Introduction

As we all should already know, phonemes are the abstraction of the sounds we

produce within words, being their smallest unit in terms of speech. Each

phoneme is important within a word, because changing just one of them within

a word could mean a total change in its meaning. Normally, phonemes are used

for words in their isolation form or when in emphasis, when words are not in

isolation or emphasis, very probably they will sound different, and that’s when

allophones come to be used. Allophones are one or more similar speech

sounds belonging to a determined phoneme which is the one being replaced by

the allophone. This replace has the singularity of keeping the word’s meaning,

which makes the main difference between phonemes and allophones.

Allophones are nowadays used in many ways either accepted or unaccepted,

and it’s a task for us English Language Teachers to teach their correct way of

being used. This paper is about the way in which allophones are used and how

it’s different among languages, English and Spanish in this case.

Types of allophones and their uses

As already told, allophones are replacements for phonemes which do not alter

the meaning of the words. We have allophones for almost any sound we wish to

make, and it’s important to have clear how many allophones can we find,

normally allophones are in free variation, meaning that both phonemic and

allophonic speech would be correct. We shall focus on the following types of

allophones:

- Weak forms of words

- Aspirations

- Elisions

- Yod coalescence

- Yod dropping

- Releases

- Coarticulations

- Labializations

- Velarizations

- Dentalizations

- Specific allophones for specific phonemes

- Consequent changes

Weak forms

In English, most words will have at least one stressed syllable, and hence no

separate strong and weak forms. Also, in English, all the words having that

distinction between strong and weak forms are monosyllables, and are usually

function words or particles. When having words said to be in their isolation form,

meaning that they are pronounced with nothing before or after them, they are

shown as when we pronounce them in their strong form, this form is also used

when wanting to mark that word. As opposed, the weak form is a form that can

be used when the word has no stress.

In RP, the main words with weak forms are: A, am, an, and, are, as, at, be,

been, but, can, could, do, does, for, from, had, has, have, he, her, him, his, just,

me, must, of, shall, she, should, some, than, that, the, them, there, to, us, was,

we, were, who, would, you.

Let’s take this first word “a” as an example. It will normally be used in its weak

form unless we want to implicate more things.

- “I’ve found a /eI/ leaf in your hair.” When told like that, you’re probably

answering or correcting the fact that there was just one leave, trying to denote

this.

- “I’ve found a [ə] leaf in your hair.” This means that there was one leaf in the

hair of the listener. In here, the article “a” lacks of real importance. This one is

the weak form.

Aspirations

When voiceless plosive sounds /p/, /t/ and /k/ are in stressed syllables, they are

accompanied by a strong burst of air. They are symbolized as a [h] put over the

phoneme, meaning that they would look like this: [th], [ph], [kh].

In most of English dialects, this rule does not apply when there’s a /s/ before the

phoneme t, p or k, so words like <store> (/stɔ:/), <skill> (/skIl/) or <split> (/splIt/)

will remain without any aspiration, not as <tore> ([thɔ:]), <kill> ([khIl]) or <pill>

([phIl]).

Elisions

Another way of having a phoneme is with nothing in the place of the phoneme.

As its name says, elision means to elide sounds, but you can’t elide just any

sound you find. You must follow certain rules, some of which we’re going to

mention:

- The sound /d/ can be elided when being at the end of words between

consonants, especially if being a weak form.

“We have to buy tomato and cheese” phonemically, it should be transcribed

as “/ənd tʃi:z/”, but what people normally would say is “[ən tʃi:z]”

- The sound /t/ is elided in the same way as the sound /d/ is.

“This is my last night here” as phonemic transcription: /la:st naIt/ but with an

allophonic transcription of [la:s naIt]

- The sound /k/ is just elided in the word <asked> (from /a:skt/ to [a:st])

- The sound /l/ is elided after the sound /ɔ:/ and before a consonant, but

that is just within a word, especially when those words are frequently

used.

<Always> /ɔ:lweIz/, [ɔ:weIz]

Yod coalescence

There’s a semivowel sound called yod, which is symbolized as /j/. This sound,

when coming after the plosive sounds /t/, /d/, /s/ and /z/ suffers certain changes

according to the sound.

- When going after /t/, it turns into a [tʃ] sound instead of /tj/ as in the

example

“Haven’t you?” /hævnt ju:/ is transcribed as [hævntʃu:]

- When going after /d/, yod turns into a [dʒ], being like follows:

“Did you?” /dId ju:/ is transcribed as [dIdʒu:]

- When following a /s/ sound, it turns into a [ʃ]“Those are the stars you were counting” /sta:s ju:/ turns into [sta:ʃu:]

- When a /z/ is followed by a yod, they turn into a [ʒ] sound.

