LECTURE 7 NASALS AND OTHER CONSONANTS
So far, two major groups of consonants have been introduced: plosives and fricatives. Moreover,
affricates have also been described. This gives a total of 17 consonants. Thus, 7 consonants need to
be revealed.
Nasals [m], [n], [ŋ] and four others [l], [r], [w], [j] (it is difficult to fit these four into a group).
These 7 consonants are continuants and normally have no friction noise.
The basic feature of a nasal [ˈneɪzl] consonant is
Three types of closure exist:
Nasals [m] and [n] appear to be simple and straightforward and their distribution is similar to those
of plosives.
However, [ŋ] is a consonant which causes significant problems to L2 learners of English.
[ŋ] never occurs in initial position.
[ŋ] can be found quite frequently in medial positions. However, the question here is when [ŋ] may be
pronounced without a following plosive.
For example:
finger [ˈfɪŋɡə]
singer [ˈsɪŋə]
anger [ˈæŋɡə]
hanger [ˈhæŋə]
What is the rule? What is the difference between the words on the left and the words on the right?
The key difference is
[ŋ] at the end of the words
Words ending in “ng” are pronounced as [ŋ]
[ŋ] is never followed [g] or [k]
Examples:
However, rules do have exceptions:
Comparative and superlative forms, being treated as a single-morpheme words for the purposes of
our rule, are pronounced with [g] following [ŋ]: longer [ˈlɒŋɡə] and longest [ˈlɒŋɡɪst].
Interestingly, English speakers seem to ignore this rule quite often. However, if an L2 learner
mispronounces a word when it comes to this rule, they notice and the word has been pronounced
inappropriately.
[l] is a lateral approximant
A complete closure occurs between the centre of the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth
where contact is made (the alveolar ridge). Therefore, the only way for the air to escape is along the
tongue sides.
[l] can be found in the initial position, medial position and final position.
In BBC pronunciation, [l] has 1 specific feature – its
Consonant [r]
There is really one pronunciation which can be recommended to the foreign learner – post-alveolar
approximant.
The important thing to know about making [r] is
This is, of course, very different from [r] of many other languages – the Slovak language.
A rather different [r] can be found at the beginning of a syllable if it is preceded by [p], [t], [k]. For
example: press, tress, cress.
[r] in BBC pronunciation
Where does [r] occur in BBC pronunciation?
Inexplicably, everyone remembers this rule, but L2 learners find it difficult to remember this rule
within their pronunciation.
However, there are accents where [r] is pronounced – most American, Scots and West of England
accents. Such accents are called rhotic accents. BBC pronunciation accent is called non-rhotic accent.
Consonants [j] and [w]
[j] and [w] are approximants.
The most important thing to remember about these phonemes is that.
English consonants ((Roach, 2009, p. 52))
LIST OF RESOURCES
Cruttenden, A. Gimson’s Pronunciation of English. Hodder Education, 2008.
Crystal, D. A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackvell Publishing, 2008.
Davenport M. – Hannahs S. Introducing Phonetics and Phonology. Hodder Arnold, 2005.
Richards, J. – Schmidt, R. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics.
Longman, 2010.
Roach, P. English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge University Press, 2009.
Underhill, A. Learning and teaching pronunciation. Macmillan, 2005.