Semantic and Phonetic Analysis of English Language

Posted on Feb 11, 2025 in Photography and Digital Creation

1. Word Meaning: Referential and Functional Approaches

There are three concepts of word meaning. The first is connected with the sound-form of the linguistic sign, the second is the idea underlying this sound-form, and the last is the actual referent. This view of word meaning is known as the “basic triangle.” It shows that the sound-form of the linguistic sign is connected with our idea of the referent. The common feature of any referential approach is the implication that meaning is, in some form or other, related to the referent.

It is significant to note that the connection between sound-form and meaning is conventional and arbitrary. Evidence of this is seen in homonyms, where the same sound-form denotes different meanings.

When we examine a word, we see that its meaning, though closely connected with the concept, is not identical to it. A concept is a thought of an object that singles out its essential features. The difference between meaning and concept can be observed by comparing synonyms and groups of words which express the same concepts but possess linguistic meaning, which is felt as different in each of the units – e.g., big, large; baby, child, infant. It should be pointed out that among the adherents of the referential approach, some hold that the meaning of a linguistic sign is the concept underlying it. Others identify meaning with the referent. It must be admitted that the actual extent of human knowledge makes it impossible to define word meaning accurately. Meaning is closely connected but not identical with sound-form, concept, and referent.

The functional approach maintains that the meaning of a linguistic unit may be studied only through its relation to other linguistic units and not through its relation to either concept or referent. For instance, the meaning of the two words move and movement is different because they function differently in speech. They not only belong to different classes of words, but their meanings are also different. It follows that the functional approach to semantic investigation is confined to the analysis of the difference or sameness of meaning; it is understood essentially as the function of the use of linguistic units. As a matter of fact, this line of semantic investigation is the primary concern of all structural linguists. When comparing the two approaches – referential and functional – in terms of methods of linguistic analysis, we see that the functional approach should not be considered as an alternative, but rather a valuable complement to referential theory. There is no need to set the two approaches against each other; each handles its own side of the problem, and neither is complete without the other.

Word-meaning is not homogeneous but is made up of various components. These components are usually described as types of meaning. The two main types are grammatical and lexical meanings.

Grammatical meaning could be described as the component of meaning recurrent in identical sets of individual forms of different words, e.g., the tense meaning of the word-forms of the verbs – asked, thought, walked. In modern linguistic science, it is commonly held that some elements of grammatical meaning can be identified by the position of the linguistic unit in relation to other units. For example, speaks, reads, writes have the same grammatical meaning because they can be used after pronouns he, she, it and before adverbs well, nicely, etc.

It follows that a certain component of the meaning of a word is described when you identify it as a part of speech, since different parts of speech are distributionally different. The lexical meaning of the word is described as the component of meaning proper to the word as a linguistic unit. For example, go, goes, went possess different grammatical meanings of tense, but each of them has the same semantic component denoting the process of movement. By lexical meaning, we designate the meaning proper to the given linguistic unit in all its forms and distributions, while by the grammatical meaning, we designate the meaning proper to sets of word-forms common to all words of a certain class. Both the lexical and the grammatical meaning make up word-meaning, as neither can exist without the other. There is also part-of-speech meaning, which categorizes lexical items into the major word-classes: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and the minor word-classes: articles, prepositions. Lexical meaning is not homogenous and includes connotational and denotational components. The denotational one is the basic meaning of the given lexical item, but the connotational one is the meaning of the lexeme in the given context.

There is also emotional meaning. If we observe the synonyms like, love, worship, we will see the difference in the emotional degree of any member of the set. It is equal for all speakers, not just for the moments of their feelings. Words differ in their stylistic reference. They are divided into literary, neutral, and colloquial layers – parent, father, dad.

2. Vowel Phonemes of English: Long, Short, Diphthongs

The organs of speech primarily involved in the articulation of vowel sounds are the lips and the tongue. The position of the lips determines vowel quality. But the most important articulator is the tongue. Vowels are classified in terms of the part of the tongue which participates in the articulation and the degree of raising – how high or low in the mouth the part of the tongue lies. So, they fall into the following types: front vowels – articulated by raising the front of the tongue; back vowels – produced with the back of the tongue raised; central vowels – the central part of the tongue is raised. We also distinguish close (high), open (low), close-mid (half-close), open-mid (half-open), short, and long (degrees of length) vowels. They are also classified according to the position of the lips: spread, neutral, and rounded. There also exist monophthongs – relatively pure vowels (unchanging); and diphthongs – the vowel has a starting quality different from its ending quality.

