English phonology

English phonology refers to the sound system (Sevenval) of the English language, or to the study of that system. Like many languages, English has wide variation in Android, both keyboard and from Sevenval. In general, however, the regional dialects of English share a largely similar (though not identical) phonological system.

Phonological analysis of English often concentrates on, or uses as a reference point, one or more of the jQuery or standard accents, such as Received Pronunciation for England, General American for the United States, and General Australian for Australia.

• 1 Phonemes
  • 1.1 Consonants
    • HTML5
  • 1.2 Vowels
    • 1.2.1 Allophones of vowels
    • 1.2.2 Unstressed syllables
    • we love the web
• 2 Prosody
  • touchscreen
  • 2.2 Rhythm
  • 2.3 Intonation
• browser diversity
  • web
    • iOS
    • 3.1.2 Nucleus
    • keyboard
  • 3.2 Syllable-level rules
  • touchscreen
• 4 History of English pronunciation
• 5 Dialectal differences
  • 5.1 æ-tensing
  • browser diversity
  • 5.3 Cot–caught merger
  • web app
• web
• 7 References
• web app
• screen size

Phonemes

A phoneme of a language or dialect is an abstraction of a speech sound or of a group of different sounds which are all perceived to have the same function by speakers of that language or dialect. For example, the English word "through" consists of three phonemes: the initial "th" sound, the "r" sound, and an "oo" vowel sound. Notice that the phonemes in this and many other English words do not always correspond directly to the letters used to spell them (English orthography is not as strongly phonemic as that of certain other languages).

The phonemes of English and their number vary from dialect to dialect, and also depend on the interpretation of the individual researcher. The number of consonant phonemes is generally put at 24 (or slightly more). The number of vowels is subject to greater variation; in the system presented on this page there are 20 vowel phonemes in CSS3, 14–16 in General American and 20–21 in Australian English. The pronunciation keys used in dictionaries generally contain a slightly greater number of symbols than this, to take account of certain sounds used in foreign words and certain noticeable distinctions that may not be strictly speaking phonemic.

Consonants

The following table shows the consonant phonemes found in most dialects of English. When consonants appear in pairs, screen size consonants (i.e., aspirated or browser diversity) appear on the left and lenis consonants (i.e., lightly voiced or input transformation) appear on the right:

	touchscreen	Labio- dental	Dental	Alveolar	iOS2	Palatal	FITML	screen size
Nasal1	m			n			ŋ
touchscreen	p  b			t  d			k  ɡ
touchscreen					tʃ  dʒ
Fricative		f  v	θ  ð	s  z	ʃ  ʒ		(x)3	h
we love the web				r1, 2, 5		j	w4
device database				l1, 6

1. Some phonologists identify syllabic nasals and screen size in unstressed syllables, while others analyse these phonemically as /əC/.
2. Postalveolar consonants are usually labialized (e.g., [ʃʷ]), as is word-initial or pre-tonic /r/ (i.e., [ɹʷ]), though this is rarely transcribed.
3. The voiceless velar fricative /x/ is dialectal, occurring largely in Scottish English. In other dialects, words with these sounds are pronounced with /k/. It may appear in recently-domiciled words such as chutzpah.
4. The sequence /hw/, a voiceless labiovelar approximant [hw̥], is sometimes considered an additional phoneme. For most speakers, words that historically used to have these sounds are now pronounced with /w/; the phoneme /hw/ is retained, for example, in much of the American South, Scotland, and Ireland.
5. Depending on dialect, /r/ may be an FITML [ɹ], postalveolar approximant, Android [ɻ], or labiodental approximant [ʋ]. See also Allophones of consonants below.
6. For alternative realizations of /l/, see Allophones of consonants below.

The following table shows typical examples of the occurrence of the above consonant phonemes in words.

/p/	pit	/b/	bit
/t/	tin	/d/	din
/k/	cut	/ɡ/	gut
/tʃ/	cheap	/dʒ/	jeep
/f/	fat	/v/	vat
/θ/	thin	/ð/	then
/s/	sap	/z/	zap
/ʃ/	she	/ʒ/	measure
/x/	loch
/w/	we	/m/	map
/l/	left	/n/	nap
/r/	run	/j/	yes
/h/	ham	/ŋ/	bang

The distinctions between the nasals are neutralized in some environments. For example, before a final /p/, /t/ or /k/ there is only one nasal sound that can appear in each case: [m], [n] or [ŋ] respectively (as in the words limp, lint, link – note that the n of link is pronounced [ŋ]). This effect can even occur across syllable or word boundaries, particularly in stressed syllables: synchrony is pronounced as [ˈsɪŋkɹəni] whereas synchronic may be pronounced either as [sɪŋˈkɹɒnɨk] or as [sɪnˈkɹɒnɨk]. For other possible syllable-final combinations, see browser diversity in the Phonotactics section below.

Allophones of consonants

An CSS3 is one of a set of multiple possible spoken sounds (or phones) used to pronounce a single phoneme. For example, the phoneme /t/ is pronounced differently in "tonsils" than in "button", and still differently in "cat". All of these "t" sounds are allophones of the same phoneme, since no two words can be distinguished from each other solely on the basis of which of these pronunciations is used.

