American English Phonetics

Another American English Faculty Project

Under the influence of a following labio-dental sound, Dutch as well as English /p,b/ may be labio-dental rather than bilabial: the upper front teeth form a complete closure with the lower lip. Examples are /p/ in Dutch slaapwandelen, opvallen, and /p,b/ in English up front, obvious.

AN /p/ is unaspirated; AN /b/ is usually voiced. Here are some examples to practice the most important allophones of GA /p,b/.

[pʰ]

pay, post, apex

pay

superb, compound

superb

apart, magpie

apart

polite, Stockport

polite

[p]

spill, spot, open

spill

despise, stupid

despise

inspire, apple

inspire

aspect, happy

aspect

[p͜ʔ]

up

up

lips

lips

ripe

ripe

tapedeck

tapedeck

[b̥]

rib, tube

rib

obtain

obtain

lifeboat

lifeboat

abstract

abstract