The number of distinctive vowels differs, but in BBC pronunciation, it is generally agreed that there are 20 distinctive vowel phonemes. 12 of them are monophthongs, and 8 are diphthongs. The monophthongs can be short and long vowels. There are five long and seven short vowel phonemes.

bead [biːd] [iː] – the “long” i, is a front close vowel. It is pronounced with the front of the tongue raised towards the roof of the mouth; the lips are spread. A special thing about /iː/ is that in the final position, it tends to be diphthongized and sounds like a glide from [i] to [iː], for example, in bee [biː]
bid [bɪd] [ɪ] – “short” ɪ is nearer to the close-mid position; it is more open, and a part of the tongue nearer to the center than the front is part of its articulation. The lips are slightly spread. The realization of [ɪ] varies, especially in unstressed syllables. In BBC pronunciation, there is a choice between [ɪ] or [i] in suffixes such as -ate (chocolate), -ible (possible), -ity (opportunity), -ily (happily), -ess (darkness), as well as in the -ed and -s endings when they are pronounced [ɪd], [ɪz].
bed [bed] [e] – is front and is pronounced with the tongue between the close-mid and the open-mid positions with the lips slightly spread.
bad [bæd] [æ] – is articulated with the front of the tongue raised above the fully open position.
but [bʌt] [ʌ] – is produced with the center of the tongue between the open-mid and the open position. The lips are neutral.
bard [bɑːd] [ɑː] – is fully open, and in its articulation, the back part of the tongue is involved.
pot [pɒt] [ɒ] – is articulated with the back of the tongue between open and open-mid, but this vowel is not a fully back sound. For its production, the lips are slightly rounded.
board [bɔːd] [ɔː] – is pronounced with the back of the tongue in a position between close-mid and open-mid. The lips are more strongly rounded than for the short [ɒ].
put [pʊt] [ʊ] – the “short u” is slightly higher than the close-mid, and it is produced by raising part of the tongue, which is nearer to the center than to the back; that is why this vowel is not fully back. The lips are rounded. In an unstressed position word – finally or in front of another vowel, the realization of [ʊ] varies. In BBC English, the vowel is pronounced between [uː] and [ʊ].
boot [buːt] [uː] – the “long u” is back in terms of the tongue shape and close in terms of tongue height, and the lips are closely rounded. In BBC pronunciation, [uː] tends to be slightly diphthongized.
bird [bɜːd] [ɜː] – is a long mid-central sound: the center of the tongue is between close-mid and open-mid. The lips are neutral. This sound, in the majority of cases, corresponds to a vowel letter followed by “r”.
about [əˈbaʊt] [ə] – called the schwa, is very similar in quality to the long /ɜː/; they differ in length, and /ə/ is never stressed.

English has 8 phonemic diphthongs. Their first part is longer, stronger, and generally more prominent than the second one. There are three vowel qualities that can constitute the second part of a diphthong in English: /ɪ/, /ʊ/, and /ə/. First, the English diphthongs which end in /ə/ are: [ɪə] as in here, [eə] as in there, and [ʊə] as in poor. The ones ending in /ɪ/ are: [eɪ] as in bay, [aɪ] as in bye, and [ɔɪ] as in boy. And the diphthongs which end in /ʊ/ are: [aʊ] as in now and [əʊ] as in no. All diphthongs ending in /ɪ/ and /ʊ/ can be followed by /ə/ in words like: player, fire, lawyer, lower, tower, and the resulting sound is called triphthong: /eɪə/, /aɪə/, /ɔɪə/, /əʊə/, /aʊə/. In fast speech in BBC pronunciation, the second element of the triphthong tends to be omitted; this phenomenon is known as smoothing. For instance, tower [taʊə] – [tɑːə] – [tɑː]

