The CBB

Thought this might be a cool topic . What's the IPA inventory for your native language(s) when you speak it/them? Here's mine:

English (Southern American)
/m~mp n ŋ~n (unstressed)/
/pʰ~p~p̚ b~b̚ tʰ~ɾ~ʔ d~ɾ~ʔ kʰ~k~k̚ ɡ~g̚/
/t͡ʃʰ~t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/
/s~ʃ z~ɾ (sometimes in contractions) ʃ ʒ/
/f v θ ð h~ç (before /j/)/
/j ʍ (only on occasions especially with "what?") w/
/l~ɫ/
/ɻ/

/iː~ɪ (unstressed after /l/) ʉː~uː/
/ɪ ʊ/
/ə/
/ɛ~ɪ (before /m n/) ʌ/
/æə/
/ɑ/
/ɛɪ̯~eɪ̯ aɪ̯~aː ɜu̯~ɔu̯ (before /l/ or a vowel) æɒ̯ oʊ̯~ə (unstressed finally)/
/ɝ ɚ ɑɚ ɔ˞/

Making this I found out there are several words I stress differently than many other Americans

Here's mine:

/pʰ tʰ~(ʔ) ʧʰ kʰ~x/
/b d ʤ g/
/m n/
/f v s z (θ ð) s z ʃ ʒ h/
/ɾ l w j/

I rarely have /ʔ/ for /t/, but it does creep in sometimes.
/x/ is an intervocalic and word-final allophone of /kʰ/.
/ð/ is nearly always /d/ for me in casual speech. /θ/ can tend towards dental /t/.
/ɾ/ may sometimes be /ɹ/ but I tend to have /ɾ/.
[ŋ] only occurs in /ŋg/.
/l/ tends to be less velarised than in some varieties.

Long vowels:
/i: ʉː/
/e:~ɪ: ɔ:/
/a:~ɑ:/

I tend towards /ɪ:/.

Short vowels:
/ɪ ʊ/
/ɛ ɑ/
/a ǝ/

/a:i a:u ɛi ɔu ɔi/

I wonder if anyone can guess my accent based on that.

Davush wrote:I wonder if anyone can guess my accent based on that.

Is that Liverpool?

Note - this is very much a phoneme inventory. The actual realisations of the phonemes may vary.

Consonants:
/m n (ŋ)/
/p b t d k g/
/t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/
/f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/
/w r l j/

Vowels:
/ɪ ɛ a ɔ ʊ ə/
/ɪː ɛː ɑː oː/
/aw ʊw əw/
/ɪj ɛj ɑj oj/

h/m n ŋ/
/p pː t tː k kː/
/p͡f t͡s t͡ʃ/
/f fː s sː x h xː~hː/
/ʋ l ɾ j/

Gemination may not be phonemic in all consonants in all environments. Initial k: is realized as aspirated and contrasts with marginal [k:] (found mostly in loans from romance words starting with a tenuis plosive, or as reduction of /tk/). /x:/ is often realized as [h:], especially intervocally.

/i y u/
/ɪ ʏ ʊ/
/e ø o/
/ə/
/ɛ œ ɔ/
/a/

/ɪɐ̯ ʏɐ̯ ʊɐ̯/
/(eɪ̯) ɛɪ̯ ɔɪ̯/
/aɪ̯ aʊ̯/

Length may be contrastive in a number of vowels, but the large inventory makes true minimal pairs statistically unlikely. I believe vowel length can be determined by the environment but haven't been able to prove it. In final unstressed position, only two vowels appear: [ɪ ɐ], the latter being a common allophone of the schwa. [eɪ] is marginal, occurring mostly in loanwords (baby) and as a possible allophone of /egɪ/.

Oh wow, this is going to be a fun activity...

1 hour later:

/ p~p̚ b~b̚ t~t̚ d~d̚ k~k̚ ɡ~ɡ̚ ʔ̆ /
/ m n ŋ /
/ f v θ ð s z ʃ x h /
/ w ɹ j /
/ l~ɫ /
/ t͡ʃ d͡ʒ t͡ɬ d͡ɮ /

/ ɪ ʊ ɛ ə ʌ æ ɒ /
/ iː uː ɜː ɔː ɑː /
/ oɪ oʊ ɛɪ ʌɪ æʊ /

That's the best I could do, but there are probably loads more.

