Re: k-like sounds in English and other European languages



On Oct 10, 3:36 pm, analys...@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
English has hard c, k, q and ck and I believe cq is present in other
European languages (French?).

I would appreciate an explanation of exactly what if any is the
difference between the sounds represented by these alphabets/alphabet
sequences (I know that the presence of q requires rounded lips in
English).

They are all the phoneme /k/ realized (pronounced) as [k]. In the case
of <qu>, it usually describes the 2 phoneme sequence /kw/ (pronounced
as[kw], with rounded lips). The realization of phoneme /k/ varies
slightly depending on context; the /k/ in "keep" is realized with an
articulation a little more to the front than the /k/ in "coop" but the
two consonants are not considered different enough to be transcribed
differently in phonetic transcription; both are transcribed as [k].
.



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