Lecturer Ms Y. Chorfi 		Sétif-2- University 		1st Year Classes 		2017-2018

3.3 Nasals [ ˈneɪ. zəlz ] and Approximants /ə.ˈprɒk.sɪ.mənts/
	Nasal consonants are produced with all the egressive pulmonic air directed via the nasal cavity. English has three nasals which occur in mummy /ˈmʌmi/; / m /, none /nʌn/; / n / and thinking /ˈθɪŋ.kɪŋ/; 
/ ŋ /. To produce the nasals, the velum is lowered making an opening with the back wall of the pharynx, allowing air to escape completely through the nose. Like the plosives (oral stops), the nasals are considered as stops too (nasal stops) as they involve a complete closure between the articulators, preventing air from escaping from the mouth.     
English nasals (Phonetic description)  
	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	
Voiced	/ m /	/ n /	/ ŋ /	
Phonological description 
/ m, n / could be initial followed by vowels and the consonant / j /: mail /meɪl/, nail /neɪl/, mute /mjuːt/, and they could be preceded by the voiceless fricative / s /, as in smile [ sm̥aɪl ] and snail [ sn̥eɪl ]; they become partially devoiced. When / m / precedes / n / in word initial position, it becomes silent, for instance in mnemonic / nɪˈmɒnɪk /. The bilabial and the alveolar plosives can also be final as in the words pump /pʌmp/ and /naɪn/. / n / becomes silent when being final after / m / like in the word autumn /ˈɔː.təm/. Unlike the other consonants, the nasals remain fully voiced when they are initial and final except when they are preceded by / s / initially. The velar nasal / ŋ / can never be initial.  
The velar nasal / ŋ / occurs final before the velar plosives / k, g /, and it could solely be preceded by short vowels; it has the orthographic form of ….nk where the k is always pronounced or ….ng where the / g / is pronounced in some environments and not in others. The pronunciation of / g / depends on morphology. The rule is that the sequence (…ng) stands for / ŋ / at the end of a monomorphemic word or inside a polymorphemic except in comparative and superlative suffixes while (…ng) stands for / ŋg / when it is medial in a monomorphemic words. The chart below summarises the rules:
Orthography	Pronunciation	   	Justification	
Thanks	/ θ æ ŋ k s /	/ ŋk /	The sequence …nk is always pronounced with the velar plosive	
Wrong
Long	/ r ɒ ŋ /
/ l ɒ ŋ /	/ ŋ /	Final …ng in a monomorphemic word	
Wrongful
Longing	/ˈ r ɒ ŋ. f ʊ l /
/ˈ l ɒ ŋ. ɪ ŋ / 	/ ŋ /
	Medial …ng in a polymorphemic word wrong+ful and
Long+ing	
Longer
Longest

