Phonetic transcriptions in the International Phonetic Alphabet

Consonant examples
The following table shows typical examples of the occurrence of the above consonant
phonemes in words, using 
minimal pairs
where possible.

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Fortis
Lenis
/
p
/ pit
/
b
/ bit
/
t
/ tin
/
d
/ din
/
k
/ cut
/
ɡ
/ gut
/
tʃ
/ cheap /
dʒ
/ jeep
/
f
/ fat
/
v
/ vat
/
θ
/ thigh
/
ð
/ thy
/
s
/ sap
/
z
/ zap
/
ʃ
/ mesher /
ʒ
/ measure
/
x
/ loch
/
h
/ ham
/
m
/ map
/
n
/ thin
/
ŋ
/ thing
/
j
/
yes
/
w
/ we
/
r
/
run
/
l
/
left
Sonorants
The pronunciation of /l/ varies by dialect:
Received Pronunciation has two main allophones of /l/: the clear or plain [l] (the "light
L"), and the 
dark
 or 
velarized
[ɫ] (the "dark L"). The clear variant is used before vowels
when they are in the same syllable, and the dark variant when the /l/ precedes a
consonant or is in syllable-final position before silence.
In South Wales, Ireland, and the Caribbean, /l/ is usually clear, and in North Wales,
Scotland, Australia, and New Zealand it is usually dark.
In General American and Canada, /l/ is generally dark, but to varying degrees: before
stressed vowels it is neutral or only slightly velarized.
[17]
In southern U.S. accents it is
noticeably clear between vowels, and in some other positions.
[18]
In urban accents of Southern England, as well as New Zealand and some parts of the
United States, /l/ can be pronounced as an approximant or 
semivowel
([w], [o], [ʊ]) at

---

the end of a syllable (
l-vocalization
).
Depending on dialect, /r/ has at least the following allophones in varieties of English
around the world (see 
Pronunciation of English /r/
):
postalveolar approximant
[ɹ̠] (the most common realization of the /r/ phoneme,
occurring in most dialects, RP and General American included)
retroflex approximant
[ɻ] (occurs in most Irish dialects and some American dialects)
labiodental approximant
[ʋ] (occurs in south-east England and some London accents;
known as 
r-labialization
)
alveolar flap
[ɾ] (occurs in most Scottish, Welsh,
[19]
 
Indian
[10]
and some South African
dialects, some conservative dialects in England and Ireland; not to be confused with
flapping
of /t/ and /d/)
alveolar trill
[r] (occurs in some very conservative Scottish dialects and some 
Indian
,
South African
and Welsh accents)
[10][9][8]
voiced uvular fricative
[ʁ] (occurs in northern Northumbria, largely disappeared; known
as the 
Northumbrian burr
)
In most dialects /r/ is 
labialized
[ɹ̠ʷ] in many positions, as in reed [ɹ̠ʷiːd] and tree [t ̠ɹ̠̊ʷiː]; in
the latter case, the /t/ may be slightly labialized as well.
[20]
In some 
rhotic accents
, such as General American, /r/ when not followed by a vowel is
realized as an 
r-coloring
of the preceding vowel or its coda: nurse [ˈnɚs], butter [ˈbʌɾɚ].
The distinctions between the nasals are 
neutralized
in some environments. For example,
before a final /p/, /t/ or /k/ there is nearly always only one nasal sound that can appear in
each case: [m], [n] or [ŋ] respectively (as in the words limp, lint, link – note that the n of link
is pronounced [ŋ]). This effect can even occur across syllable or word boundaries,