The social dimensions of the phonological continuum – consonants

Little attention until recently has been paid to the consonants in AusE since it is the vowels that most dramatically differentiate the speakers of AusE and it is the vowels that have been the focus of attention. Although the consonant system of AusE does not differ to any great extent from other dialects of English, there are a number of consonants that vary among its speakers, but even these are also characteristic of various other dialects of English. The consonants that have been studied are the plosive, flapping, frication, and glottalization of /t/; the palatalization of /t, d, s, z/; h-deletion; [n] substituted for [ŋ] for the -ing morpheme; ‘thing’ words such as nothing and anything pronounced with   [ŋk] substituted for [ŋ] ; and the substitution of [f] and [v] for /θ/ and /ð/, respectively. The vocalization of /l/ is one of the sounds of AusE that is currently a change in progress and it will be discussed at some length because of its interest both historically and phonologically.