Allophones (and diacritics) for allophonic variation in CONSONANT RELEASE PROPERTIES & sound source

Unreleased stops:

Common in word-final position in English (free variation with released stop). Both voiced and voiceless stops can be unreleased.

e.g. [kæt] versus [kæt̚], [pɑd] versus [pɑd̚]


In a sequence of two stop consonants, the first is generally unreleased.

e.g. [kæt̚nɪp], [læp̚tɑp] (unreleased oral stop before an oral or nasal stop in the following syllable)

• e.g. [kɪk̚t], [lɑb̚d] (unreleased oral stop
• before an oral or nasal stop in the same syllable)

Aspirated voiceless stop:

Voiceless stops in English can be produced with an audible puff of air called aspiration noise; Be careful to distinguish aspiration from the stop release burst.

Reminder: For a typical speaker, it generally is not necessary to mark detail about aspiration (can be predicted from context).


A voiceless stop is aspirated in the onset of a stressed syllable:

e.g. [pʰit] Pete, [tʰæp] tap

Unaspirated voiceless stop:

A voiceless stop is unaspirated after /s/.

e.g. [sp=un] spoon, [st=æmp] stamp, [əsk=eɪp] escape

• A voiceless stop is unaspirated in the onset of an
• unstressed sylllable:

e.g. [bæk⁼ʌp] backup, [thɪk⁼ ɚ] ticker

Nasalization:

A vowel occurs before or between two nasals is very likely to be nasalized in English.


Disordered speech may feature hypernasal resonance


Nasal resonance in the absence of nasal phonemes that would ordinarily trigger nasal spreading:

e.g. [bɛ̃d] bed

Devoicing:

A sound that is typically voiced is produced without voicing.

In typical speech, a liquid or glide can become devoiced after a voiceless consonant:

• e.g. [pr̥eɪ] pray
• e.g. [fj̥u] few

Obstruents, especially fricatives and affricates, may become devoiced at the end of an utterance or before a voiceless consonant.

• e.g. [bæd̥] bad
• e.g. [hæz̥] has

Many typical adult speakers show some final devoicing

Nasal emission:

distinct from hypernasality.

Refers to nasal airflow during a phoneme that ordinarily cannot undergo nasalization, such as a fricative or affricate.

Reflects difficulty forming complete closure at the velopharyngeal port.

Voicing:

Voicing may be observed in a voiceless fricative between two voiced sounds:

e.g. [ɑs̬wɔld] Oswald

Breathy voice:

Air escapes audibly from the glottis during speech.


What if an entire utterance has a breathy vocal quality?:

{V hӕpɪ bɝθdeɪ mɪsɾɚ prɛzǝdɛnt V}

Creaky voice (glottal fry).

In creaky voice, the vocal folds vibrate very slowly (low pitch) and individual cycles of vibration are audible as “popping” sounds.

Normal speakers use creaky voice at the end of a sentence when lung volume is low.

VoQS, voice quality symbols:

Developed for use in clinical settings where voice quality is important.

Can mark a range of voice qualities including harsh voice, diplophonia, etc.