Syllable Structure

Every English word consists of one or more syllables. They fall into monosyllabic (with one syllable) and polysyllabic (with two or more syllables) words. The number of syllables in every word is, to a very large extent, fixed and unchanging. But sometimes, in connected speech, a syllable may “disappear.” For example, secretary /ˈsekrəteri/ or /ˈsekrətrɪ/. The syllables which are “lost” in this way are all weak syllables. At the center of a weak syllable, we usually find a weak vowel. Most often, this is the short vowel /ə/ – the schwa. Other vowels which are found in weak syllables are /ɪ/, as in the first syllable of believe, and /ʊ/, which some speakers produce in the first syllable of the word today. The schwa can replace weak /ɪ/ and weak /ʊ/. Syllabic consonants also appear in weak syllables: for example, /n/ and /l/ constitute weak syllables in the words button and bottle. A strong syllable, on the other hand, cannot “disappear” in connected speech. The center of a strong syllable is a strong vowel – a long vowel, a diphthong, or a short vowel followed by at least one consonant. For example, the second syllable of today is strong because it contains a diphthong.

3. Connected Speech: Key Features

The words in connected speech are not joined together mechanically. They are linked in such a way that there is usually a smooth transition from one word to another. Therefore, some sounds at word boundaries influence each other and undergo certain changes.

Vowel Reduction

The first of these processes typical of English connected speech is vowel reduction. It is the process by which an unstressed full vowel changes to become like the mid-central vowel schwa – e.g., Canada /ˈkænədə/ vs. Canadian /kəˈneɪdiən/ – /æ/ changes into /ə/. The process can affect strong vowels which, when the word is said in isolation, occur in unstressed syllables or in syllables with secondary stress – e.g., uneven /ˌʌnˈiːvn/ vs. /ənˈiːvn/ in connected speech.

Elision

Another process that is common in speech is elision – the omission, or deletion, of a sound. For example, textbook may be pronounced /ˈteksbʊk/. Elision operating within the word can also affect vowels, e.g., tonight /təˈnaɪt/ may be pronounced /tˈnaɪt/, with the schwa vowel omitted from the first syllable and the following /n/ syllabic. When a consonant cluster comprising more than two consonants, one of which is /t/ or /d/, is formed across a word boundary in connected speech, it is also often simplified by eliding the /t/ or /d/. For instance, next please /neks pliːz/.

Assimilation

Another process that can affect the phonetic shape of a word is assimilation, which is the change that a speech sound undergoes under the influence of a neighboring sound. For example, the voicing of the first of two successive sounds determines the voicing of the sound that follows. This is called progressive assimilation of voicing – e.g., closed /kləʊzd/; crossed /krɒst/. This process in English usually operates in the opposite direction, and then we speak of regressive assimilation: in this case, the second of two sounds influences the pronunciation of the sound that comes before it. For example, in the word impossible, the negative prefix im- has changed under the influence of the bilabial consonant /p/. There is another type of assimilation, called coalescent assimilation. For example, in the words nature /ˈneɪtʃə/ and picture /ˈpɪktʃə/: over the years, the /t/ and the /j/ in them have coalesced and are now pronounced as a single sound – the affricate /tʃ/. Almost all types of assimilation are also found across word boundaries in connected speech. For example, the fricatives /s/ and /z/ can change to /ʃ/ and /ʒ/ when they are followed by /ʃ/ or /j/. – e.g., miss you [mɪʃ juː]. On the other hand, progressive and regressive assimilations are rare across word boundaries. However, coalescent assimilation of /t, d/ and a following /j/ is frequent, so that they become /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.

Linking (Liaison)

Linking, or liaison, seems to be more prominent across word boundaries. In the flow of speech, English words are linked together to form phrases and sentences in several ways. If the phrase consists of two words, the first of which ends in a consonant and the second one begins with a vowel, there is a smooth transition from the consonant to the vowel, e.g., life insurance, turn it on, switch it off. If the first word in the phrase ends in a consonant and the next word begins with the same consonant, then a single consonant of longer duration is usually pronounced. For example, black cat [kː]. However, affricates are usually an exception to that rule, e.g., which child /wɪtʃ tʃaɪld/. When a word that ends in a vowel is followed by a word that begins with a vowel, the smooth transition is often achieved by adding an extra sound. The most familiar case is the addition of an r-sound – the “linking r.” For example, the word tear is pronounced /teə/, but the phrase tear up is said with /r/ – /teər ʌp/. However, there will be no linking r in the phrases hear you /hɪə juː/ and poor William /pɔː ˈwɪljəm/, because the second word in these phrases begins with the approximant consonants /j/ or /w/, and not with a vowel.

