Allophonic alternations in English
2 types of phonetic transcription: !
Broad/phonological/phonemic: we transcribe only the phonemes of a language. It provides an
overall picture of the phonological system of a language and indicates what distinctions are made.!
Narrow/allophonic: we indicate sounds with a lot of phonetic detail. It gives more precise
information about the articulation of the sounds. Here we indicate all the allophonic
alternations.
1. Aspiration
The English voiceless oral stops /p, t, k/ unless preceded by /s/, are aspirated before Vs in the
following contexts: !
•At the beginning of a stressed syllable: /pʰɒt/!
•Word-initially in unstressed syllable (but is weaker in this context): /tʰəˈmɔ:rəʊ/!
•In word-final position, oral stops can be unreleased (realised without explosion) or released (in
carefully articulated speech or emphatic speech): /a:skʰ/ vs. /a:sk/!
Aspiration is a delay in the beginning of VF vibration. !
2. Devoicing of approximants and voiced obstruents under-ring symbol
1. Voiceless obstruents + approximants /l, r, j, w/ (provided that they belong to the same syl.
onset): /pl )
i:d/, /pr)eɪ/, /tj)
u:n/, /tw)in/!
2. Of voiced obstruents (plosives, fricatives and affricates) in final position: /sæd)/, /fr)i:z)/, /li:v)/!
3. Velarisation of /l/: /ɫ/
-“Dark” velarised /l/ [(ɫ)] occurs in syllable codas: /smɔ:ɫ/, /teɪɫ/!
-“Clear/ /l/ always in onsets: /leɪk/!
-Syllabic laterals are usually velarised: /lɪtɫ/!
-Vocalised /l/: [o] results if in the articulation of /ɫ/ the tongue tip contact is lost: child /t∫aɪod/ or
always /ɔ:ɫweɪz/, /ɔ:ºweɪz/!
Clear /l/
•Syllable onset!
•/l/ + V!
Dark /ɫ/
•Syllable codas or syllabic !
•V + /ɫ/!
4. Tapping of alveolar stops
A tao or flap is produced with a single contraction of the muscles so that one articulator (tongue
tip) briefly strikes the other (alveolar ridge). In some varieties of English /t/ and /d/ are realised as a
voiced alveolar tap ([ɾ], [t /]) in:!
-Stressed V + /t/ + unstressed V: [ˈsɪt/i]!
-Unstressed V + /t/ + unstressed V: sɪmˈplɪsɪt/i]!
-Stressed V +/r, n/ + /t/ + unstressed V: party /pa:t/i] !
