UNIT 4

SUMM ARY AND KEY CONCEPTS

The Distinctive Consonant

There are 24 distinctive units which are consonant both in terms of their position in
syllables and, in the majority of cases, in terms of their phonetic nature.
They are classified in two general categories:
• OBSTRUENTS: those articulations in which there is a total closure or a stricture
causing friction, both groups being typically associated with a noise component.
There is a distinctive opposition between voiceless and voiced types.
Plosives, affricates and fricatives.

• SONORANTS: those articulations in which there is only a partial closure or an

unimpeded oral o nasal escape of air. Such articulations. They are tipically
voiced and frictionless, i.e. without a noise component, and may share many
phonetic characteristic with vowels.
Nasals and approximants.

Consonant chart

PLOSIVE AFFRICATE FRICATIVE NASAL APPROXIMANT

BILABIAL p b m (w)
LABIODENTAL f v
DENTAL θ δ
ALVEOLAR t d s z n l
POST-ALVEOLAR r
PALATO-ALVEOLAR ʧ ʤ ∫ Ʒ
PALATAL j
VELAR k g ŋ w
GLOTTAL h

PLACE OF ARTICULATIONS:
Plosives and nasals -> bilabial, alveolar and velar
Affricates, laterals and /r/ -> alveolar
Fricatives -> labiodental, dental, alveolar palto-alveolar and glottal

Usual spelling forms for consonants

• /p/ → p, pp pin, apple

 * Note: hiccough /ˈhɪkʌp/

• /b/ → b, bb big, ribbon

• /t/ → t, tt tea, little

th Thomas, Thames
ed jumped, locked

• /d/ → d, dd dog, middle

• /k/ → k, c, cc king, car, occur

q, qu, cqu cheque, quite, acquire
ch, ck stomach, chicken

• /g/ → g, gg, gh go, egg, ghost

gu, gue guilt, league

• /t∫/→ ch, tch chair, watcher

ti, tu question, nature, actual

• /ʤ/ → j, g jam, gem

dj, dg adjective, edge

• /f/ → f, ff fricative, affricate

ph, gh physics, enough

* Note: sapphire /ˈsæfaɪə/

• /v/ → v, ve view, live, love

• /θ/ → th thatch, cloth

• /δ/ → th breathing, there

• /s/ → s,se bus, tense

ss kiss
c, ce licence
sc science
x = /ks/ six

• /z/ → s, se prison, rose

ss scissors, dessert
z zoo
zz dizzy, jazz
x = /gz/ exam

* Note: xenophobia /zenəˈfəbiə/

• /∫/ → sh shoe
ch, chs machine, fuchsia
s+u sure, sugar
ss + u assure
ti, si nation, mission
sci, ci, ce conscience, special, ocean

* Note: schedule, fascist, luxury

• /Ʒ/ → g genre
si vision, division
s, z, ss + u measure, seizure, issue
ge beige, garage

* Note: regime

• /h/ → h heat, abhor, adhere

• /m/→ m morning
mm summer
mb comb

* Note: autumn

• /n/ → n nose
nn funny
gn gnaw
kn know
pn pneumonia

* Note: rendez-vous

• /ŋ/ → ng song
n + /k,g/ sink, uncle, income, bangle

• /l/ → l leave
ll allow

* Note: talk, salmon

• /r/ → r red
rr carry
wr write
rh rhythm

• /j/ → y yes
i view, familiar
u use
ue avenue
 ew, eu new, adieu

* Note: beauty, you

• /w/ → w west
wh which, what
u following quick, language, suite
<g,q,s>

* Note: one, once, choir

Obstruents

Plosives
Articulatory Characteristics
The complete articulation of a pulmonic egressive plosive, or stop, consonant
consists of three stages:
1) The CLOSING stage: articulating organs move together in order to form the
obstruction. There is often on-glide (a transition) audible in a preceding
sound.
2) The COMPRESSION stage: lung action compresses the air behind the
closure. It may or may not be accompanied by voice (vibration of the vocal
folds)
3) The RELEASE stage: the organs forming the obstruction part rapidly,
allowing the compressed air to escape abruptly (with an explosion)

• Bilabial plosives: /p, b/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the obstruction is made by the closure of the
lips. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage the
vocal folds don’t vibrate for /p/ but may vibrate for /b/ according to its
situation in the utterance. The air escapes with force when the lip closure is
released.