Another kind of linking is the addition of a short j-like or w-like glide when the first of two words ends in a close vowel or a closing diphthong and the next word begins with a vowel. If the first sound is a close front vowel, then the linking glide is /j/; if it is a close back vowel, the glide is /w/. Example: see it; say it; she is; the other – close front; do it; no other; know it; too often – close back.

Strong and Weak Forms

The pronunciation of a number of function words in English deserves special attention. When they are stressed or when they occur in isolation, these words are pronounced in their strong form – a form which contains a strong vowel, e.g., at /æt/, from /frɒm/, can /kæn/, etc. If, however, these words are unstressed in the flow of speech, they are pronounced in their weak form. For example, Look at her /lʊk ət hə/. There are about 40 weak-form words in English. The most general rule about the use of these words is that in the flow of speech, they are usually unstressed and therefore appear in their weak forms. However, in connected speech, these words may be used in their strong forms as well. This happens when they are being quoted, when they are stressed because of contrast or emphasis, or when a preposition, an auxiliary, or a modal verb has been separated from the word that would normally follow it. For instance, He can /kən/ do it and I can /kæn/ too. There are words which do not have weak forms. The most common of these are: which, what, where, how, then, on, off, in, up, with. The possessive pronouns yours, his, hers do not have weak forms, either.

4. Intonation, Rhythm, and Stress in English

When saying aloud any polysyllabic word, one would hear that one of the syllables is more prominent than its neighboring syllables. The syllable that stands out carries the word stress, or lexical stress. But often, as a result of not knowing which syllable should be stressed, incorrect stress placement can lead to communication problems.

For most people, stress is first and foremost associated with greater loudness. Other features which are also important in English are syllable length (most of the time, long vowels occur in stressed syllables), the quality of the vowel (the full-quality vowels of strong syllables bring about the perception that they are stressed), and the pitch (if one of the syllables in a word is said on a higher or lower pitch than the other syllables, then it is heard as stressed).

The most widespread view is that three degrees of stress are sufficient for an adequate description of word stress patterning in English. The strongest stress is called primary. Every English word has only one primary stress – e.g., reduce /rɪˈdʒuːs/. The second strongest degree of stress is called secondary stress. For example, reducement /rɪˈdʒuːsmənt/.

The most popular theory of speech rhythm claims that the world’s languages can be divided into two groups according to the type of rhythmical organization they exhibit. A notion central to this theory is that of isochrony, or the recurrence of some unit of speech at regular time intervals. According to the theory, some languages are spoken with stressed-timed rhythm, while other languages are characterized by syllable-timed rhythm. In syllable-timed languages, like French or Spanish, the unit of rhythm is the syllable. In languages with stress-timed rhythm, like English and Arabic, syllables are organized into feet. A foot is a stretch of speech that begins with a stressed syllable and includes all unstressed syllables that follow it up to the next stressed syllable.

Researchers have proposed a number of different “components of speech rhythm,” such as vowels, consonants, syllable structure, syllable duration, the relationship between syllable structure and stress, and compensatory shortening.

Typical features of these components in stress-timed languages are that the stressed vowels have full articulation and retain their quality; consonants in stressed syllables are pronounced more carefully; the language has a variety of syllable types; stressed syllables are regularly longer than unstressed ones; strong syllables tend to be stressed, weak syllables are always unstressed, and a stressed syllable/vowel is shortened as a function of the number of unstressed syllables following it.

Characteristics of languages with syllable-timed rhythm are that vowels have the same quality in both stressed and unstressed syllables; consonants have the same articulation in both stressed and unstressed syllables; the language has a limited number of syllable types; stressed syllables are only slightly longer or of the same duration as unstressed syllables; syllable structure and stress are not related; the durations of stressed syllables/vowels are not affected by the number of unstressed syllables following them.

Spontaneous speech is full of hesitations, false starts, and repetitions, and this is why researchers often analyze it not in terms of sentences but in terms of “utterances.” An utterance is a stretch of speech preceded and followed by pauses and produced by a single speaker. However, the chunks into which we divide the flow of speech are not necessarily separated by pauses, so they do not constitute separate utterances. Therefore, these chunks of speech are called intonation groups.

