Neutralisation

(Compromise)

With some pairs of sounds, it is not always clear which of the two sounds is being articulated. It is as if it lay between the two distinct sounds. This intermediate sound is known as neutralization. This process can be found in both vowels and in some consonants.
The most common examples of neutralization are the vowels /u/ and /i/ and the consonants /b/,/d/ and /g/ with their voicelss equivalents /p/,/t/ and /k/. Also it is sometimes difficult to hear the contrast in the sounds /s/ and /z/.

Examples of Neutralization

/i/

• When 'the' is followed by a vowel, the final vowel is deemed to be /i/. The schwa is inappropriate, the long /i:/ is too long and the short one is too short and so the in-between /i/ is used.

• 
  for the orange.

• After some consonants /i/ is used.

• 
  for happy.

• 
  for easy.

• /i/ is used in an unstressed prefix that is followed by a vowel.

• 
  for react.

• It is also used in short unstressed words followed by a word beginning with a vowel.

• 
  for he asked

/u/

• /u/ is used when it is in an unstressed syllable followed by a vowel, or the vowel like consonants.

• 
  for to ask.

• 
  for who would

/p/,/t/,/k/,/b/,/d/ and /g/

• When these plosives follow /s/ in syllable-initial position, they become neutralized. The sound is difficult to place as one or the other; it is only the convention of regular spelling that determines how we transcribe them.

• /spill/ could be transcribed as /sbill/

• /still/ could be transcribed as /sdill/

• /skill/ could be transcribed as /sgill/

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