• Alveolar plosives: /t, d/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the obstruction is formed by the closure made
between the tip and rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and the
side teeth. Lung air is compressed behind this closure, during which stage
the vocal folds don’t vibrate for /t/ but may vibrate for /d/ according to its
situation in the utterance. The air escapes with force when the alveolar
closure is released.

• Velar plosives: /k, g/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the obstruction is formed by the closure made
between the back of the tongue and the soft palate. Lung air is compressed
behind this closure, during which stage the vocal folds don’t vibrate for /k/
 but may vibrate for /g/ according to its situation in the utterance. The air
escapes with force when the linguo-velar closure is released.

• Glottal plosive (stop): //. Definition

The obstruction is formed by the closure of the vocal folds that interrupts the
passage of air into the supraglottal organs. The air pressure below de glottis
is released by the sudden separation of the vocal folds.
The compression stage consists of silence, its presence is manifested only by
the sudden cessation of the preceding sound or by the sudden onset of the
following one.
The vocal folds don’t vibrate, so this plosive is voiceless, but an alternative
viewpoint regards it as neither voiced nor voiceless because the position of
the vocal folds is not that associated with other voiceless sounds.
The glottal plosive is not a significant sound in the RP system, although is
frequently used by RP speakers as a reinforcement or replacement, above all
of plosives.

Phonemes and Main Allophonic Variations

Oppositions in plosives phonemes may be realized by one or several of the
following of phonetic features, i.e. plosives may be phonetically distinguished
by:
1) Place of articulation
/p, b/ -> bilabial
/t, d/ -> alveolar
/k, g/ -> velar
2) Force of articulation
/p, t, k/ -> strong or fortis (because of they are voiceless)
/b, d, g/ -> relatively weak or lenis (because of they are voiced)
3) Aspiration
Operates in voiceless plosives, /p, t, k/, when initial in an accented syllable
followed by a vowel or an approximant. There is a voiceless interval
consisting of strongly expelled breath between the release of the plosive and
the onset of the following vowel or approximant.
When a vowel follows /p, t, k/ the phenomena is called aspiration: [p n]
When /l, r, w, j/ follow /p, t, k/ is called devoicing (of the approximant): [p l
e ]
Even though there are different degrees of aspiration, in general it may be
said:
• /p, t, k/ with aspiration
vowel (aspiration) [p e ]
initial in stressed syllable +
approximant (devoicing) [tw n]

• /p, t, k/ without aspiration

vowel [' p e p  ]
initial in unstressed syllab.+
approximant [   ]
 vowel [sp  e n]
s + plosive within the same
syllable in stressed syllab. + approximant [   e nd ]

4) Voicing
Voiced plosive /b, d, g/
• Are fully voiced when surrounding by voiced sounds
• Are devoiced /d, d, g/, though they remain lenis,
In initial position after a pause #[b n]
a voiceless sound [  ]
In final position before a pause #[b b]#
a voiceless sound #[b b k e m]

5) Length of preceding sounds. Pre-fortis clipping

Syllables closed by voiceless consonant are shorter than those closed by
voiced consonant.
Shortening of vowels (particularly a long vowel or diphthong) and sonorants
operates where the voiceless plosive series /p, t, k/ are in syllable-final
position, and also when medially in a word (beat, writer) (pre-fortis clipping,
i.e. shortening of sound before a fortis sound).
When /b, d, g/ are devoiced in final position the only thing that makes these
sounds different from the voiceless series /p, t, k/ is the length of the
preceding vowel: /i:/ in beat is shorter than in bead, because t is fortis and d,
although it becomes devoicing, maintains its original lenis.