Certain correspondences have been found between intonation groups and grammar, and these provide us with some guidelines as to how to divide utterances in order to be more easily understood. To begin with, intonation groups often correspond with clauses – e.g., He put his coat | and went out. Intonation groups often correspond with major syntactic constituents of a clause – e.g., Her big brown eyes | were sparkling with joy. The adverbials which modify a whole clause frequently receive an intonation group of their own, especially when they are initial or final – e.g., Fairly | I don’t know how she does it. Adverbials of time and place often take a separate intonation group when they are initial or final- e.g., They went on a holiday | to Germany. On the other hand, objects seldom receive an intonation group of their own, except when they are fronted-e.g., A few more weeks | is all I need. In passive clauses, it is common for the by-phrase to be separated into an intonation group of its own. Other grammatical structures, which sometimes receive separate intonation groups, include parenthetical clauses, initial vocatives, and appositives-e.g., This | I’m sorry to say | is most unlikely. Then there are the non-restrictive relative clauses, which regularly take separate intonation groups – e.g., Tom’s brother | who lives in London | has just married. But the restrictive relative clauses are not separated in this way-e.g., Tom’s brother who lives in London | has just married. However, tag questions also receive an intonation group of their own. Comments such as I think, it seems, I believe, of course, as a matter of fact, etc., as well as the words yes, no, too, either are usually assigned a separate intonation group.

Every intonation group contains one syllable with an identifiable tone on it: it is called the tonic syllable. The tonic syllable is the most prominent syllable in the intonation group, and it carries tonic stress. The function of tonic stress is to focus the listener’s attention on some part of the intonation group or on all the information contained in it.

5. Semantic Classification: Synonyms, Antonyms, Hyponyms

The semantic classification of words depends on their meanings. According to the relations between the lexical items, they fall into three main groups: synonyms, antonyms, and hyponyms/hyperonyms.

Synonyms

Synonyms are words that are nearly the same in meaning. Some words suggest more than they actually mean, and sometimes words that have the same denotation differ widely in their connotation. There are words that sound more colorless and neutral, while others are more formal, humorous, childish, or technical. However, not all synonyms can be replaced with one another. They could have the same denotational meaning, but some of them are appropriate only to a certain context. For example, good-bye cannot be replaced every time with the childish ta-ta and the colloquial so long. The context determines the selection of the synonyms.

Five basic types of synonyms can be distinguished, concerning their origin:

Those originating from the native stock of the language and having only different shades of the same meaning – e.g., handsome, pretty, and lovely mean beautiful.
Synonyms formed from dialects – glamour – charm, elegant.
Synonyms formed from foreign languages – e.g., finish – end; aid – help.
Those connected with the figurative usage of words in expressive language – e.g., dreamer – stargazer.
Synonyms used for a certain stylistic purpose – e.g., lie – distort the facts; spend – blow in.

Regarding their nature, there are three basic types of synonyms:

Absolute or perfect synonyms: These are rare in the language, as their meanings are fully identical. They can always replace one another. Such words are fatherland, mother country, and homeland, or scarlatina and scarlet fever.
Relative synonyms: These differ in their shades and degrees of the given quality – e.g., beautiful, handsome, pretty, fine or clever, smart, intelligent, keen, sharp, able.
Stylistic synonyms: These have almost the same denotational meaning but differ in their emotional coloring. Such synonyms are often used in poetry – e.g., girl – maiden; morning – morn; happiness – bliss.

Antonyms

Antonyms are words opposite in their meanings. To be antonyms, the words should belong to the same lexical and grammatical category. There are more antonyms among the adjectives. For example, young – old; smart – stupid; big – small. However, some words have several connotations, and because of this, in a different context, they have different antonyms. For example, deep inside – dim inside, deep color – pale color or rough sea – calm sea, rough area – quiet area.

There are three types of antonyms:

Contradictory antonymy (ungradable): Here, the use of one word excludes the use of another. Also, in this antonymy, there are no intermediate terms between them. Such antonyms are day – night, single – married, alive – dead.
Contrary antonymy (gradable): Here, intermediate terms can exist between the antonyms – e.g., cold and hot are antonyms, but there are other adjectives between them that show the temperature, such as warm, tepid, cool, chilly.
Incompatible antonymy: This can be found among antonyms with a common component of meaning and could be described as the relationship of exclusion and not of contradiction. For example, It’s a cat entails it’s not a dog.

