Restricted phoneme
A restricted phoneme is a phoneme that can only occur in a certain environment and has restrictions as to where it can occur:
Restricted phonemes in English include:
- /N/ in sing can only occur at the end of a syllable or word and can never occur at the beginning of a word.
- /w/ and /j/ can only occur before a vowel and can never occur at the end of a syllable or word.
- /h/ can only occur at the beginning of a syllable or word or at the beginning of a cluster and can never occur at the end of a syllable or word.
- In American accents with the cot-caught merger /O/ can only occur before /r/ and can never occur elsewhere.
- In non-rhotic accents, /r/ can only occur before a vowel or intervocalically and can never occur at the end of a word or before a consonant.
Categories: English pronunciation | Phonology