The consonants

In terms of the mere inventory of the consonant system, CamE exhibits very few differences from RP, for example. The marked peculiarity resides in the TH sounds, which are generally pronounced /t/ and /d/, /θ/ and /ð/ in fact not being uncommon in educated speech. But consonant substitution is only the tip of the iceberg. Although RP and CamE have basically the same consonant system, there are tremendous differences in the environments in which these consonants occur in the two accents. The consonantal peculiarities of CamE are best examined in terms of phonological processes. Using RP as a point of reference, the analysis below will highlight some rules which do not apply in CamE, those which apply differently or partially, and those which can be considered specific, that is, do not apply in RP.

There is a large common core of features which CamE shares with RP and other accents, and that is what ensures and guarantees resemblance and intelligibility, to a large extent. But some RP rules do not apply in CamE. These rules include several linking processes. CamE keeps orthographic words separate in connected speech, leaving clear junctures between them. This picture radically contrasts with what obtains in all native accents of English, where speech appears in chunks of units linked with each other. The radical separation of words, predictably, does not create a propitious environment for assimilation and other linking processes to apply. Examples of features illustrating the non-application of assimilation can be found in Simo Bobda (1994: 254–255). But the conspicuous absence of linking /r/ can be considered more important, as seen in the following data from Simo Bobda (1994: 255): [diε 'ɔpɔnεnts] their opponents, [awa an'ssts] our ancestors, [fɔda amaunt] further amount, [jua ^Iadvais] your advice, [fɔ e piriɔt]  for a period. The absence of linking /r/ in these data leaves two adjacent vowels across the word boundary, which breaks the requirement of euphony in RP.

The RP rules which apply differently or partially include the voicing or devoicing of the alveolar fricative in word-medial position, Ks-Voicing, Yod Deletion, Non-coronal Deletion, and Spirantisation in -stion words. Concerning the voicing and devoicing of the alveolar fricative the first peculiarity of CamE is found in intervocalic position, where CamE has /s/ for RP /z/ as in words like acqui[s]ition, compo[s]ition, phy[s]ical, po[s]ition, vi[s]ible and /z/ for RP /s/ in words like di[z]agree, di[z]appear, ba[z]ic, ba[z]in, compari[z]on, garri[z]on, pro[z]ody, uni[z]on. There is even the interesting case of De[z]ember and de[z]eased where CamE has /z/ for orthographic c, an unknown phenomenon in RP; CamE equally has /z/ in the environment /r/______V as in nur[z]ery and /l/_____V as in compul[z]ory, another oddity in terms of RP. Even more frequently, /z/ occurs in the environment con#____V, as in con[z]ume, and con[z]erve and its derivatives.

In RP, Ks-voicing applies mostly before stressed vowels, as in exam, executive, exhaust, exonerate. But in CamE it tends to apply before all vowels, as in e[gz]ecute, fle[gz]ible, ma[gz]imum, e[gz]odus.

In RP yod is absent mostly after palatals (e.g. sugar, chew, jew), /r/ (e.g. rumour, rural, drew) and /Cl/ (e.g. clue, flu, glue); but CamE speakers also delete it in many other words (e.g. dubious, duplicate, education, numerous, Portugal, situation, student) and more systematically before /ul/ (e.g. ambulance, modulate, population), and before /uV/ (e.g. annual, conspicuous, genuine).

The two non-coronals involved in Non-coronal Deletion are /b/ and /g/. RP speakers delete /b/ after nasals as in bomb, comb, lamb, hand and between /m/ and a following neutral suffix as in bombing, singer, hanger, but CamE does not apply this rule, since it has bom[b]ing, sin[g]er, han[g]er.

The occurrence of [tʃ] (rather than [ʃ] as for other words in -ion) is due to the non-application of spirantisation blocked before /s/ (which converts the underlying /t/ to [s] which in turn interacts with gliding and palatalization (Rubach 1984) in -tion words. But in CamE, spirantisation applies also after /s/, yielding combus [ʃ] ion, ques [ʃ] ion, exhaus [ʃ] ion, sugges [ʃ] ion (instead of RP [tʃ].)

Phonological processes specific to CamE include several cases of consonant cluster simplification, Pre-ion Devoicing, Final Devoicing and Pre-Yod Deletion.

Although cluster simplification occurs in onset position, the most frequent cases of simplification are found in coda position. Cluster simplification in coda position, according to Simo Bobda (1994: 249–253), is subject to a number of variables including the following:

1. with the exception of data like [fit] fifth, [h_________________________________p] help, [fim] film, it is generally the final member of the cluster that is deleted and not an earlier segment;
2. plosives, like /t, d, p, k/, are particularly prone to deletion, as in past, missed, cold, end, grasp, jump, task, dust;
3. deletion is more prevalent in the environment of a following consonant than in that of a following vowel, as in past#C vs past#V, and passed#C vs passed#V;
4. a final stop which agrees in voicing with the preceding segment is more prone to deletion than one which does not; e.g. cold vs colt, hand vs grant, send vs sent, veld vs belt;
5. a final stop which agrees in place of articulation with the preceding segment lends itself to deletion more readily than one which does not; e.g. planned vs programmed, stump vs grasp, sunk vs sulk;
6. a final stop not preceded by a morpheme boundary is more resistant to deletion than one which is; e.g. find vs fined, mind vs mined, left vs laughed, lost vs tossed, act vs cracked.

Pre-ion Devoicing devoices the underlying /d/ and /z/, respectively, in words like conclude+ ion and revise+ ion to /t/ and /s/; /t/ and /s/ then interact with the other rules (spirantisation for /t/, which yields /s/ and palatalization for both cases) to yield [ʃ] instead of RP [Ʒ].

Final Devoicing devoices final obstruents and obstruents before consonantal inflectional suffixes, as in [lab, pat, dƷɔtʃ stif] lab, bad, George, Steve; [staps, lifs, rçpt, lçft] stabs, leaves, robbed, loved.

Pre-yod Deletion deleted /h/ before /j/ as in [juman, jumit, jutʃ] human, humid, huge.