6) The release stage of English plosive

a) No audible release in final position
See allophones
b) No audible release in stop cluster
(a cluster of two stops: plosive + plosive or plosive + affricate)
See allophones
c) Nasal release
See allophones
d) Lateral release
See allophones
e) Glottal reinforcement of final /p, t, k/
It is typical of many types of British English that final /p, t, k/ (shop,
shot, shock) have the oral closure reinforced by a glottal closure [].
In some cases this glottal coincides in time with the oral closure, this
latter may or may not be released audibly; in others the glottal closure
anticipates the articulation of the oral closure so that the glottal is heard
followed by the audible release of the oral plosive. In certain cases [ ]
may replace /p, t, k/.
f) Affrication and weakening of plosive
If the release of plosive closure is made slowly, a fricative sound
articulated in the same place as the plosive will be heard; plosive made
with this fricative release are said affricated, i.e., /p, b, t, d, k, g/ may be
followed by brif fricatives [ , , s, z, x, ]
ALLOPHONES OF PLOSIVES

1. Change in place of articulation

/p, b/ + /f, v/ -> labiodental [ ]: subvert [s b t]
/t, d/ + / , / -> dental [ ]: width [w d ]
/t, d/ + /r/ -> postalveolar [ ] (retraction): train [ ]

/k, g/ + w -> postvelar [ ] (retraction): gone [ ]

back vowel

/k, g/ + j -> prevelar [ ] (advance): kit [ ]

front vowel

2. Aspiration
/p, t, k/ -> aspiration
vowel (aspiration): attire [ ]
stressed syllable initial +
posution approximant (devoicing): twin [tw n]

/p, t, k/ -> unaspiration

vowel: paper [  ]
unstressed syllable initial .+
position approximant: attribute [   ]

vowel: spy [  ]
preceded by /s/ within the +
same stressed syllable approximant: strange [   ]

3. Types of release
Nasal release (velum is lowed before the release of plosive)
/p, t, k/ + nasal -> [p , t, k ]: chutney [ ]
/b, d, g/ [b , d, g ]: submit [ ]
[ , , ] depend on the place of articulation of the plosive

Lateral release
/t, d/ + lateral release -> [t, d]: Scotland [  ]
bottle [  ]
Non-audible release [ ]
Affricate [ ]
/p, t, k/ + Plosive with dif. place of [ ]
/b, d, g/ articulation (non-homorganic plosive)
In final position [ ]

Unreleased [ ]
/p, t, k/ + homorganic plosive subplot [ ]
/b, d, g/
 4. Voicing and devoicing
/b, d, g/ -> devoiced
In initial position after a pause #[  ]#
a voiceless sound [  ]
In final position before a pause #[  ]#
a voiceless sound #[b b k e m]
Codfish [k df ]

/b, d, g/ -> fully voiced when surrounded by voiced sounds: London [

]

Recommendations for Spanish Speakers

See Guía didáctica page 66.

Fricatives
Articulatory Characteristics
In the articulation two organs are brought and held sufficiently close together for
the escaping airstream to produce local air turbulence; their, like plosives and
affricates characterized by a noise component. This turbulence may or may not
be accompanied by voice.

• Labiodental fricatives /f, v/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the inner surface of the lower lip makes a light
contact with the edge of the upper teeth, so that the escaping air produces
friction. For /f/ the vocal folds don’t vibrate, but may vibrate for /v/
according to its situation in the utterance.

• Dental fricatives / , /. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the tip and rims of the tongue makes a light
contact with the edge and inner surface of the upper incisors and a firmer
contact with the upper side teeth, so that the air escaping between the
fordward surface of the tongue and the incisors produces friction (being very
weak in / /). For / / the vocal folds don’t vibrate, but may vibrate for / /
according to its situation in the utterance.

• Alveolar fricatives /s, z/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the blade (or the tip and blade) of the tongue
makes a light contact with the upper alveolar ridge, and the side rims of the
tongue make a firmer contact with the upper side teeth. The air escapes by
means of a narrow groove (ranura, surco) in the centre of the tongue and
causes friction between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. There is a little
opening between the teeth. For /s/ the vocal folds don’t vibrate, but may
vibrate for /z/ according to its situation in the utterance.

• Palato-alveolar fricatives / , /. Definition

 The soft palate being raised, the tip and blade of the tongue make a light
contact with the upper alveolar ridge, the front of the tongue being raised at
the same time in the direction of the hard palate and the rims of the tongue
make contact with the upper side teeth. The air escapes diffusely (comparing
with that of /s, z/), the friction occurring between a more extensive area of
the tongue and the roof of the mouth. For / / the vocal folds don’t vibrate,
but may vibrate for / / according to its situation in the utterance.

