Modern English: Difference between revisions
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==Phonology== | ==Phonology== | ||
===Consonants=== | ===Consonants=== | ||
{| | <br/> | ||
| | <div style="text-align: center;"> | ||
{| style="text-align: center; background: #f9f9f9; border: 1pt solid #c0c0c0;" | |||
!colspan=17 style="text-align:center; background: #efefef;"| Consonants | |||
|- style="vertical-align: center; font-size: x-small; height: 2em" | |||
| ||colspan=2| Bilabial ||colspan=2| Labiod.||colspan=2| Inter-dental||colspan=2| Alveolar||colspan=2| Post-alv. ||colspan=2| Palatal ||colspan=2| Velar ||colspan=2| Glottal | |||
|- | |||
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Nasal || || {{IPA|m}} || || || || || || {{IPA|n}} || || || || || || {{IPA|ŋ}} | |||
|- | |||
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Plosive || {{IPA|p}} || {{IPA|b}} || || || || || {{IPA|t}} || {{IPA|d}} || || || || || {{IPA|k}} || {{IPA|g}} || ʔ | |||
|- | |||
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Fricative || || || {{IPA|f}} || {{IPA|v}} || θ || ð || s || z || ʃ || ʒ || || ç || (x) || || h | |||
|- | |||
|style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Affricate || || || || || || || ʦ || ʣ || {{IPA|ʧ}} || (ʤ) || || || | |||
|- | |- | ||
| | |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Approximants & glides || ʍ || w || || || || || || ɹ || || || || {{IPA|j}} | ||
|- | |- | ||
| || | |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Trill || || || || || || || || {{IPA|r}} | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Flap || || || || || || || || {{IPA|ɾ}} | ||
|- | |- | ||
| | |style="text-align: left; font-size: 95%;"| Lateral Approximant || || || || || || || || {{IPA|l}}/ɫ | ||
|} | |} | ||
</div> | |||
The consonants of English tend to be more stable cross-dialectally than the vowels. | The consonants of English tend to be more stable cross-dialectally than the vowels. | ||
Revision as of 21:49, 17 June 2008
English is a Germanic language, serving basically as the lingua franca over much of the world; the most notable English-speaking countries are the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.
Phonology
Consonants
| Consonants | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Labiod. | Inter-dental | Alveolar | Post-alv. | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||||
| Plosive | p | b | t | d | k | g | ʔ | |||||||||
| Fricative | f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | ç | (x) | h | |||||
| Affricate | ʦ | ʣ | ʧ | (ʤ) | ||||||||||||
| Approximants & glides | ʍ | w | ɹ | j | ||||||||||||
| Trill | r | |||||||||||||||
| Flap | ɾ | |||||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant | l/ɫ | |||||||||||||||
The consonants of English tend to be more stable cross-dialectally than the vowels.
The phonemic status of [ŋ] is sometimes disputed, instead being replaced by a rule /nɡ → ŋ/ at the end of a morpheme. There remain, however, a few words where this may not apply, such as "hangar", though this may be due to metanalysis as hang + -ar.
The voiceless stops are aspirated. In some dialects aspiration is more salient than voicing for distinguishing stops.
The general American value of /r/ is [ɻ].
Important allophones
- [ɾ] for /d/ and /t/ between vowels in American English and some Australian dialects.
- [ʔ] for /d/ /t/, especially finally, but intervocalically in some places (Cockney and other London dialects).
- [ç] for /h/ before /j/.
- [ʍ] for /hw/ <wh> in some dialects. (In other dialects it either remains [hw] is not distinguished from /w/, even in dialects that otherwise retain /h/.)
- unaspirated voiceless consonants after /s/.
- [ʋ̴] is used for /r/ by some speakers.
Notable features of English
- Most verbs cannot normally participate in processes such as negation; for this auxiliary verbs are used. E.g.: to negate "I ate the cat.":
- *I ate not the cat. (possible, but archaic)
- I didn't eat the cat. (auxiliary "do" takes tense and negation marking)
Languages based on English
Creoles and natural descendants
Constructed languages
- Volapük (with other sources)
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