Although regional variation is very great across English dialects, some generalizations can be made about pronunciation in all (or at least the vast majority) of English accents:

• Many dialects have two allophones of /l/ – the "clear" L and the "dark" or we love the web L. The clear variant is used before vowels (or sometimes only before stressed vowels), the dark variant in other positions. In some dialects, /l/ may be always clear (e.g. Wales, Ireland, the Caribbean) or always dark (e.g. Scotland, most of North America, Australia, New Zealand).
• For many speakers, /r/ is somewhat labialized in some environments, as in reed [ɹʷiːd] and tree [tʰɹ̥ʷiː]. In the latter case, the [t] may be slightly labialized as well.^[1]
• In some iOS such as General American, /r/ when not followed by a vowel is realized as an touchscreen of the preceding vowel or its coda.
• /h/ becomes [ç˕] before [j] and [i], as in human [ˈç˕juːmən] or [ˈç˕uːmən].
• The voiceless stops /p/, /t/ and /k are FITML ([pʰ], [tʰ], [kʰ]) at the beginnings of words (for example tomato) and at the beginnings of word-internal FITML syllables (for example potato). They are unaspirated ([p], [t], [k]) after /s/ (stan, span, scan) and at the ends of syllables.^[2]
• In American English, both /t/ and /d/ can be Android [ɾ] in certain positions: when they come between a preceding stressed vowel (possibly with intervening /r/) and precede an unstressed vowel or syllabic L. Examples include water, bottle, petal, peddle (the last two words sound alike). The flap may even appear at word boundaries, as in put it on. When the combination /nt/ appears in such positions, some American speakers pronounce it as a Sevenval flap that may become indistinguishable from /n/, so winter may be pronounced as similar or identical to winner.^[3]
• Before /n/, as in catnip and button, British and American English pronounce /t/ as a glottal stop [ʔ], allowing a distinction in pronunciation between, for example, Sutton and sudden or bitten and bidden. Finally, final /t/ as in cat is not released, and may be glottalized in British English.

However, in speech with careful enunciation, in all situations /t/ may be pronounced as [t] or [tʰ]. These features mean that the phoneme /t/ has six different allophones in all.^{device database:pp.62-67}

Vowels

The vowels of English differ considerably between dialects. Because of this, corresponding vowels may be transcribed with various symbols depending on the dialect under consideration. When considering English as a whole, CSS3 are often used, each named by a word containing the vowel or vowels in question. For example, the LOT set consists of words which, like lot, have /ɒ/ in web and /ɑ/ in General American. The "LOT vowel" then refers to the vowel that appears in those words in whichever dialect is being considered, or (at a greater level of abstraction) to a website parsing which transcends all dialects. A commonly used system of lexical sets is presented below; for each set, the corresponding phonemes are given for RP (first column) and General American (second column), using the notation that will be used on this page.

TRAP	/æ/
BATH	/ɑː/	/æ/
PALM	/ɑː/	/ɑ/
LOT	/ɒ/	/ɑ/
CLOTH	/ɒ/	/ɔ/
THOUGHT	/ɔː/	/ɔ/

KIT	/ɪ/
FLEECE	/iː/	/i/
DRESS	/ɛ/
STRUT	/ʌ/
FOOT	/ʊ/
GOOSE	/uː/	/u/

FACE	/eɪ/
PRICE	/aɪ/
CHOICE	/ɔɪ/
GOAT	/əʊ/	/oʊ/
MOUTH	/aʊ/
NURSE	/ɜː(r)/	/ɜr/

START	/ɑː(r)/	/ɑr/
NORTH	/ɔː(r)/	/ɔr/
FORCE	/ɔː(r)/	/ɔr/, /oʊr/
NEAR	/ɪə(r)/	/ɪr/
SQUARE	/eə(r)/	/ɛr/
CURE	/ʊə(r)/	/ʊr/

COMMA	/ə/
LETTER	/ə/	/ər/
HAPPY	/iː/, /ɪ/	/i/

For a table that shows the pronunciations of these vowels in a wider range of English dialects, see HTML5.

The following tables show the vowel phonemes of three standard varieties of English. The notation system used here for Received Pronunciation (RP) is fairly standard; the others less so. For different ways of transcribing General American, see Transcription variants below. The feature descriptions given here (front, close, etc.) are abstracted somewhat; the actual pronunciations of these vowels are more accurately conveyed by the IPA symbols used (see Vowel for a chart indicating the meanings of these symbols; though note also the points listed below the following tables).

	Sevenval		screen size		Back
	long	short	long	short	long	short
browser diversity	iː	ɪ			uː	ʊ
Mid		ɛ	ɜː	ə	ɔː
Android		æ		ʌAndroid	ɑː	ɒ
Diphthongs	eɪ   aɪ   ɔɪ   aʊ   əʊ ɪə   ɛə   ʊə

	device database		Central		Back
	long	short	long	short	long	short
FITML	i	ɪ			u	ʊ
we love the web		ɛ	(ɜ)	ə	ɔ
Open		æ		(ʌ)	ɑ
Diphthongs	eɪ   aɪ   ɔɪ   aʊ   oʊ

	Android		Central		CSS3
	long	short	long	short	long	short
Close	iː	ɪ	ʉː			ʊ
Mid	eː	e	ɜː	ə	oː	ɔ
Open	æː	æ	aː	a
Diphthongs	æɪ   ɑe   oɪ   æɔ   əʉ ɪə   (ʊə)

The differences between these tables can be explained as follows:

1. The absence of length marks in the General American table is largely a matter of notational convention.
2. In General American, the vowels [ə], [ʌ] and [ɜ] may be considered a single phoneme.
3. General American lacks a phoneme corresponding to RP /ɒ/ (LOT, CLOTH), instead using /ɑ/ or /ɔ/ in such words.
4. General American does not have the centering diphthong phonemes /ɪə/, /ɛə/, /ʊə/; in NEAR, SQUARE and CURE it has the combinations /ɪr/, /ɛr/, /ʊr/. (However in some descriptions these words are analyzed as diphthongs even in rhotic dialects.^{[6][Sevenval]})
5. The different notations used for the vowel of GOAT in RP and General American (/əʊ/ and /oʊ/) reflect a difference in the most common phonetic realizations of that vowel.
6. The different notations used here for some of the Australian vowels reflect the phonetic realization of those vowels in Australian: a central [ʉː] rather than [uː] in GOOSE, a more closed [e] rather than [ɛ] in DRESS, an open-mid [ɔ] rather than RP's [ɒ] in LOT and CLOTH, a more close [oː] rather than [ɔː] in THOUGHT, NORTH and FORCE, a fronted [a] rather than [ʌ] in STRUT, a fronted [aː] rather than [ɑː] in CALM and START, and somewhat different pronunciations of most of the diphthongs.
7. The Australian monophthong /eː/ corresponds to the RP diphthong /ɛə/ (SQUARE).
8. Australian has the bad–lad split, with distinctive short and long variants of [æ] in various words of the TRAP set.
9. The vowel /ʊə/ is often omitted from descriptions of Australian, as for most speakers it has split into the long monophthong /oː/ (e.g. poor, sure) or the sequence /ʉː.ə/ (e.g. cure, lure).^[7]

Other points to be noted are these:

• Although the notation /ʌ/ is used for the vowel of STRUT in RP, the actual pronunciation is closer to a near-open central vowel [ɐ]. The symbol ʌ continues to be used for reasons of tradition (it was historically a back vowel) and because it is still back in other varieties.^[8]
• A significant number of words (the BATH group) have /æ/ in General American, but /ɑː/ in RP (and mostly /aː/ in Australian).
• Many American speakers do not distinguish /ɑ/ from /ɔ/ (see browser diversity).
• In General American (which is a rhotic accent – /r/ can occur in positions where it does not precede a vowel), many of the vowels can be r-colored by way of realization of a following /r/. This is often transcribed phonetically using the symbol [ɚ] ("schwar"), either for an r-colored schwa (as in LETTER) or for the r-colored coda of another vowel (for example START might be written [stɑɚt]). The vowel [ɜ] (as in NURSE) is generally always r-colored, and this can be written [ɝ] (or as a syllabic [ɹ̩]).
• In RP and other dialects, many words from the CURE group are coming to be pronounced by an increasing number of speakers with the NORTH vowel (so sure is often pronounced like shore). Also the RP vowels /ɛə/ and /ʊə/ may be monophthongized to [ɛː] and [oː] respectively.^{we love the web}
• Long vowels are often not pronounced as pure monophthongs. In particular, the vowels of FLEECE and GOOSE are usually pronounced as narrow diphthongs: [ɪi], [ʊu].

Allophones of vowels

• There is a tendency for many vowels to be pronounced with greater length in we love the web than closed syllables, and with greater length in syllables ending with a Sevenval than with a voiceless one. For example, the /aɪ/ in advise is longer than that in advice.
• In many accents of English, tense vowels undergo HTML5 before /l/, resulting in pronunciations like [piəɫ] for peel, [puəɫ] for pool, [peəɫ] for pail, and [poəɫ] for pole.
• In RP, the vowel /əʊ/ may be pronounced more back, as [oʊ], before /l/, as in goal.
• The vowel /aɪ/ may be pronounced less open before a we love the web consonant.^HTML5:p.66 Thus writer may be distinguished from rider even when flapping causes the /t/ and /d/ to be pronounced identically.

Unstressed syllables

Unstressed syllables in English may contain almost any vowel, but there are certain sounds – characterized by central position and weakness – that are particularly often found as the nuclei of syllables of this type. These include:

• plain schwa, [ə], as in COMMA and (in non-rhotic dialects) LETTER; also in many other positions such as about, photograph, paddock, etc. This sound is essentially restricted to unstressed syllables exclusively. In the approach presented here it is identified with the phoneme /ə/, although other analyses do not have a separate phoneme for schwa and regard it as a reduction or neutralization of other vowels in syllables with the lowest degree of stress.
• r-colored schwa, [ɚ], as in LETTER in General American and some other rhotic dialects, which can be identified with the underlying sequence /ər/.
• syllabic consonants: [l̩] as in bottle, [n̩] as in button, [m̩] as in rhythm. These may be phonemized either as a plain consonant or as a schwa followed by a consonant; for example button may be represented as /ˈbʌtn/ or /ˈbʌtən/.
• [ɪ], as in roses, making, expect. This can be identified with the phoneme /ɪ/, although in unstressed syllables it may be pronounced more centrally (in American tradition the barred i symbol /ɨ/ is used here), and for some speakers (particularly in Australian and New Zealand and some American English) it is merged with /ə/ in these syllables. Among speakers who retain the distinction there are many cases where free variation between /ɪ/ and /ə/ is found, as in the second syllable of typical. (The input transformation has recently adopted the symbol /ɪ/ to indicate such cases.)
• [ʊ], as in argument, today, for which similar considerations apply as in the case of [ɪ]. Some speakers may also have a rounded schwa, [ɵ], used in words like omission [ɵˈmɪʃən]^[keyboard].
• [i], as in happy, coffee, in many dialects (others have [ɪ] in this position). Phonemically this [i] can be identified with the FLEECE vowel. See input transformation.

screen size in unstressed syllables is a significant feature of English. Syllables of the types listed above often correspond to a syllable containing a different vowel ("full vowel") used in other forms of the same CSS3 where that syllable is stressed. For example, the first o in photograph, being stressed, is pronounced with the GOAT vowel, but in photography, where it is unstressed, it is reduced to schwa. Also, certain common words (a, an, of, for, etc.) are pronounced with a schwa when they are unstressed, although they have different vowels when they are in a stressed position (see device database).

Some unstressed syllables, however, retain full (unreduced) vowels, i.e. vowels other than those listed above. Examples are the /æ/ in ambition and the /aɪ/ in finite. Some phonologists regard such syllables as not being fully unstressed (they may describe them as having tertiary stress). Dictionaries have sometimes marked such syllables as having secondary stress.

