User:Phinumu/Phonology of my English dialect

Consonants
I am a yod-dropper. In stressed syllables, I do not pronounce /j/ after coronal consonants. In unstressed syllables, however, I pronounce it, though after /t/ and /d/ it undergoes yod-coalescence. I also possess the wine-whine merger. My accent is completely rhotic.

Notes on articulation: /ɡ/ and /k/ are pre-velar [ɡ̟] [k̟] and slightly affricated. Both are advanced further before /i/ /e/ /j/. At the start of a syllable, /ɻ/ is rounded.

Vowels
I have ten (broadly analyzed) stressed monophthongs, six short and four long, and three diphthongs. Short monophthongs: /ɑ/ /æ/ /ɛ/ /ɪ/ /ɜ/ /ɯ/. Long monophthongs or near-monophthongs: /i/ /u/ /e/ /o/. Diphthongs: /ɑi/ /æu/ /oi/. Syllabic consonants: /ɻ̩/ /ɫ̩/. Reduced vowels: /ɜ̆/ /ɪ̆/ /ɯ̆/.

All six short monophthongs /ɑ/ /æ/ /ɛ/ /ɪ/ /ɜ/ /ɯ/ are unrounded and have no on- or off-glides. All four of the long "monophthongs" /i/ /u/ /e/ /o/ have off-glides; indeed, only /i/ is an actual monophthong. The syllabic consonants /ɻ̩/ /ɫ̩/ may alternatively be analyzed as /ʊɻ/ /ʊɫ/.

I have the father-bother and cot-caught mergers. I do, however, pronounce ⟨aw⟩ as [ɑw] word-finally and in some other cases, such as the word lawyer /ˈlɑw.jɻ̩/. This may be analyzed phonemically as the sequence /ɑw/ or as an additional diphthong /ɑu/.

The three reduced vowels /ɜ̆/ /ɪ̆/ /ɯ̆/ are perhaps more distinct for me than for many other speakers. Typically, /ɪ̆/ and /ɯ̆/ are both near-close central unrounded vowels, /ɪ̆/ being advanced and /ɯ̆/ retracted, whereas /ɜ̆/ is a mid-central vowel [ǝ]. My transciption of them as short vowels is based on their properties as extra-lax unstressed vowels in complementary distribution with stressed /ɜ/ /ɪ/ /ɯ/. Usually /ɜ̆/ is reduced /ɑ/, /æ/, or /ɜ/; /ɪ̆/ is reduced /ɪ/, /i/, /ɛ/, or /e/; and /ɯ̆/ is reduced /u/, /ɯ/, or /o/. This is not always the case; the two near-close sounds appear more often than predicted. The, which for many speakers is [ðə] when before a consonant, is usually for me [ðɯ̆].

Vowels often sound different before sonorants. The table above notes the realization of vowels before /ɻ/ and /ɫ/. I have the Mary–merry–marry, mirror–nearer, horse–hoarse, and hurry–furry mergers. The CURE set is dissolved. While I pronounce poor and pour the same, pure instead rhymes with fur, whereas tour is two syllables and rhymes with newer. I pronounce our as one syllable to distinguish it from hour; it is the only word in the [æʊ̯ɻ] class. My pronunciations of king and rang are noted in the chart: /kiːŋ/ and /ɻeɪ̯ŋ/. I never say [ɪŋ] or [æŋ]. Before /m/ and /n/, /æ/ is noticeably raised and nasalized: [æ̝̃m] and [æ̝̃n].