Hyperonyms and Hyponyms

Hyponymy is one of the basic principles for the organization of vocabulary items. It shows the semantic relationship of inclusion between words. Words create lexical sets on the basis of some common semantic component between them. In that way, they are arranged into hyponymy structures. A hyperonym or classifier is the general term in this structure. It implies the common semantic component between these words. Between themselves, they are co-hyponyms. This also expresses a semantic relationship between them. In most cases, a hyponymy structure is shown as a tree-type diagram that is called a taxonomy. In this taxonomy, the general term is the hyperonym. All other terms imply the general common meaning between them. Also, they all have their own individual meaning which distinguishes them from one another. For example, such a tree-type diagram is the human body: the hyperonym is the body, under it are the co-hyponyms trunk and limbs, but the trunk and limbs are hyperonyms in relation to head, neck, and torso, and arms and legs – which, in this case, are co-hyponyms.

6. Consonant Phonemes of English

There are 24 distinctive consonant sounds in English, and they differ from one another in several important aspects, such as voicing, place of articulation, and speech organs involved. According to voicing, consonants are voiced – the vocal cords vibrate – and voiceless – the vocal cords are not involved. According to their place of articulation, they fall into: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar, and glottal stop. According to their manner of articulation, we distinguish: plosives, affricates, fricatives, nasals, lateral, and approximants.

Bilabial consonants are p, b, m, and w. With them, the upper and lower lips are involved.
Labiodental are f and v, and in this case, the lower lip articulates with the upper front teeth.
Dental are θ and ð – The tip of the tongue is against the back part of the upper teeth.
Alveolar are t, d, s, z, n, and l – the tip of the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge.
Post-alveolar are tʃ, dʒ, ʃ, ʒ, and r – the tip of the tongue articulates with the hard palate just behind the alveolar ridge.
Palatal is j – the front part of the tongue articulates with the hard palate.
Velar are k, g, and ŋ, where the back of the tongue touches the soft palate or so-called velum.
Glottal stop is h – there is a complete closure between the vocal folds, which is then suddenly removed.

The manner of articulation depends on the type of obstruction to the airflow which is formed.

With plosives two organs of speech come together and form a complete closure, which is then removed and the resulting explosive sound is a plosive. English has six plosives. /p/ and /b/ are bilabial, /t/ and /d/ are alveolar, /k/ and /g/ are velar. English /p, t, k/ are voiceless and fortis, and /b, d, g/ are voiced and lenis. Fortis plosives, when they are in a stressed syllable, are pronounced with aspiration (e.g. pin [pʰin]). The lenis plosives are devoiced in initial position. When fortis consonants are final in syllable, they shorten the preceding sound.

With fricatives two speech organs are close to, but not touching each other, and the airstream makes its way through the narrow passage. Fricatives are: /f, v/ – labiodental, /θ, ð/ – dental, /s, z/ – alveolar, /ʃ, ʒ / – post-alveolar, and /h/ – glottal. The voiced ones are lenis, voiceless – fortis. Lenis – devoiced in initial and in final position. Fortis have the same shortening effect on the preceding sound. /ʒ/ only occurs in borrowings (initially and finally). /h/ is often described as a voiceless, because the only position in which it is found in English is in front of vowels.

Affricates begin with a complete closure, after that the closure is removed gradually and a fricative is formed at the same place of articulation. There are two affricates in English – / ʧ / and / ʤ / and they form a voiced – voiceless and fortis – lenis pair, they both are post-alveolar. In final position, the fortis /ʧ / shortens the preceding sound, and in final position lenis / ʤ / is devoiced.

With nasals, there is a complete closure between two organs of speech in the mouth, but the air enters the nasal cavity and escape through the nose. There are three nasal in English: /m/ – bilabial, /n/ alveolar, and /η/ – velar. The nasals are always voiced.

With the lateral, a partial closure is made between the tongue and the roof of the mouth, but the air can pass freely along the sides of the tongue. English has one lateral consonant – /l/ – alveolar. But /l/ has two major variants (allophones): the “clear” [ l ] – in front of vowels (e.g. like, leaf, loaf), and the “dark” [ l ]- in front of consonants or in final position (felt, feel, cool).

With approximants, the organs of speech approach each other, but do not get as close as they would be in the production of a fricative. There are three approximants in English: /w/ – bilabial, /j/ – palatal, and /r/ – post-alveolar. All three approximants occur only before vowels in BBC pronunciation.