Questions tagged [allophones]

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Pronunciation difference between "night rate" and "nitrate"

On English allophones on Wikipedia, there is an example of the pronunciation differences between "night rate" and "nitrate", Night rate: unreleased [ˈnʌɪt̚.ɹʷeɪt̚] (without a word ...
Qian's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
609 views

How does one show in IPA that the first sound in "get" and "got" is different?

So one has that "get" /ɡɛt/ and "got" /ɡɒt/ are a minimal pair, for it's only the vocalic phoneme which distinguishes them. However, the first sound is not pronounced/articulated ...
DanielC's user avatar
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1 vote
1 answer
114 views

Are ə before l/m/n/r optional?

When looking up the pronunciation for a word like "people" some sources says /pi:pl/ other says /pi:pəl/ (possibly whith the schwa in parenthesis or superscript). I guess both are considered ...
skyking's user avatar
  • 141
1 vote
0 answers
111 views

Gemination of plosives in final positions following a consonant

Whenever a plosive like p,t,k follows a consonant in the final position, it is always released or else it can't be heard at all. For example: lamp, act, thank, etc. Yet in the word lamppost, the first ...
Brack Bruno's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
126 views

Is the /jʊɹ/ phoneme being streamlined to /jɚ/ in General American?

The following words have the UR and URE graphemes representing the /jʊɹ/ phoneme. uranium security curious Europe fury mural cure/pure/demure failure tenure figure But for many of the above words, ...
kanamekun's user avatar
  • 282
0 votes
1 answer
119 views

L-epenthesis in “both” and other words

I’m a younger speaker from Chicago with some version of a General American accent. I’ve noticed that a small number of words seem to have a nonstandard pronunciation with an inserted lateral sound, ...
Graham H.'s user avatar
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1 vote
0 answers
199 views

Pronunciation of "es" at the end of the words [duplicate]

Is there a some of kind of rule affecting the pronunciation of "es" coming at the end of a word? In some words I hear "-es" as "ɪz" and in some others I hear it as a &...
iwsnmw's user avatar
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11 votes
3 answers
1k views

Why is there a flap allophone of /t/ but not of /k/ or /p/?

In English, there are three (phonemic) voiceless stops: /t/, /k/, /p/. In most if not all American accents, a /t/ between vowels (the first of which is usually stressed and the second unstressed) is ...
user avatar
0 votes
0 answers
130 views

Is [bʊt] (Northern England) analyzed as an allophone of /bʌt/?

In some/most Northern England accents, words that have [ʌ] in RP (or standard varieties of English) are pronounced with [ʊ]. So hut, cut, shut etc are pronounced with [ʌ]* in Southern British English ...
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2 votes
2 answers
320 views

Are /ɑːɹ/ and /æɹ/ allophones?

Are /ɑːɹ/ (as in "start") and /æɹ/ (as in "parody", "marry", or "clarity") allophones? It seems that the latter can only occur when the /æɹ/ precedes a vowel in ...
mic's user avatar
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0 answers
379 views

How should you pronounce the word "wolf "?

If the dictionary’s IPA for the word wolf is /wʊlf/, then why do I sometimes hear people pronounce it /wolf/ instead of /wʊlf/? Aren’t /ʊ/ and /o/ different phonemes?
Edinburgh1's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
4k views

Are [ɪ] and [i] are allophones of the same phoneme in English? [closed]

I am leaning towards no, but would like confirmation and perhaps an example to illustrate.
gptt916's user avatar
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6 votes
3 answers
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/ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/ as phonemes?

From what I understand on phonetics/phonology, /ɪə/, /eə/, /ʊə/ can simply be considered as allophones of /ɪr/, /er/, /ʊr/, but most traditional dictionaries treat them as distinct phonemes. Is that ...
Vun-Hugh Vaw's user avatar
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2 votes
0 answers
87 views

Coalescence of /t/ and /r/ in 'train', 'tram', 'traffic' etc [duplicate]

Could we say that when saying the 'tr' in words like 'train', 'tram' etc, that the /t/ and /r/ often coalesce to make a sound which is more similar to 'tchr'? I myself definitely do this, but I have ...
Bob Holmes's user avatar
7 votes
2 answers
5k views

Difference between word-final iː, i and ɪ

As we know, English usually contrasts the two high front vowels /i:/ and /ɪ/, and many different minimal pairs exist for this (e.g. /sli:p/ vs /slɪp/). However, at the end of a word, we usually have ...
Callid's user avatar
  • 73
2 votes
4 answers
5k views

Pronunciation of "-st-". When is it "sd" and when "st"?

I recently found some words but I got confused and don't know whether to say sd or st. I am sure the following are pronounced as st: sister caster ancestor master But the following are pronounced as ...
Daniel Cheung's user avatar
9 votes
3 answers
5k views

Which does English “l” and “r” sound come under, an allophone or different phonemes?

I was very much embarrassed when I was pointed out by ELU Senpai that I made a great mistake by misspelling ‘Mod election’ as ‘Mod erection’ during ELU chat. We Japanese often make a silly mistake of ...
Yoichi Oishi's user avatar
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2 votes
1 answer
638 views

Why do the first and last "t" in "taste" sound different?

When I listened to the audio pronunciation of "taste" /teɪst/, I noticed that the first and last "t" sound different: the first "t" sounds like [tʰ] while the second one sounds more like [tsʰ]. Words ...
Hin's user avatar
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1 vote
3 answers
2k views

Difference between ɒ and ɔ: in terms of sound?

Are they same, like, allophones? To me, they sound like same?
chanzerre's user avatar
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