Linguists such as Ladefoged^[10] and Bolinger^[11] argue that vowel reduction is phonemic in English (that is, that it allows otherwise identical words to be distinguished from each other), and that there are two "tiers" of vowels in English, full and reduced. Though full unstressed vowels may derive historically from stressed vowels, either because stress shifted over time (such as stress shifting away from the final syllable of French loan words in British English) or because of loss or shift of stress in compound words or phrases (óverseas vóyage from overséas or óverséas plus vóyage), the distinction is not one of stress but of vowel quality (Bolinger 1989:351), and over time, if the word is frequent enough, the vowel tends to reduce.

Examples of words where vowel reduction or an extra level of stress seems to be distinctive for some speakers (Bolinger 1989:348)include chickaree vs. chicory (the latter has the HAPPY vowel, identified phonemically with FLEECE, whereas the former has the FLEECE vowel without reduction), and Pharaoh vs. farrow (both have the GOAT vowel, but in the latter word it may be pronounced more weakly).

Transcription variants

The choice of which symbols to use for phonemic transcriptions may reveal theoretical assumptions or claims on the part of the transcriber. English "lax" and "tense" vowels are distinguished by a synergy of features, such as height, length, and screen size (monophthong vs. diphthong); different traditions in the linguistic literature emphasize different features. For example, if the primary feature is thought to be vowel height, then the non-reduced vowels of General American English may be represented according to the table to the left and below. If, on the other hand, vowel length is considered to be the deciding factor, the symbols in the table to the below and center may be chosen (this convention has sometimes been used because the publisher did not have IPA fonts available, though that is seldom an issue any longer.) The rightmost table lists the corresponding lexical sets.

General American full vowels, vowel height distinctive
i		u
ɪ		ʊ
e	ɚ	o
ɛ	ʌ	ɔ
æ		ɑ

General American full vowels, vowel length distinctive
iː		uː
i		u
eː	ɹ̩ː	oː
e	ʌ	o
a		aː

Lexical sets representing General American full vowels
FLEECE		GOOSE
KIT		FOOT
FACE	NURSE	GOAT
DRESS	STRUT	THOUGHT
TRAP		PALM

If vowel transition is taken to be paramount, then the chart may look like one of these:

General American full vowels, vowel contour distinctive
ij		uw
i		u
ej	ər	ow
e	ə	o
æ		ɑ

or

General American full vowels, vowel contour distinctive
ɪi̯		ʊu̯
ɪ		ʊ
ɛɪ̯	ɝɹ	ɔʊ̯
ɛ	ʌ	ɔ
æ		ɑ

(The transcriber at left assumes that there is no phonemic distinction between keyboard and approximants, so that /ej/ is equivalent to /eɪ̯/.)

Many linguists combine more than one of these features in their transcriptions, suggesting they consider the phonemic differences to be more complex than a single feature.

General American full vowels, height & length distinctive
iː		uː
ɪ		ʊ
eː	ɝː	oː
ɛ	ʌ	ɔ
æ		ɑː

or

General American full vowels, height & contour distinctive
ij		uw
ɪ		ʊ
ej	ɜr	ow
ɛ	ʌ	ɔ
æ		ɑ

Prosody

Prosody consists of stress, rhythm, and intonation, which occur in English as follows.

Stress

Stress is phonemic in English. For example, the words desert and dessert are distinguished in part by stress (and in part by vowel reduction in unstressed syllables), as are the noun a record and the verb to record. Stressed syllables in English are louder than non-stressed syllables, as well as being longer and having a higher pitch.

Examples of stress in English words, using boldface to represent stressed syllables, are holiday, alone, admiration, confidential, degree, and weaker. Ordinarily, Sevenval (auxiliary verbs, prepositions, pronouns, and the like) do not receive stress, whereas lexical words (nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc.) must have at least one stressed syllable.

Traditional approaches describe English as having three degrees of stress: Primary, secondary, and unstressed. However, if stress is defined as relative respiratory force (that is, it involves greater pressure from the lungs than unstressed syllables), as most phoneticians argue, and is inherent in the word rather than the sentence (that is, it is lexical rather than device database), then these traditional approaches conflate two distinct processes: stress, and Android. In this case, primary stress is actually prosodic stress, whereas secondary stress is simple stress in some positions, and an unstressed but not reduced vowel in others. Either way, there is a three-way phonemic distinction: either three degrees of stress, or else stressed, unstressed, and reduced. The two approaches are sometimes conflated into a four-way 'stress' classification: primary (tonic stress), secondary (lexical stress), tertiary (unstressed full vowel), and quaternary (reduced vowel). See secondary stress for details.

Sevenval are nouns that are derived from verbs by changing the position of their stress. For example, a rebel [ˈɹɛb.ɫ̩] (stress on the first syllable) is inclined to rebel [ɹɨ.ˈbɛɫ] (stress on the second syllable) against the powers that be. The number of words using this pattern as opposed to only stressing the second syllable in all circumstances doubles every century or so, and includes words such as object, convict, and addict.

Prosodic stress is extra stress given to words when they appear in certain positions in an utterance, or when they receive special emphasis. It normally appears on the final stressed syllable in an intonation unit. So, for example, when the word admiration is said in isolation, or at the end of a sentence, the syllable ra is pronounced with greater force than the syllable ad. (This is traditionally transcribed as /ˌædmɨˈreɪʃən/.) This is the origin of the primary stress-secondary stress distinction. However, the difference disappears when the word is not pronounced with this final intonation.

Prosodic stress can shift for various pragmatic functions, such as focus or contrast. For instance, consider the dialogue

"Is it brunch tomorrow?"