• Glottal fricative /h/. Definition

English /h/ occurs only in syllable-initial, pre-vocalic positions.
The air is expelled from the lungs with considerable pressure, causing some
friction throughout the vocal tract, the upper part of which is shaped in
readiness for the articulations of the following vowel. Thus differing types of
friction (patterns of resonance) will be heard for /h/.

Phonemes and Main Allophonic Variations

Oppositions in fricatives phonemes may be realized by one or several of the
following of phonetic features, i.e. fricatives may be phonetically distinguished
by:
1) Place of articulation
/f, v/ -> labiodental
/ , / -> dental
/s, z/ -> alveolar
/ , / -> palato-alveolar
/h/ -> glottal
2) Force of articulation
/f, , s, / -> strong or fortis (because of they are voiceless)
/v, , z, / -> relatively weak or lenis (because of they are voiced)
/h/ -> is normally fortis in character, but may have a lenis allophone
3) Voicing
Voiced fricatives /v, , z, /
• Are fully voiced when surrounding by voiced sounds
• Are devoiced /v, , z, /, though they remain lenis,
In initial position after a pause van
a voiceless sound
In final position before a pause rouge
a voiceless sound

Voiceless /h/ -> voiced in word-medial position between voiced sounds:

anyhow

4) Length of preceding sounds. Pre-fortis clipping

When fricatives occur in final and medial position, the perception of
voiceless and voiced consonants is largely determined by the length of the
preceding sound.
Shortening of vowels (particularly a long vowel or diphthong) and sonorants
operates when the voiceless fricatives series /f, , s, / occur in a final or
 medial position (leaf, earthy) (pre-fortis clipping, i.e. shortening of sound
before a fortis sound).
When /v, , z, / are devoiced in final position almost the only thing that
makes these sounds different from the voiceless series /f, , s, / is the
length of the preceding vowel: /i:/ in leaf is shorter than in leave, because f is
fortis and v, although it becomes devoicing, maintains its original lenis.
While they shorten the vowels and sonorants which precede them, voiceless
fricatives are themselves longer than their voiced equivalents.

ALLOPHONES OF FRICATIVES

1. Voicing and devoicing

/v, , z, / -> devoiced /v, , z, / (the same rules as plosives)

word initial position a pause #[  ]#

after a voiceless sound

word final position a pause #[  ]#

before a voiceless sound [b b  f ]1

/h/ -> voiced [ ] surrounded by voiced sounds: ahead [ ]

[ ] vs.  ]

Recommendations for Spanish Speakers

See Guía didáctica page 69.

Affricates
Articulatory Characteristics
The term ‘affricate’ denotes a concept which is primarily of phonetic
importance. Any plosive whose release stage is performed in such a way that
considerable friction occurs approximately at the point where the plosive stop is
made, may be called ‘affricative’. In English only /t, d/ may have this type of
release, namely /        /
They are, like plosives and fricatives, characterized by a noise component.
This friction may or may not be accompanied by voice.

• Palato-alveolar affricates /t , d /. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the closure is made between the tip, blade and
rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teeth, the front of
the tongue being raised at the same time towards the hard palate in readiness
for the fricative release. The closure is released slowly, the air escapes

1
The voiceless sound (/f/) affects the two preceding sounds in case of plurals, 3th person singular, past
tense and genitive.
 diffusely over the whole of the central surface of the tongue with friction
occurring between the blade/front region of the tongue and the alveolar/front
palatal section of the roof of the mouth. During both stop and fricative
stages, the vocal folds don’t vibrate for /t /, but may vibrate for /d /
according to its situation in the utterance.

Phonemes and Main Allophonic Variations

From a functional or distributional point of view these sounds may be
considered either as single phonemic entities or as sequences of two phonemes.
The choice of phonemic solution will depend upon the purpose of the analysis.
Only /t , d / are taking as phonemic affricates (unit phonemes)

Length of preceding sounds. Pre-fortis clipping

The voiceless /t /, when final in a syllable has the same effect reducing the
length of preceding sounds as was noted for /p, t, k/.
This effect must be taken as the primary perceptual cue to the /t /-/d /
opposition in final position.

