voiced  Intervocalic (Latin American Spanish) ‘lago’  
 Advanced before front closed vowels ‘give’  
Stop ‘get’
Palatal Voiced ʲ  
(plosive)
 Retracted before back open vowels ‘Greek gods’  
Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position Examples Phonemic Phonetic

Transcription Transcription
   
  Initial / medial / final + v (aspirated) ‘pin’  
 Bilabial Stop Voiceless  After ‘s’ (unaspirated) ‘spot’  
(plosive)  p + v + n (nasal) ‘open’  
 Final released (when emphatic) ‘lap’  
 Unreleased in syllable-final ‘pop corn’  
position before a consonant
 Glottal reinforcement ‘pop’  

   
  Initial / medial / final + v (aspirated) ‘tin’  
  After ‘s’ (unaspirated) ‘stool’  
 Alveolar Stop Voiceless  t + v + n (nasal) ‘eaten’  
(plosive)  Final released (when emphatic) ‘Find it!’  
 Unreleased in syllable-final ‘dot com’  
position before a consonant
 Glottal reinforcement/replacement ‘fighting’  
Flap Voiced  Intervocalic (in SAE, AuE, NZE)  ‘city’  

   
  Initial / medial / final + v (aspirated) ‘cap’  
  After ‘s’ (unaspirated) ‘scum’  
 Velar Stop Voiceless  k + v + n (nasal) ‘bacon’  
 (plosive)  Final released (when emphatic) ‘pack’  
  Unreleased syllable-final position ‘lack for’  
 before a consonant
 Glottal reinforcement ‘doctor’  

Velar  Advanced before close vowels ʲ ‘key’  
 Stop Voiceless
Palatal  Retracted before open vowels ‘car’  
 (plosive)
 Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position Examples Phonemic Phonetic

Transcription Transcription
 Medial before  ‘actor’  
 ‘top’  
 Glottal Stop Voiceless Initial before central vowels ‘Uh-oh’ (Trouble)  
(plosive) ‘Uh-uh’ (No)  

 ‘chop it’  

 Postalveolar Affricate Voiceless  Initial / medial / final ‘bachelor’  
 Glottal reinforcement in syllable-final ‘match’  
position before consonant or silence
 ‘jumper’  

Voiced  Initial / medial / final ‘agent’  
 Postalveolar Affricate
‘George’  
Devoiced  Before voiceless consonant or silence  ‘edge’  

  
 Labiodental Fricative Voiceless Initial / medial / final ‘fan’  

  
 Labiodental Fricative Voiced  Initial / medial / final ‘van’  
Devoiced  Before voiceless consonant or silence ‘have to’  

  
 Dental Fricative Voiceless Initial / medial / final ‘ether’  

  
Dental Fricative Voiced  Initial / medial / final ‘either’  

Devoiced  Before voiceless consonant or silence ‘with thanks’  

  
 Alveolar Fricative Voiceless Initial / medial / final ‘Sue’  
Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position Examples Phonemic Phonetic

Transcription Transcription
  
 Alveolar Fricative Voiced  Initial / medial / final ‘zoo’  
Devoiced  Before voiceless consonant or silence ‘It is too late’  

 ‘shower’  


 ‘machine’  
Postalveolar Fricative Voiceless Initial / medial / final
‘issue’  
‘mash’  

 ‘genre’  

  Initial/Medial / final
Voiced ‘allusion’  
 Postalveolar Fricative ‘seizure’  
Devoiced  Before voiceless consonant or silence ‘collage’  

 Velar Fricative Voiceless Final (Scottish English) ‘loch’  

 Voiceless  Initial / medial ‘house’  

 Glottal Fricative Voiced  Between voiced segments ‘ahead’  
   
 Bilabial Nasal Voiced  Initial / medial / final ‘cam’  
Labiodental Nasal Voiced  Medial before –f ‘comfortable’  

Bilabial Nasal Voiced  Final syllabic ‘bottom’  

   
 Apicodental Nasal Voiced  Dental before  ‘tenth’  
‘in there’  

Apicoalveolar Nasal Voiced  Elsewhere ‘can’  
Laminoalveolar Nasal Voiced  Alveopalatal before  ‘lunch’  
Bilabial Nasal Voiced  Before bilabial plosive/stops ‘manpower’  
Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position Examples Phonemic Phonetic

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 Dorsopalatal Nasal Voiced  After close front vowels ‘going’  
 Dorsovelar Nasal Voiced  After open back vowels ‘sung’  
Velar Nasal Voiced Final syllabic ‘lock and key’  

 Alveolar Lateral-approx.
Voiced  Initial apicoalveolar ‘loop’  
 Alveolar Lateral-approx.
Voiced  Velarised (dark) before a consonant or ‘Did she  
 silence, except /j/ call?’

 Alveolar Lateral-approx.
Devoiced  After a aspirated  ‘plot’  
 Alveolar Lateral-approx.
Voiced  Final syllabic ‘paddle’  
Dental Lateral-approx.
Voiced  Before  ‘wealth’  

 Alveolar Lateral-approx.
Voiced  Initial / medial ‘rock’  
 Retroflex Approximant Voiced  Final (SAE) ‘car’  
  Medial (linking ‘r’) or after  ‘Yes, there is’  
Apicoalveolar Tap Voiced
 Medial (intrusive ‘r’) ‘warsh’  
 Alveolar Approximant Devoiced After aspirated  ‘pray’  
 Alveolar Fricative Voiced  After  or Final (Andean Spanish) ‘dry’ ‘cantar’  
 Alveolar Trill Voiced  Initial / medial (Spanish) ‘perro’  
 Alveolar Tap Voiced Medial (Spanish) ‘pero’  
 Uvular Trill Voiced Initial / medial ‘rendezvous’  
Fricative-approx.
 Initial / medial / final ‘Robespierre’  
 Uvular Voiced

 Approx. Voiced  Initial / medial (front, oral, glide) ‘yes’  
 Palatal Fricative Voiceless  After aspirated  and  ‘queue’  
‘a huge tuna’  

 Approx. Voiced Initial / medial (back, oral, glide) ‘wet’  
 Labiovelar Approx. Devoiced  After aspirated  ‘queen’  
Fricative Voiceless Initial (back, oral, glide) ‘when’  
Articulatory Phonetics & English Phonology Lagos & Bittner 2006

Phoneme Place Manner Voicing Allophones + Position Examples Phonemic Phonetic

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