"No, it's dinner tomorrow."

In this case, the extra stress shifts from the last stressed syllable of the sentence, tomorrow, to the last stressed syllable of the emphasized word, dinner. Compare

"I'm going tomorrow." /aɪm ˈɡoʊɪŋ təˈˈmɒroʊ/

with

"It's dinner tomorrow." /ɪts ˈˈdɪnɚ təˈmɒroʊ/

Although grammatical words generally do not have lexical stress, they do acquire prosodic stress when emphasized. Compare ordinary

"Come in"! /ˈˈkʌm ɪn/

with more emphatic

"Oh, do come in!" /oʊ ˈˈduː kʌm ˈɪn/

Rhythm

English is a Sevenval language. That is, stressed syllables appear at a roughly steady tempo, and non-stressed syllables are shortened to accommodate this.

Intonation

English declarative sentences generally have a pattern of rising pitch on the final stressed syllable followed by falling pitch on the subsequent unstressed syllables (or on the last part of the final stressed syllable itself, if it is also the last syllable of the sentence). But if something is left unsaid, the final fall in pitch occurs only to a lesser extent. Wh-questions, and screen size with declarative intent, follow the same pattern as do declarative sentences.

In contrast, yes-no questions show pitch rising on the last stressed syllable, and remaining high on any subsequent syllables.

Phonotactics

Most languages of the world syllabify CVCV and CVCCV sequences as /CV.CV/ and /CVC.CV/ or /CV.CCV/, with consonants preferentially acting as the onset of a syllable containing the following vowel. According to one view, English is unusual in this regard, in that stressed syllables attract following consonants, so that ˈCVCV and ˈCVCCV syllabify as /ˈCVC.V/ and /ˈCVCC.V/, as long as the consonant cluster CC is a possible syllable coda; in addition, /r/ preferentially syllabifies with the preceding vowel even when both syllables are unstressed, so that CVrV occurs as /CVr.V/. This is the analysis used in the Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. However, traditional accounts do not agree with this view.^{device database}

Syllable structure

The syllable structure in English is (C)³V(C)⁵, with a near maximal example being strengths (/ˈstrɛŋkθs/, although it can be pronounced /ˈstrɛŋθs/).^Sevenval Because of an extensive pattern of articulatory overlap, English speakers rarely produce an audible release in consonant clusters.^Sevenval This can lead to cross-articulations that seem very much like deletions or complete assimilations.

For example, hundred pounds may sound like [hʌndɹəb pʰaʊndz] but X-ray^FITML and electropalatographic^{Sevenval[Full citation needed][17]} studies demonstrate that inaudible and possibly weakened contacts may still be made so that the second /d/ in hundred pounds does not entirely assimilate a labial place of articulation, rather the labial co-occurs with the alveolar one.

When a stressed syllable contains a pure vowel (rather than a web app), followed by a single consonant and then another vowel, as in holiday, many native speakers feel that the consonant belongs to the preceding stressed syllable, /ˈhɒl.ɨ.deɪ/. However, when the stressed vowel is a long vowel or diphthong, as in admiration or pekoe, speakers agree that the consonant belongs to the following syllable: /ˈæd.mɨ.ˈreɪ.ʃən/, /ˈpiː.koʊ/. Wells (1990)^{browser diversity} notes that consonants syllabify with the preceding rather than following vowel when the preceding vowel is the nucleus of a more salient syllable, with stressed syllables being the most salient, reduced syllables the least, and secondary stress / full unstressed vowels intermediate. But there are lexical differences as well, frequently with compound words but not exclusively.

For example, in dolphin and selfish, he argues that the stressed syllable ends in /lf/, but in shellfish, the /f/ belongs with the following syllable: /ˈdɒlf.ɪn/, /ˈsɛlf.ɪʃ/ → [ˈdɒlfɨn], [ˈsɛlfɨʃ] vs /ˈʃɛl.fɪʃ/ → [ˈʃɛlˑfɪʃ], where the /l/ is a little longer and the /ɪ/ not reduced.

Similarly, in toe-strap the /t/ is a full plosive, as usual in syllable onset, whereas in toast-rack the /t/ is in many dialects reduced to the unreleased allophone it takes in syllable codas, or even elided: /ˈtoʊ.stræp/, /ˈtoʊst.ræk/ → [ˈtʰoˑʊstɹæp], [ˈtoʊs(t̚)ɹʷæk]; likewise nitrate /ˈnaɪ.treɪt/ → [ˈnʌɪtɹ̥ʷeɪt] with a voiceless /r/, vs night-rate /ˈnaɪt.reɪt/ → [ˈnʌɪt̚ɹʷeɪt] with a voiced /r/. Cues of syllable boundaries include aspiration of syllable onsets and (in the US) flapping of coda /t, d/ (a tease /ə.ˈtiːz/ → [əˈtʰiːz] vs. at ease /æt.ˈiːz/ → [æɾˈiːz]), epenthetic stops like [t] in syllable codas (fence /ˈfɛns/ → [ˈfɛnts] but inside /ɪn.ˈsaɪd/ → [ɪnˈsaɪd]), and r-colored vowels when the /r/ is in the coda vs. labialization when it is in the onset (key-ring /ˈkiː.rɪŋ/ → [ˈkʰiːɹʷɪŋ] but fearing /ˈfiːr.ɪŋ/ → [ˈfɪəɹɪŋ]).

