Nasals
Nasal consonants such as /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ are produced when the soft
palate is lowered and the air is allowed to pass through the nasal cavity. Such
sounds can be described as follows:
1. /m/ nasal, bilabial, voiced
2. /n/ nasal, alveolar, voiced
3. /ŋ/ nasal, velar, voiced
Distribution of nasal consonants
1. /m/ and /n/ can occur initially, medially and finally.
2. /ŋ/ occurs medially and finally but not initially.
3. /g/ is pronounced after /ŋ/ before a following vowel as in anger /æŋgə/,
finger /fiŋgə/ because these and similar words are not fromed of shorter
words. This means that the letters (er) at the end of these words are
originally related to them.
4. /g/ is pronounced after /ŋ/ in the words longer /loŋgə/ and stronger
/stroŋgə/ because these words are formed of the adjectives long and
strong plus the comparative (er).
5. /g/ does not occur after /ŋ/ in the words singer /siŋə/ and longing /loŋiŋ/
because these and similar words are formed of a verb plus the suffix (er)
and (ing).
6. /g/ does not occur after /ŋ/ before a following consonant as sings/ siŋz/
and hanged /hæŋd/.
The consonant /l/
The sound /l/ is produced when the air passes along the sides of the
tongue since the centre of the tongue makes a complete closure with the
alveolar ridge. Accordingly /l/ is called lateral. It occurs initially, medially
and finally. The phoneme /l/ has two allophones: dark /l/ and clear /l/. Dark
/l/ occurs finally as in hill /hil/, and medially when preceded by a vowel as in
almost /o:lməust/. Clear /l/ occurs initially as in like /laik/, and medially
when preceded by a consonant as play /plei/.
The consonant /r/
/r/ is produced when the tongue takes a curved shape with the tip pointing
towards the hard palate at the back of the alveolar ridge. The tongue tip is not
too close to the palate, therefore; it is called approximant. It can be described
as approximant, post – alveolar and voiced.
Distribution of /r/
1. /r/ is pronounced initially as in ring /riŋ/, write /rait/.
2. /r/ is pronounced medially when followed by a vowel as in bread /bred/.
3. /r/is not pronounced medially when followed by a consonant as in learn
/lʒ:/
It should be noted that /r/ becomes voiceless when preceded by /p/, /t/ or /k/
as in press /pres/, tress /tres/ and cress /kres/.
4. /r/ is not pronounced finally as in teacher /ti:ʧə/, car /ka:/.
5. /r/ is pronounced finally when followed by a word beginning with a
vowel as in: My brother is a doctor /mai brΛðər iz ə doktə/.
6. /r/ is intruded after /ə/ or /o:/ even when there is no letter ( r ) in spelling
as in: Africa and Asia /æfrikər ən eiʃə/. I saw a man /ai so:r ə mæn/.
The consonants /j/ and /w/
the consonants /j/ and /w/ are referred to as approximants since the
articulators approach each other but donot get sufficiently close to each other
to produce a complete consonant such as a plosive, nasal or fricative. Such
consonants are phonetically like vowels in that the production of /j/ is similar
to that of /i:/ and the production of /w/ is similar to that of /u:/.
Phonologically, these sounds are consonants since they can occur before
vowels as in: a year /ə jiə/, a way /ə wei/. Accordingly, any word beginning
with /j/ or /w/ is regarded as beginning with a consonant. /j/ and /w/ become
voiceless when preceded by /p/, /t/ or /k/ as in: pure /pjuə/, tune /tju:n/, queue
/kju:/, twin /twin/, qwit /kwit/. Such consonants can be described as follows:
/j/ palatal, approximant, voiced.
/w/ bilabial, approximant, voiced.