Finger
Language	/ ˈ l ɒ ŋ g ə /
/ˈ l ɒ ŋ g ə s t /

/ ˈ f ɪ ŋ. g ə / 
/ ˈ l æ ŋ. g w ɪ dʒ / 	/ ŋ g /

/ ŋ g /
	One exception: comparative suffixes and
                          superlative suffixes
Medial …ng in a monomorphemic word 	
Dentalisation and nasalisation
The alveolar nasal / n / is articulated with the blade of the tongue against the upper teeth (dental) [n̪] when followed by the dental fricatives / θ ð /: tenth [ t e n̪ θ ],  when they [ w e n̪ ð eɪ ]. 
Nasals make the preceding vowels nasalised; pronounced with a lowered velum allowing air to escape not only from the mouth, but also from the nose like in the words from [f r ɒ̃ m], front [f r ʌ̃ n t] and fringe 
[f r ɪ̃ n dʒ].   
3.3.2. Approximants
	They are consonants produced where the only source of sound is vocal fold vibration, for they do not involve any physical noise; no plosion, friction, trilling or tapping can be heard. In approximants, the active and passive articulators never become sufficiently close; they are produced with a much wider passage of air resulting in a smooth airflow. They do not involve any kind of closure of the vocal tract; instead, the open approximation of the articulators alters the shape of the oral cavity, and leads to a production of a particular sound quality. English approximants are those in words such as wet, yet, let and retch with the IPA symbols / w, j, l, r / respectively; / w, j / are called glides and / l, r / are called liquids,  and both groups are referred to as frictionless continuants. 
a. English Approximants (Phonetic description)  
	Labio-velar or labial-velar 	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	
Voiced	/ w /	/ l / 	/ r / 	/ j /	
The labio-velar / w / is unique among the consonants of English, as it involves two places of articulation; the lips are approximated, and the back of the tongue is also bunched up. The / j / sound is articulated with the front of the tongue moving towards the hard palate. The / l / is articulated by making a complete closure between the centre of the tongue and the alveolar ridge altering the air from being released from the centre, and consequently, releasing it down the sides of the tongue. Thus, / l / is known as the lateral approximant, for it has a lateral airflow as opposed to all the other oral consonants which have central airflow. The last approximant has got different realisations in English accents; in RP (Received pronunciation) the tip of the tongue is curled back to a position approaching the rear of the alveolar which is known as the post-alveolar, and the lips are slightly rounded. However, in some American accents, it is produced with the tip of the tongue curled upward and backward to the hard palate, thus it’s called the retroflexed approximant.  

b. The phonological description   
All the approximants can be word initial as in lot, rot, what and yacht / lɒt, rɒt, wɒt, jɒt /, and they follow all the consonants in syllable initial position-post-initials- like in the words blight, vroom, Gwen and news  
/ blaɪt, vruːm, gwen, njuːz /. When being initial, preceded by a voiceless plosive or fricative, they become devoiced. Like in words play, clay, flow, slow, pray, tray, crayfish, shrew, threw, pure, tune, queue, few, sew, tweet, quit, swat and thwart. / pl̥eɪ, kl̥eɪ, fl̥əʊ, sl̥əʊ, pr̥eɪ, tr̥eɪ, ˈkr̥eɪfɪʃ, ʃr̥uː, tj̥uːn, kj̥uː, fj̥uː,
sj̥uː, tw̥iːt, kw̥ɪt, sw̥ɒt, θw̥ɔːt /. The approximants /r, w, j / can never be final in BBC English; however, /r/ could be in American English. When the alveolar approximant /l/ is final followed by the dental fricatives, it becomes dentalised in connected and isolated speech; for example, in wealth and kill them 
[ wel̪θ kɪl̪ ðəm ]. When being preceded by long vowels, the sound / l / becomes silent if followed by another consonant, as in the words half and chalk / tʃɔːk hɑːf /.    
c. Dialectal variation of / r / & / l / 
In BBC pronunciation, the / r / sound is only found before vowels as in red and around / red, əraʊnd / but never before consonants as in cart or before pauses as in car /kɑːt, kɑː/; whereas in American English and other dialects called rhotic dialects, / r / can occur in all environments. In BBC English connected speech, if the / r / is final followed by a vowel, it should be pronounced; for instance, “over there” compared with “over and over” / əʊvə ðeə, əʊvər ənd əʊvə /; in this environment the /r/ is called linking r. 
The lateral approximant in BBC English has got different realisations, unlike other English dialects. The realisations of the lateral approximant are known as clear and dark “l”.  Clear l is articulated before vowels and the consonant / j / as in play, lay and value; it is produced with the tip of the tongue touching the alveolar ridge with no raising of the back of the tongue. Dark “l”, however, is produced with raising the back of the tongue towards the velum that is why it is called velarised / l /. It is realized before consonants or a pause like in the words belt and fall. In American English, the / l / sound is not clear but dark in all the environments. Clear and dark “l” have got the IPA symbols [ l ] and [ ɫ ] respectively.