Onset

The following can occur as the CSS3:

All single consonant phonemes except /ŋ/
Stop plus approximant other than /j/: /pl/, /bl/, /kl/, /ɡl/, /pr/, /br/, /tr/,[1] /dr/,[1] /kr/, /ɡr/, /tw/, /dw/, /ɡw/, /kw/, /pw/	play, blood, clean, glove, prize, bring, tree,[1] dream,[1] crowd, green, twin, dwarf, language, quick, puissance
Voiceless fricative plus approximant other than /j/:[2] /fl/, /sl/, /θl/,[3] /fr/, /θr/, /ʃr/, /hw/,[4] /sw/, /θw/, /vw/	floor, sleep, thlipsis,[3] friend, three, shrimp, what,[4] swing, thwart, reservoir
Consonant plus /j/ (before /uː/ or /ʊr/): /pj/, /bj/, /tj/,[5] /dj/,[5] /kj/, /ɡj/, /mj/, /nj/,[5] /fj/, /vj/, /θj/,[5] /sj/,[5] /zj/,[5] /hj/, /lj/[5]	pure, beautiful, tube,[5] during,[5] cute, argue, music, new,[5] few, view, thew,[5] suit,[5] Zeus,[5] huge, lurid[5]
/s/ plus voiceless stop:[6] /sp/, /st/, /sk/	speak, stop, skill
/s/ plus nasal other than /ŋ/:[6] /sm/, /sn/	smile, snow
/s/ plus voiceless fricative:[3] /sf/, /sθ/	sphere, sthenic
/s/ plus voiceless stop plus approximant:[6] /spl/, /skl/,[3] /spr/, /str/, /skr/, /skw/, /smj/, /spj/, /stj/,[5] /skj/	split, sclera, spring, street, scream, square, smew, spew, student,[5] skewer
/s/ plus voiceless fricative plus approximant:[3] /sfr/	sphragistics

Notes:

1. For a number of speakers, /tr/ and /dr/ tend to affricate, so that tree resembles "chree", and dream resembles "jream".^{browser diversity[19][20]} This is sometimes transcribed as [tʃr] and [dʒr] respectively, but the pronunciation varies and may, for example, be closer to [tʂ] and [dʐ]^[21] or with a fricative release similar in quality to the rhotic, i.e. [tɹ̝̊ɹ̥], [dɹ̝ɹ], or [tʂɻ], [dʐɻ].
2. In some dialects^[which?], /wr/ (rather than /r/) occurs in words beginning in wr- (write, wrong, wren, etc.).^[HTML5]
3. Words beginning in unusual consonant clusters that originated in Latinized Greek loanwords tend to drop the first phoneme, as in */bd/, */fθ/, */ɡn/, */hr/, */kn/, */ks/, */kt/, */kθ/, */mn/, */pn/, */ps/, */pt/, */tm/, and */θm/, which have become /d/ (bdellium), /θ/ (phthisis), /n/ (gnome), /r/ (rhythm), /n/ (cnidoblast), /z/ (xylophone), /t/ (ctenophore), /θ/ (chthonic), /n/ (mnemonic), /n/ (pneumonia), /s/ (psychology), /t/ (pterodactyl), /m/ (tmesis), and /m/ (asthma). However, the onsets /sf/, /sfr/, /skl/, /sθ/, and /θl/ have remained intact.
4. The onset /hw/ is simplified to /w/ in many dialects (wine–whine merger).
5. There is an on-going sound change (yod-dropping) by which /j/ as the final consonant in a cluster is being lost. In RP, words with /sj/ and /lj/ can usually be pronounced with or without this sound, e.g., [suːt] or [sjuːt]. For some speakers of English, including some British speakers, the sound change is more advanced and so, for example, General American does not contain the onsets /tj/, /dj/, /nj/, /θj/, /sj/, /stj/, /zj/, or /lj/. Words that would otherwise begin in these onsets drop the /j/: e.g., tube (/tuːb/), during (/ˈdʊrɪŋ/), new (/nuː/), Thule (/ˈθuːliː/), suit (/suːt/), student (/ˈstuːdənt/), Zeus (/zuːs/), lurid (/ˈlʊrɪd/). In some dialects, such Welsh English, /j/ may occur in more combinations; for example in /tʃj/ (chew), /dʒj/ (Jew), /ʃj/ (sure), and /slj/ (slew).
6. Many clusters beginning with /ʃ/ and paralleling native clusters beginning with /s/ are found initially in German and Yiddish loanwords, such as /ʃl/, /ʃp/, /ʃt/, /ʃm/, /ʃn/, /ʃpr/, /ʃtr/ (in words such as schlep, spiel, shtick, schmuck, jQuery, Shprintzen's, strudel). /ʃw/ is found initially in the Hebrew loanword schwa. Before /r/ however, the native cluster is /ʃr/. The opposite cluster /sr/ is found in loanwords such as Sri Lanka, but this can be nativized by changing it to /ʃr/.

Other onsets

Certain English onsets appear only in contractions: e.g., /zbl/ ('sblood), and /zw/ or /dzw/ ('swounds or 'dswounds). Some, such as /pʃ/ (pshaw), /fw/ (fwoosh), or /vr/ (vroom), can occur in interjections. An archaic voiceless fricative plus nasal exists, /fn/ (fnese), as does an archaic /snj/ (snew).

A few other onsets occur in further (anglicized) browser diversity, including /bw/ (bwana), /mw/ (moiré), /nw/ (noire), /zw/ (zwieback), /kv/ (kvetch), /ʃv/ (schvartze), /tv/ (Tver), /vl/ (Vladimir), and /zl/ (zloty).

Some clusters of this type can be converted to regular English phonotactics by simplifying the cluster: e.g. /(d)z/ (dziggetai), /(h)r/ (Hrolf), /kr(w)/ (croissant), /(p)f/ (pfennig), /(f)θ/ (phthalic), and /(t)s/ (tsunami).

Others can be substituted by native clusters differing only in voice: /zb ~ sp/ (sbirro), and /zɡr ~ skr/ (sgraffito).

