English Consonant Release Types and Features
English Consonant Release Types
Aspiration
Aspiration is a period of voiceless air after the release of a consonant, particularly in English voiceless plosives. It is diacritically marked as (h). There is strong aspiration following voiceless plosives at the beginning of a stressed syllable (only /p/, /t/, /k/). Aspiration is absent when voiceless plosives are preceded by the alveolar fricative /s/ in the same syllable. Thus, /s/ + /p, t, k/ results in unaspirated plosives.
Nasal Release
Nasal release occurs when the air accumulated for a plosive is released nasally rather than orally. It is marked with the diacritic (n). This happens when a plosive is immediately followed by a homorganic nasal. The sequence Plosive + homorganic nasal results in a plosive with nasal release followed by a nasal (e.g., sudden).
Lateral Release
Lateral release occurs when the air accumulated for a plosive escapes along one or both sides of the mouth. It is marked with the diacritic (l). In English, only the alveolar plosives /t/ and /d/ can have a lateral release. The sequence Plosive (/t/, /d/) + lateral results in a plosive with lateral release followed by a lateral (e.g., settle, saddle).
Release Masking and Inaudible Release
Release masking and inaudible release occur when the release of the air accumulated for a plosive is nearly inaudible. Both are marked with the same diacritic ( ).
- Release Masking: Happens when a plosive is immediately followed by another plosive or affricate with a different place of articulation, and the two sounds are produced in quick succession (e.g., sag’d, ap’t).
- Inaudible Release: Occurs when a plosive is at the end of a word, especially when followed by silence.
Preglottalization
Preglottalization involves a glottal closure that precedes or occurs simultaneously with a voiceless plosive. It is marked with the diacritic (?). This typically happens when a voiceless plosive is in syllable coda position (final or in a consonant cluster) and is preceded by a sonorant (nasal, approximant, lateral, or vowel) and followed by a consonant or pause. The sequence Sonorant + voiceless plosive + consonant/silence becomes Sonorant + preglottalized voiceless plosive + consonant/silence (e.g., sa?k, fel?t). Preglottalization in word-final position often co-occurs with inaudible release for the plosive (e.g., je?p’).
Obstruent Devoicing
English voiced obstruents (plosives, fricatives, and affricates) may lose some or all of their voicing. Voiced plosives might anticipate or preserve preceding voicelessness as a coarticulatory phenomenon. The diacritic for this is ḁ (a circle underneath the symbol). This occurs in contact with voicelessness, whether from silence or a voiceless sound.
Approximant Devoicing
Approximants (/l/, /r/, /w/, /j/) are realized with little or no voicing. The diacritic is the same as for obstruent devoicing. This happens when an approximant is in the environment of aspiration, specifically when preceded by a voiceless plosive at the beginning of a stressed syllable.
Allophonic Affricates
A sequence of an alveolar plosive (/t/, /d/) and a post-alveolar approximant (/r/) can merge into a single sound, a post-alveolar affricate. This is marked with the diacritic (ʃ). This occurs when an alveolar plosive is immediately followed by a post-alveolar approximant within the same syllable. The sequence Alveolar plosive + post-alveolar approximant becomes a post-alveolar affricate (e.g., tr as in tru becomes /tʃ/, dr as in drai becomes /dʒ/).
Voicing of /h/
/h/ can be realized as a voiced glottal fricative, symbolized as (ɦ), when it occurs between vowels (e.g., in behind, ahead).