“This is his yellow shirt” /hIz jeləʊ/ is turned into [hIʒeləʊ]

Yod dropping

This is the elision of the sound /j/ after some phonemes.

- After [tʃ, dʒ, j], for example chew [tʃu:], juice [dʒu:s], yew [ju:]

- After /ɹ/, for example rude [ɹu:d]

- After consonant + /l/ clusters, for example blue [blu]

Releases

Nasal Release

When plosive sounds as /t/ or /d/ are put before a nasal sound /n/, their release

turns into a nasal release, which is symbolized as [tnn] or [dnn] respectively,

meaning that the sound you produce is still a release but with a different place

of articulation. As goes the examples:

<Cloud Nine> /klaʊd naIn/ would turn into [klaʊdnnaIn]

<I don’t know> /aI dəʊnt nəʊ/ would turn into [aI dəʊntnnəʊ]

Lateral Release

It works nearly the same as with nasal release, but the difference lies in the

sound following the plosives, which is the lateral sound /l/. This turns the

phonemes into the allophones [tll] or [dll] as in the examples:

<Bottle> /botl/ is turned into [botll]

<Cradle> /kreIdl/ would now be [kreidll]

Coarticulations

When two sounds are produced by the same articulators, it is said that those

are homorganic phonemes. When plosives are followed by a homorganic

consonant, there is not a separate release, it’s better to say that the plosive is

released through the following consonant.

That is to say:

<… but take…> [t^t] creating some kind of musical Saltillo from one /t/ to the

other.

Here’s a list of English’s plosive sounds, which homorganic sounds to coarticulate with

and which one not to.

Plosive With Not

/p/, /b/ /p/, /b/ /m/

/t/, /d/ /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/ /l/, /n/

/k/, /g/ /k/, /g/ -

Labialization

In English, /n/, /t/ and /d/ sounds change their point of articulation, becoming

bilabial when followed by a bilabial sound.

Phoneme Followed by Turns into Example

/n/ /p/, /b/, /m/ /m/ <I’m in Paris> /n p/ → [mp]

/t/ /p/, /b/, /m/ /p/ <Great picture> /t p/ → [p p]

/d/ /p/, /b/, /m/ /b/ <Good point> /d p/ → [b p]

Velarization

In the same way as labialization, when phonemes /n/, /t/ and /d/ are followed by

a velar sound, they turn into a velar sound as well.

Phoneme Followed by Turns into Example

/n/ /k/, /g/ /ŋ/ <I’m in Cuba> /n k/ → [ŋk]

/t/ /k/, /g/ /k/ <He’s a great guy> /t g/ → [kg]

/d/ /k/, /g/ /g/ <Good come> /d k/ → [g k]

Dentalization

Sounds /t/, /d/, /l/ and /n/ change its pace of articulation to the teeth when being

followed by the dental consonants /ð/ and /θ/. They have a [∏] symbol under the

dentalized sound.

- Hit the road [t^ð] ∏

Some specific allophones for specific phonemes

- Dark l (for the /l/ sound)

Symbolized as [ɫ], it’s a velarized version of the /l/ sound.

- Flap (for the /t/ sound)

Symbolized as [ɾ], it’s used when the /t/ sound goes at the end of a word,

between vowel sounds.

- Glotal stop (for the /t/ sound)

- Symbolized as [ʔ] voiceless glottal plosive, it’s used in a final syllable

when preceded by a sonorant (nasal – liquid – semivowel) and followed

by an obstruent (affricate – fricative – plosive). It’s used to add more

emphasis and reinforce voiceless plosives.

One significant consequent change because of allophones is the syllabic consonant. This is because in English sometimes syllables would end being

vowel-less. In this case, a consonant is needed to be the centre of that syllable,

and that’s the syllabic consonant, which is symbolized by placing a [,] under the

consonant.

Allophones’ definition applies to all languages, that is to say, the idea of allophone is the same in every language and dialect. When speaking about allophone you talk not only about sound variations, it also has to do with the different factors that have an influence when producing speech such as intention, emphasis, phonological rules, speed, context, register, etc. These variations, which are not only specific alternative sounds but also processes that take place in spoken speech that result as different sounds; occur in consonants and vowel sounds, being these last ones the object of our analysis.