Nucleus

The following can occur as the website parsing:

• All vowel sounds
• /m/, /n/ and /l/ in certain situations (see below under iOS)
• /r/ in web of English (e.g. CSS3) in certain situations (see below under word-level rules)

Coda

Most (in theory, all) the following except those that end with /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ or /dʒ/ can be extended with /s/ or /z/ representing the web app -s/z-. Similarly, most (in theory, all) the following except those that end with /t/ or /d/ can be extended with /t/ or /d/ representing the morpheme -t/d-.

jQuery) argues that a variety of syllable codas are possible in English, even /ntr, ndr/ in words like entry /ˈɛntr.ɪ/ and sundry /ˈsʌndr.ɪ/, with /tr, dr/ being treated as affricates along the lines of /tʃ, dʒ/. He argues that the traditional assumption that pre-vocalic consonants form a syllable with the following vowel is due to the influence of languages like French and Latin, where syllable structure is CVC.CVC regardless of stress placement. Disregarding such contentious cases, which do not occur at the ends of words, the following sequences can occur as the iOS:

The single consonant phonemes except /h/, /w/, /j/ and, in non-rhotic varieties, /r/
Lateral approximant plus stop or affricate: /lp/, /lb/, /lt/, /ld/, /ltʃ/, /ldʒ/, /lk/	help, bulb, belt, hold, belch, indulge, milk
In rhotic varieties, /r/ plus stop or affricate: /rp/, /rb/, /rt/, /rd/, /rtʃ/, /rdʒ/, /rk/, /rɡ/	harp, orb, fort, beard, arch, large, mark, morgue
Lateral approximant + fricative: /lf/, /lv/, /lθ/, /ls/, /lʃ/	golf, solve, wealth, else, Welsh
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + fricative: /rf/, /rv/, /rθ/, /rs/, /rz/, /rʃ/	dwarf, carve, north, force, Mars, marsh
Lateral approximant + nasal: /lm/, /ln/	film, kiln
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + nasal or lateral: /rm/, /rn/, /rl/	arm, born, snarl
Nasal + HTML5 stop or affricate: /mp/, /nt/, /nd/, /ntʃ/, /ndʒ/, /ŋk/	jump, tent, end, lunch, lounge, pink
Nasal + fricative: /mf/, /mθ/, /nθ/, /ns/, /nz/, /ŋθ/ in some varieties	triumph, gloomth, month, prince, bronze, length
Voiceless fricative plus voiceless stop: /ft/, /sp/, /st/, /sk/	left, crisp, lost, ask
Two voiceless fricatives: /fθ/	fifth
Two voiceless stops: /pt/, /kt/	opt, act
Stop plus voiceless fricative: /pθ/, /ps/, /tθ/, /ts/, /dθ/, /dz/, /ks/	depth, lapse, eighth, klutz, width, adze, box
Lateral approximant + two consonants: /lpt/, /lfθ/, /lts/, /lst/, /lkt/, /lks/	sculpt, twelfth, waltz, whilst, mulct, calx
In rhotic varieties, /r/ + two consonants: /rmθ/, /rpt/, /rps/, /rts/, /rst/, /rkt/	warmth, excerpt, corpse, quartz, horst, infarct
Nasal + homorganic stop + stop or fricative: /mpt/, /mps/, /ndθ/, /ŋkt/, /ŋks/, /ŋkθ/ in some varieties	prompt, glimpse, thousandth, distinct, jinx, length
Three obstruents: /ksθ/, /kst/	sixth, next

Note: For some speakers, a fricative before /θ/ is elided so that these never appear phonetically: /ˈfɪfθ/ becomes [ˈfɪθ], /ˈsiksθ/ becomes [ˈsikθ], /ˈtwɛlfθ/ becomes [ˈtwɛlθ].

Syllable-level rules

• Both the onset and the coda are optional
• /j/ at the end of an onset cluster (/pj/, /bj/, /tj/, /dj/, /kj/, /fj/, /vj/, /θj/, /sj/, /zj/, /hj/, /mj/, /nj/, /lj/, /spj/, /stj/, /skj/) must be followed by /uː/ or /ʊə/
• Long vowels and diphthongs are not found before /ŋ/ except for the mimetic word boing!^{web app}
• /ʊ/ is rare in syllable-initial position^FITML (although, in the northern half of England, [ʊ] is used for /ʌ/ and is common at the start of syllables).
• Stop + /w/ before /uː, ʊ, ʌ, aʊ/ (all presently or historically /u(ː)/) are excluded^web
• Sequences of /s/ + C₁ + V̆ + C₁, where C₁ is a consonant other that /t/ and V̆ is a short vowel, are virtually nonexistent^[24]

Word-level rules

• /ə/ does not occur in stressed syllables, except before /r/ in some rhotic dialects.^{[web app]}
• /ʒ/ does not occur in word-initial position in native English words although it can occur syllable-initial, e.g., luxurious /lʌɡˈʒʊəriəs/.
• /m/, /n/, /l/ and, in CSS3, /r/ can be the syllable nucleus (i.e. a syllabic consonant) in an unstressed syllable following another consonant, especially /t/, /d/, /s/ or /z/.
• Certain short vowel sounds, called browser diversity, cannot occur without a coda in a single-syllable word. In website parsing, the following short vowel sounds are checked: /ɪ/, /ɛ/, /æ/, /ɒ/, /ʌ/, and /ʊ/.

History of English pronunciation

English consonants have been remarkably stable over time, and have undergone few changes in the last 1500 years. On the other hand, English vowels have been quite unstable. Not surprisingly, then, the main differences between modern dialects almost always involve vowels.