ALLOPHONES OF AFFRICATES

1. Devoicing

/d / -> devoiced /d / (the same rules as plosives and fricatives)

word initial position a pause #[d d ]#
after a voiceless sound

word final position a pause #[d d ]#

before a voiceless sound

Recommendations for Spanish Speakers

See Guía didáctica page 72.

Sonorants

Nasals

Articulatory Characteristics
Nasal consonant resembles oral plosive in that a total closure is made in the
mouth; they differ in that the soft palate is lowered, allowing the airstream to
escape into the nasal cavity. Since the air may escape freely through the nose
they are continuants; they differ from continuants such as fricatives in that they
are frictionless and voiced.
They resemble vowel-type sound (frictionless continuants and voiced).

• Bilabial nasal: /m/. Definition

 The lips form a closure as for /p, b/; the soft palate is lowered, adding the
resonance of the nasal cavity to those of the pharynx and the mouth cavity
closed by the lips.
Except when partially devoiced by a preceding voiceless consonant, /m/ is
voiced.

• Alveolar nasal: /n/. Definition

The obstruction is formed by the closure made between the tip and rims of
the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and the side teeth, as for /t, d/; the
soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the nasal cavity to those of the
pharynx and of that part of the mouth cavity behind the alveolar closure.
Except when partially devoiced by a preceding voiceless consonant, /m/ is
voiced.

• Velar nasal / /. Definition

A closure is made in the mouth between the back of the tongue and the soft
palate as for /k, g/; the soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the
nasal cavity to those of the pharynx and of that small part of the mouth
cavity behind the velar closure.
/ / is normally voiced, except for partial devoicing in the possible, though
uncommon, case of syllabic / / in words like bacon, thicken.
Word-final / / may result in context of /n/, e.g. ten cups.

Phonemes and Main Allophonic Variations

1) Place of articulation (correspond to the three oral plosive areas of
articulation)
/m/ - /p, b/ -> bilabial
/n/ - /t, d/ -> alveolar
/ / - /k, g/ -> velar
2) / / does not occur initially in a word or morpheme.
3) The vocalic nature of nasals is underlined by the fact that they readily
perform the syllabic function of vowels (syllabic consonant): most often /n/
(mutton [‘m tn ]), less commonly /m/ (rhythm [‘r ]), occasionally / /
(bacon [‘be ])

ALLOPHONES OF NASALS

1. Change in place of articulation

/m, n/ + /f, v/ -> labiodental [ ]: comfort [‘k f t]
/n/ + / , / -> dental [ ]: tenth [ten ]
/n/ + /r/ -> postalveolar [ ] (retraction): Henry [‘hen ri]
[‘l  ri] 2
/ / preceded by back vowel -> postvelar [ ] (retraction): long [l ]
/ / preceded by front vowel -> prevelar [ ] (advance): king [ ]
2
/r/ affects both sounds /n, d/ because both are alveolar
 2. Devoicing
/m, n/ -> devoiced when preceded by a voiceless sound: [smel] [sn ]
(in the same word)
/ / -> devoiced when becomes syllabic and preceded
by a voiceless sound: [‘be ]

Recommendations for Spanish Speakers

See Guía didáctica page 74.

APPROXIMANTS (Oral approximants)

Articulatory Characteristics
The airstream escapes through a relatively narrow aperture in the mouth without
friction but with voice (apart from some allophones).
A consonant plus an approximant (/l, r, j, w/) is one of the most common two-
consonant clusters which occur in syllable-initially, the other is /s/ plus
consonant.
Palatal and Labial-velar approximants /j, w/ are called semi-vowels. A semi-
vowel is a rapid vocalic glide onto syllabic sound of greater steady duration. The
semi-vowels /j/ and /w/ glide from positions of /i:/ and /u:/ respectively. The
actual point at which the essential vocalic glide begins depends on the nature of
the following sound.

• Lateral (alveolar) approximant: /l/. Definition

The soft palate being raised, the tip of the tongue is in contact with the upper
alveolar ridge, allowing the air to escape on both sides or, in case of a
unilateral tongue-rim closure on the upper side teeth, on one side.
For clear [ ] the front of the tongue is raised at the same time towards the
hard palate, thus giving a front vowel resonance to the consonant.
For dark [ ] the front of the tongue is somewhat depressed and the back
raised towards the soft palate, giving a back vowel (or velorized) resonance.
Both are voiced except when the preceding consonant is voiceless.