Unlike my peers, my voiceless phonemes are nearly unaspirated, which I attribute to growing up around Indian parents.
This is strictly inventory: allophones are not included if they're represented by another phoneme (ie. no /t~ʃ/, just /t ʃ/
/p t~ʔ~ɾ kʰ b d~ɾ g~ɣ/
/f v θ~ð (ð) h~χ/
/l~ɫ~ɰ ɹ~ɻ~ɾ j~j̥ w(~ʍ)*/

Stressed
/æ ɛ ɪ i a(~ɒ)* ʉ ɯ̽ eɪ̯(~eː)* ʌʊ̯ oɪ̯ aɪ̯ æʊ̯/
Pre-R
/ɛ ɪ i ə ɝ ɑ ɒ ɔ o ʉ e~eɪ̯(~æ)* eɪ̯ə oɪ̯ oɪ̯ə aɪ̯ə æʊ̯ə/
Pre-L (Vocalization)
/æɰ ɛɰ ɪɰ iɰ eɰ ʉʊ̯ɰ əɰ ɑɰ(~aɰ)* ɔː oː ɯ̽ː ʉː aɪ̯ɯ oɪ̯ɯ/
Pre-L (No vocalization)
/æ ɛ e ɪ i ʉ ə o aɪ̯ ɯ oɪ̯/
Unstressed
/ə ɨ/

Consonants:

/p b t d t͡ʃ d͡ʒ k g/
/f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/
/m n ŋ/
/w j ɹʷ l/

• Voiceless stops and fricatives are aspirated in the onset except after /s/ and in the onset of an unstressed syllable other than the first one. Aspirated stops tend to be somewhat affricated.
• /t/ and /d/ both become [ɾ] intervocallically when not in the onset of a stressed syllable or the first syllable of a word, and /d/ can also become [ɾ] word-finally.
• /t/ becomes [ʔ] in the coda.
• /h/ is sometimes deleted word-initially in casual speech.
• /θ/ and /ð/ are interdental, and tend to be realized as [t̪͆] and [d̪͆], respectively, utterance-initially and after nasals.
• Light /l/ is interdental. In the coda, /l/ is realized as [ɤ̯ˤ] after unrounded vowels and [o̯ˤ] after rounded vowels (e.g. <still> [stɪɤ̯ˤ], <pool> [pʰuo̯ˤ]), with the same amount of rounding as the preceding vowel. /oʊ̯l/ is realized as [oˤ] (e.g. <old> [oˤd]). When a word-final or morpheme-final /l/ is followed by a vowel-initial word, it becomes [lˤ] (e.g. <taller> [ˈtʰɒlˤɚ]).
• My /ɹ/ is a bunched r, not alveolar at all.

Vowels:

/iː ɪ uː ʊ̜/
/ɛ ə ɝ~ɚ/
/æ ɐ ɑː ɒː/

/ɛɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ aɪ̯ oʊ̯ æʊ̯/
/iɚ̯ eɚ̯ ɔɚ̯ ɑɚ̯/

• I'm still not entirely sure whether I have [oʊ̯] or [əʊ̯], or whether I have [ɐ] or [ʌ].
• Apparently it's [ɝ] in stressed syllables and [ɚ] in unstressed syllables, although I personally can't hear the difference.
• /aɪ̯/ becomes [ɐɪ̯] before unvoiced consonants and sometimes before flapped /d/ [ɾ], as well as in a few unusual cases before other voiced consonants: <onion> [ˈɐɪ̯njən], <cyborg> [ˈsɐɪ̯bɔɚ̯g].
• /æ/ becomes [eə̯] before /n/ and /m/ and [æɪ̯~ɛɪ̯] before /ŋ/.
• /ɝ/ is bunched, just like /ɹ/ above (but not rounded).

High German (albeit influenced by certain Swabian and Saxonian dialects)

/b̥ pʰ d̥ tʰ g̥ kʰ/
/͡pf t͡s t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/
/m n ŋ/
/f v s z ʃʷ ʒʷ x h/
/l j ʁ/

Like in most areas of Southern Germany, the difference between voiced and unvoiced stops is rather a lenis-fortis distinction in my idiolect. Unlike the speakers around me, I still aspirate my fortis consonants.
Unlike most speakers around me, I retain the voiced phonemes /z/, /ʒʷ/ and /d͡ʒ/ (the latter two only occurring in loanwords). On the other hand, I lack [ɱ] as an allophone of /m/ in words like fünf.