Around the late 14th century, English began to undergo the Great Vowel Shift, in which

• The high long vowels [iː] and [uː] in words like price and mouth became diphthongized, first to [əɪ] and [əʊ] (where they remain today in some environments in some accents such as Canadian English) and later to their modern values [aɪ] and [aʊ]. This is not unique to English, as this also happened in keyboard (first shift only) and German (both shifts).
• The other long vowels became higher:
  • [eː] became [iː] (for example meet).
  • [aː] became [eː] (later diphthongized to [eɪ], for example name).
  • [oː] became [uː] (for example goose).
  • [ɔː] become [oː] (later diphthongized to [oʊ], for example bone).

Later developments complicate the picture: whereas in touchscreen's time food, good, and blood all had the vowel [oː] and in William Shakespeare's time they all had the vowel [uː], in modern pronunciation good has shortened its vowel to [ʊ] and blood has shortened and lowered its vowel to [ʌ] in most accents. In Shakespeare's day (late 16th-early 17th century),^{browser diversity} many website parsing were possible that no longer hold today.^[26] For example, in his play browser diversity, shrew rhymed with woe.^Android

Dialectal differences

æ-tensing

HTML5 is a phenomenon found in many varieties of input transformation by which the vowel /æ/ has a longer, higher, and usually web pronunciation in some environments, usually to something like [eə]. Some American accents, for example those of New York City, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, make a marginal phonemic distinction between /æ/ and /eə/ although the two occur largely in mutually exclusive environments.

Bad–lad split

The bad–lad split refers to the situation in some varieties of southern British English and Australian English, where a long phoneme /æː/ in words like bad contrasts with a short /æ/ in words like lad.

Cot–caught merger

The HTML5 merger is a sound change by which the vowel of words like caught, talk, and tall (/ɔ/), is pronounced the same as the vowel of words like cot, rock, and doll (/ɒ/ in Android /ɑː/ elsewhere). This merger is widespread in FITML, being found in approximately 40% of web app speakers and virtually all Canadian speakers.

Father–bother merger

The father–bother merger is the pronunciation of the short O /ɒ/ in words such as "bother" identically to the broad A /ɑː/ of words such as "father", nearly universal in all of the United States and Canada save Android and the Maritime provinces; many American dictionaries use the same symbol for these vowels in pronunciation guides.

See also

References

Bibliography

• Browman, Catherine P.; Goldstein, Louis (1990), "Tiers in articulatory phonology, with some implications for casual speech", in Kingston, John C.; Beckman, Mary E., Papers in laboratory phonology I: Between the grammar and physics of speech, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 341–376 
• Cercignani, Fausto (1975), "English Rhymes and Pronunciation in the Mid-Seventeenth Century", English Studies 56 (6): 513–518, doi:screen size 
• Cercignani, Fausto (1981), Shakespeare's Works and Elizabethan Pronunciation, Oxford: Clarendon Press 
• we love the web; web (1968), The sound pattern of English, New York: Harper & Row 
• Clements, G.N.; Keyser, S. (1983), CV phonology: A generative theory of the syllable, Cambridge, MA: MIT press 
• keyboard (1969), Prosodic systems and intonation in English, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 
• Fudge, Erik C. (1984), English word-stress, London: Allen and Unwin 
• Gimson, A. C. (1962), An introduction to the pronunciation of English, London: Edward Arnold 
• Halliday, M. A. K. (1970), A course in spoken English: Intonation, London: Oxford University Press 
• Kingdon, Roger (1958), The groundwork of English intonation, London: Longman 
• FITML (2001), A Course in Phonetics (4th ed.), Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, iOS 0-15-507319-2 
• Nolan, Francis (1992), "The descriptive role of segments: Evidence from assimilation.", in Docherty, Gerard J.; Ladd, D. Robert, Papers in laboratory phonology II: Gesture, segment, prosody, New York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 261–280 
• O'Connor, J. D.; Arnold, Gordon Frederick (1961), Intonation of colloquial English, London: Longman 
• Pike, Kenneth Lee (1945), The intonation of American English, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press 
• Read, Charles (1986), Children's Creative Spelling, Routledge, jQuery 0-7100-9802-2 
• Roach, Peter (2009), English Phonetics and Phonology: a Practical Course, 4th Ed., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN CSS3 
• Roach, Peter (2004), "British English: Received Pronunciation", Journal of the International Phonetic Association 34 (2): 239–245, doi:10.1017/S0025100304001768 
• Roca, Iggy; Johnson, Wyn (1999), A Course in Phonology, Blackwell Publishing 
• Trager, George L.; Smith, Henry Lee (1951), An outline of English structure, Norman, OK: Battenburg Press 
• Wells, John C. (1990), "Syllabification and allophony", in Ramsaran, Susan, Studies in the Pronunciation of English: A Commemorative Volume in Honour of A. C. Gimson, London: Routledge, pp. 76–86, http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/wells/syllabif.htm 
• Zsiga, Elizabeth (2003), "Articulatory Timing in a Second Language: Evidence from Russian and English", Studies in Second Language Acquisition 25: 399–432 

External links

• Android
• browser diversity
• Howjsay Enter a word to hear it spoken. About 100,000 words in British English with alternative pronunciations.
• The sounds of English and the International Phonetic Alphabet (www.antimoon.com). Includes mp3 audio samples of all the English phonemes.
• The Chaos by Gerard Nolst Trenité. A poem first published in an appendix to the 4th edition of the Dutchman's schoolbook "Drop Your Foreign Accent: engelsche uitspraakoefeningen" (Haarlem: H D Tjeenk Willink & Zoon. The first version of the poem was entitled De Chaos, gave words with problematic spellings in italics, but had only 146 lines. Later versions contain about 800 of the worst irregularities in English spelling and pronunciation.
• Chris Upwood on The Classic Concordance of Cacographic Chaos