• Post-alveolar approximant: /r/. Definition

The most common allophone of RP /r/ is a voiced post-alveolar approximant
[ ]3.
The soft palate being raised, the tip of the tongue is held near to, but not
touching, the rear part of the upper alveolar ridge; the back rims of the
tongue are touching the upper molars; the central part o the tongue is
lowered, with a general contraction of the tongue (slight retroflexion of the
tip). It allows the air to escape freely, without friction, over the centre of the
tongue. The vocal folds vibrate except when the preceding consonant is
voiceless.

3
For our teacher is [ ]to avoid confusion with the fricative [ ]. Cruttenden uses [ ] for both,
approximant and fricative.
 Therefore, this allophone of the RP phoneme is phonetically vowel-like, but
having non-central situation in the syllable, it functions as a consonant.

• Unrounded Palatal approximant (semi-vowels): /j/. Definition

It is articulated by the tongue assuming the position for a close-mid to close
front vowel and moving away immediately to the position of the following
sound. The soft palate is raised and the vocal folds vibrate except when the
preceding consonant is voiceless.

• Labial-velar approximant (semi-vowel): /w/. Definition

It is articulated by the tongue assuming the position for a close-mid to close
back vowel and moving away immediately to the position of the following
sound. The soft palate is raised and the vocal folds vibrate except when the
preceding consonant is voiceless.

Phonemes and Main Allophonic Variations

1) Place of articulation (correspond to the three oral plosive areas of
articulation)
/l/ -> alveolar
/r/ -> post-alveolar
/j/ -> palatal
/w/ -> labial-velar
2) We transcribe phonologically /r/ and phonetically [ ] (corresponds to IPA
[ ]).
[ ] post-alveolar approximant
[ ] post-alveolar fricative
3) /l, r/ may perform the syllabic function of vowels (syllabic consonant): little
[‘ ]), camera [‘k m ]
4) Despite the fact that semi-vowels /j, w/ are, in phonetic terms, generally
vocalic, they are treated within the consonant class mainly because their
function is consonantal rather than vowel-like (they have a marginal rather
than a central position in the syllable).

ALLOPHONES OF APPROXIMANTS

1. Change in place of articulation

/l/ + / , / -> dental [ ]: wealth [wel ]
/l/ + /r/ -> postalveolar [ ] (retraction): children [‘t
 r n] 4

2. Change in place and manner

[ ] -> tap [ ] Preceded by / , / [ i:]
Between vowels [‘ve i]
(free variation)

4
/r/ affects both sounds /l, d/ because both are alveolar
 [ ] -> fricative [ ] Preceded by /d/ [d a ]
in stressed syllable
[ ] Preceded by /p,t,k/ [p a s]
(devoiced) in stressed syllable

3. Devoicing
[ ] -> [ ] Preceded by /p,t,k/ [p e ]
in stressed syllable
[ ] Preceded by voiceless fricatives [f u:]
(partially devoiced) or voiceless plosives (/p,t,k/)
in unstressed syllable

[ ] -> [ ] Preceded by /p,t,k/ [p e ]

(fricative devoiced) in stressed syllable
[ ] Preceded by voiceless fricatives [f a ]
(partially devoiced) or voiceless plosives (/p,t,k/)
in unstressed syllable

[ ] -> [ ] Preceded by /p,t,k/ [p  ]

(devoiced) in stressed syllable
Preceded by /h/ [h u:]
in stressed syllable
[ ] In the same context than [ ] but [p ]
(devoiced fricative) there is friction [h u:]
[ ] Preceded by voiceless fricatives [ɪn'ɵjʊ:zɪæzəm]
(partially devoiced) or voiceless plosives (/p,t,k/)
in unstressed syllable

[w] -> [w] Preceded by /p,t,k/ [tw n]

(devoiced) in stressed syllable
[ ] In the same context than [w] but [t n]
(devoiced fricative) there is friction
[w] Preceded by voiceless fricatives [sw m]
(partially devoiced) or voiceless plosives (/p,t,k/)
in unstressed syllable

4. Velarization
[ ] + vowel or /j/ -> [ ] [‘ :j ]
(clear)
[ ] + consonant or pause -> [ ] [m k] [f ]

(dark or velarized)