Born and raised by Saxonians, I had a difficult time with /x/'s allophone [ç], constantly pronouncing it [ʃ] instead. I hypercorrected that a little, resulting in forms like Wäsche: [vɛçə] instead of [vɛʃə]

Vowels:

/a aː/
/eː ɛ øː œ oː ɔ ə/
/iː ɪ yː ʏ uː ʊ/

The pronunciation of my vowels almost exactly follows what has been "taught" for Standard German. As many speakers of standard German, I lack /ɛː/ (I pronounce it as /eː/ instead, making Bären and Beeren homophonous). However, I almost never pronounce the schwa, with the effect that I'm sometimes hard to understand (although not as hard as dialect speakers). I don't feature Swabian nasal vowels, and whenever I was trying, I was constantly told that the sound "weird".

sangi39 wrote:

Davush wrote:I wonder if anyone can guess my accent based on that.

Is that Liverpool?

It is!

Ta-da!
I did my best, but there may be some mistakes...

/m~ɱ n~ɱ~n̪ ŋ~n/
/pʰ~p b tʰ~t~ʔ~ɾ d~ɾ kʰ~k g/
/tʃ dʒ/
/f v θ~f ð~n̪ s z ʃ ʒ h~∅~ç/
/ɹʷ~ɻʷ l~ɫ~ɤ̯ w j/

/ɪiː~i~iː ɵ̞ʊ̈~ɘ̞ʊ̈ ɝː o̞ː ɑː/
/ɘ~ɪ ɵ̞ ɛ~æ ə~ɚ ʌ̈ a ɒ̜/
/o̞ɪ ɜʊ̈ ɛɪ ʌɪ~ʌ̹ɪ/

Consonants:
/m n ŋ/
/pʰ~p~p̚ b~b̚ tʰ~t~ɾ~t̚ d~ɾ~d̚ kʰ~k~k̚~kʼ g~g̚/
/t͡ʃʰ~t͡ʃ d͡ʒ/
/f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/
/w ɹ j/
/ɫ/

• - among plosives, aspirated forms are used initially and, apart from [tʰ], medially unless preceded by /s/ or /ʃ/
  - unreleased forms used syllable finally unless emphasised in which case they may be aspirated, or in the case of /k/ ejected.
  - [ɾ] appears between vowels after stress or even prestress when followed by a morpheme boundary
  - /dj tj sj zj/ of other dialects merge with /t͡ʃʰ~t͡ʃ d͡ʒ ʃ ʒ/ and /stj/ may further become [ʃt͡ʃ].
  - no ɱ, /mf/ becomes [mpf] !?

Monophthongs:
/ɪ ɪːʳ e̞ e̞ːʳ æ æː ä äːʳ ɔ ɔː oːʳ ʊ ʉːʷ əʳ ə̹ːʳ/
KIT NEAR DRESS SQUARE TRAP/lad bad STRUT PALM/START/BATH CLOTH/LOT/on gone THOUGHT/NORTH/FORCE FOOT GOOSE LETTER/COMMA NURSE

• - Superscript characters indicate the the epenthetic /ɹ/ or /w/ that arises when followed by a vowel to prevent hiatus. Vowels that lack this are never followed by another vowel.
  - /ɪː/ can become [ɪɐ̯] word finally.
  - /ə/ becomes [ɐ] word finally.
  - in unstressed syllables, /ə/ and /ɪ/ are in almost complementary distribution with /ɪ/ appearing before postalveolar and velar consonants and /ə/ elsewhere although there are a few words with /ə/ before velars.
  - the CURE vowel is not distinct, either merging with /oːʳ/ as in "poor", "sure" or else bisyllabic /ʉːʷəʳ / as in "cure", "tour",or simply /ʉːʷ/ as in "Europe", "fluoro"

Diphthongs:
/ɪi̯ʲ æɪ̯ʲ ɑe̯ʲ oɪ̯ʲ æʊ̯ʷ ɐʉ̯ʷ/
FLEECE/HAPPY FACE PRICE CHOICE MOUTH GOAT

• - Superscript characters show epenthetic consonants that appear before vowels to prevent hiatus.
  - All diphthongs display allophonic length changes, short before voiceless consonants, long before voiced. (This seems to be blocked by phonemic length distinctions in the monophthongs.)
  - /ɪi̯/ shortens to [ɪ̆i̯] when unstressed.
  - /æʊ̯/ unrounds to [æɯ̯̽] before most consonants and may not be distinguished from /æː/ before /ɫ/.
  - /ɐʉ̯/ backs to [ɔʊ̯] or possibly [ʌʊ̯] before /ɫ/.

