Consonants

Sonorants: N, L, R

In a feature known as ‘velar nasal plus’, velar nasal /ŋ/ is realized as [ŋg] in all words with <ng>spelling in the English West Midlands, this designation in this case covering an extended area stretching from Birmingham in the south to Liverpool and Sheffield in the north. The feature is by no means categorical, co-existing with both [ŋ] and, in <-ing>-morpheme representations, [n] realization: the alveolar nasal [n] for /ŋ/ is widespread in Northern and West Midland English as a stigmatized feature. /n/ is fronted in Shetland, Scotland, and mid and northern Wales.

RP has clear [l] before a vowel and dark [Ɨ] before a consonant or pause. Whilst this essential pattern might also be expected to occur in some regional varieties, considerable complexity does also occur in distributions of clear and dark /l/ regionally, with a general trend being a move from clear to dark as one moves from North to South within England, and post-vocalic /l/ frequently being vocalized in the South-east. The clear-to-dark trend is reversed in Wales, where [l] is more characteristic of the south and [Ɨ] of the north in all positions. Dark [Ɨ] is a feature of Scottish English, and vocalization exists as both historically- and modern sociolinguistically-conditioned features.

There is an essential division between the principal rhotic areas of the British Isles, situated in Scotland, Ireland, South-west England and part of Northern England centred on southern Lancashire, and the non-rhotic areas of the majority of England and Wales. However, rhoticity is not categorical in rhotic regions; Northumberland in Northern England, the English of Welsh-speaking areas of Wales, parts of southern Wales with close cultural links with South-west England, and the Channel Islands also display the feature to varying degrees. Phonetic realizations of /r/ vary widely: in Scotland postalveolar [ɹ], retroflex [ɻ] and tap or flap [ɾ] are variably found, their presence determined by phonetic environments and sociolinguistics, and Ireland has [ɹ] and [ɻ]; /r/ in England is generally postalveolar or retrofl ex, with a characteristic uvular variety surviving in Northumberland; and uvular [ʁ] is also found as a rare form in north Wales. Intrusive /r/ is normal in non-rhotic areas.