ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on some phonological aspects of describing consonants in English, and examines what recent research has shown about consonants in different varieties of English in the Outer and Expanding Circles. Consonants occurring in the initial part of the syllable form the onset of the syllable while consonants occurring at the final part of the syllable form the coda. Additionally, there are rules governing the combination of consonants that can cluster together at the onset and those that can cluster together at the onset and at the coda position of the syllable. Another aspect of consonants that needs to be mentioned under the phonological description of consonants is that of the appoximants. The lines linking the different consonants indicate that these phonemes may be conflated in Singapore English and Low proposes that they are conflated mainly in conversational rather than in formal, read speech.