Consonants
[m~ɱ n̪ ŋ]
[p~p˺' t̪~t̪˞~t̪˺' k~x~k'˺ b~β d̪~ð g~ɣ]
[(t̪s̪ d̪z̪) c̟ɕ ɟ̟ʑ]
[f~θ̟ v~β ð̱ s̪ z̪ ʂ̪ ʐ̪ (χ) h̆]
[ɹ̱ʲʷ lˠ j w̱]

(generally initial-medial-final)

Vowels:

[i̽ ʉʷ y e̞ ø̞ː ɘ̞ ɵ̽ ɤ æ̝ aː ɐ̆ ɔ̝]

[aj æ̝j ɤj ɞw ɐw ju jɤ j ɐ̆ jø̞ jɘ̞)]

[ɜw œw ɔw ɵ̽w ɤw]

This is a fun thread. I'll give it my best shot:

English (General American/Philadelphian)

/p~pʰ~p̚ b~b̚ t~tʰ~ʔ~ɾ~t͡ʃ d~d̚~ɾ~d͡ʒ k~kʰ~k̚ g~g̚/
/f v θ ð s~ʃ z ʃ ʒ h~ç~j/
/t͡ʃ~t͡ʃʰ d͡ʒ/
/m~ɱ~m̩ n~m~ŋ~n̩ ŋ~n~ŋ̩/
/ɹ~ɹ̩ j w/
/l~ɫ~l̩~ɫ̩/

/iː ɪ ɛ æ/
/ə~ʌ~ɨ/
/uː~ʉʊ̯ ʊ ɔː~ɒː ɑː/

/eɪ̯/
/aɪ̯~əɪ̯ aʊ̯/
/oʊ̯~ɜʊ̯ ɔɪ̯~ʊɪ̯/

Lol, forgot nasals and stuff
/m~ɱ n~ɱ~ŋ/
/p t~ʔ~ɾ kʰ b d~ɾ g~ɣ/
/f v θ~ð (ð) h~χ/
/l~ɫ~ɰ ɹ~ɻ~ɾ j~j̥ w(~ʍ)*/

Stressed
/æ ɛ ɪ i a(~ɒ)* ʉ ɯ̽ eɪ̯(~eː)* ʌʊ̯ oɪ̯ aɪ̯ æʊ̯ ə~ʌ/
Pre-R
/ɛ ɪ i ə ɝ ɑ ɒ ɔ o ʉ e~eɪ̯(~æ)* eɪ̯ə oɪ̯ oɪ̯ə aɪ̯ə æʊ̯ə/
Pre-L (Vocalization)
/æɰ ɛɰ ɪɰ iɰ eɰ ʉʊ̯ɰ əɰ ɑɰ(~aɰ)* ɔː oː ɯ̽ː ʉː aɪ̯ɯ oɪ̯ɯ/
Pre-L (No vocalization)
/æ ɛ e ɪ i ʉ ə o aɪ̯ ɯ oɪ̯/
Unstressed
/ə ɨ n̩(~ŋ̩)* m̩ l̩ r̩/[/quote]

Phonemes in (parenthesis) are ones that I'm unsure if they exist

It really depends on how good I'm trying to speak so I have either a really German accent or quite a faked British accent. I ordered the vowels according to how they would be pronounced in GAE (monophthongs, diphthongs, r-coloured vowels, unstressed vowels).


Not trying at all:
/ɛ(ː)1 äː ɔ o̞(ː)ɐ̯ ɪ iː ɛ ä ʊ uː/
trap bath/palm/start lot/cloth thought/north/force kit fleece dress strut foot goose
/ɛɪ̯ äɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ o̞ʊ̯ äʊ̯/
face price choice goat mouth
/œ(ː)ɐ̯ i(ː)ɐ̯ e̞(ː)ɐ̯ ɔɐ̯~u(ː)ɐ̯2/
nurse near square cure
/ɐ3 i/

1 The lengthening is only there to differentiate /æ/ [ɛː] and /ɛ/ [ɛ], I'd say
2 I somehow pronounce cure a [kʰjɔɐ̯~k͡çɔɐ̯] but sure as /ʃʷu(ː)ɐ̯/ instead. I don't know why to be honest.
3 This might be due to German's pronunciations of Komma and Bäcker for example.

/m n ŋ/
/pʰ~p b tʰ~t~d d t͡ʃ1 d͡ʒ1 kʰ~k g/
/f v θ2 ð2 s z ʃʷ ʒʷ h/
/l3 ɹ̠ʷ j w/

1 These may deaffricate depending on how German I speak and aren't labialised compared to the post-alvealor fricatives.
2 Again, depending on how German I speak the dental fricatives either stay dental or they merge with /s/ and /z/.
3 /l/ is always /l/ and never velarizes in the coda.

Allophones:
- The distribution of aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops is just like in English. At the end of a word the stops aren't as aspirated as I normally aspirate them in German.
- Voiced consonants devoice at the end of words.
- /j/ after /t/ and /k/ often turns into [ç].
- /t/ is realised as [d] intervocally.
- /tɹ̠ʷ/ and /dɹ̠ʷ/ are realised as /t͡ʃʷ~t͡ʃw/ and /d͡ʒʷ~d͡ʒw/.


Trying my best:
/a̟ ɑ̟ː ɒˤ1 o̞ː ɪ ɪ̟i̯ e̞ ɐ ɪ̈ ʊ̈ʉ̯/
trap bath/palm/start lot/cloth thought/north/force kit fleece dress strut foot goose
/e̞ɪ̯ ɑɪ̯ o̞ɪ̯ ə̝ʉ̯ a̟ʊ̯/
face price choice goat mouth
/ɜ̟ː ɪːə̯ e̞ː ʊːə̯/
nurse near square cure
/ə i̞/
comma/letter happy

1 /ɒ/ is incredibly hard for me to pronounce and I noticed that I constrict something down my throat which is most likely the pharynx or the epiglottis.

/m n ŋ/
/pʰ~p b tʰ~t d t͡ʃ1 d͡ʒ1 kʰ~t g/
/f v θ2 ð2 s z ʃʷ ʒʷ h/
/l ɹ̠ʷ j w/

1 Compared to the simple post-alvealor fricates, the affricatives aren't labialised.
2 Depending on how non-standard I want to speak, I pronounce the dental fricatives as /f/ and /v/.

Allophones:
- The distribution of aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops is just like in English. At the end of a word the stops aren't as aspirated as I normally aspirate them in German.
- /t/ is realised as a glottal intervocally and at the end of words, which is a bad attempt at trying to pronounce it as [ʔ͡t]
- /tɹ̠ʷ/ and /dɹ̠ʷ/ are realised as /t͡ʃʷ~t͡ʃw/ and /d͡ʒʷ~d͡ʒw/.
- Coda /l/ is vocalises into /o̯/ and merges with the vowel(s) in front of it. Diphthongs change their last part into /o̯/ as well, e.g. /ɪ̟i̯l/ is [ɪ̟o̯] and /e̞ɪ̯l/ is [e̞o̯]. At the end of words /əl/ is simply realised as /o/.
- /h/ and /k/ are pronounced as /ħ/ and /k͡ħ/ before /ɒˤ/, so cot is [k͡ħɒˤʔ] which is pretty fucked up in my opinion.

Why only English, ixals?

Creyeditor wrote:Why only English, ixals?

I thought it wasn't too special enough to post since it's just Standard German with some mergers of r-coloured vowels, nothing more.

But the r-colored mergers are the most interesting ones

Consonants:
/p b t d k g/
/m n ŋ/
/tʃ dʒ/
/f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h/
/l ɹ̠ j w/

Vowels:
/i u ɪ ʊ e~ɛ ə~ʌ æ ɑ/
/ɛɪ̯ aɪ̯ ɔɪ̯ ɔʊ̯ æʊ̯/

Rhotic Vowels:
/ɑɹ̠ ɔɹ̠ ɪɹ̠~iɹ̠ ɛɹ̠ ʊɹ̠ əɹ̠/
/ɛɪ̯ɹ̠ aɪ̯ɹ̠ æʊ̯ɹ̠ ɔɪ̯ɹ̠/