Editing Received Pronunciation (section)

===Consonants===
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|-style="font-size: 90%;"
|+Consonant phonemes{{sfnp|Roach|2004|pp=240–241}}
!
!colspan=2| [[Labial consonant|Labial]]
!colspan=2| [[Interdental consonant|Dental]]
!colspan=2| [[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
!colspan=2| [[Postalveolar consonant|Post-<br/>alveolar]]
!colspan=2| [[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
!colspan=2| [[Velar consonant|Velar]]
!colspan=2| [[Glottal consonant|Glottal]]
|-
! <small>[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]</small>
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|m}}
|colspan=2|
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|n}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ŋ}}
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Stop consonant|Stop]]</small>
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|p}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|b}}
|colspan=2|
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|t}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|d}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|k}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|tʃ}}|| width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|dʒ}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|-
! <small>[[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]</small>
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|f}}|| width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|v}}
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|θ}}|| width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|ð}}
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|s}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|z}}
|style="border-right: 0;"|{{IPA link|ʃ}}||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ʒ}}
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" |{{IPA link|h}}|| width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |
|-
!rowspan=1| <small>[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]</small>
|colspan=2|
|colspan=2|
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|l}}
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|ɹ|r}}
| width="20" style="border-right: 0;" | || width="20" style="border-left: 0;" |{{IPA link|j}}
|style="border-right: 0;"| ||style="border-left: 0;"|{{IPA link|w}}
|colspan=2|
|-
|}

Nasals and [[liquid consonant|liquids]] ({{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}, {{IPA|/ŋ/}}, {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/l/}}) may be [[Syllabic consonant|syllabic]] in [[unstressed syllable]]s.{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=241}} The consonant {{IPA|/r/}} in RP is generally a [[postalveolar approximant]],{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=241}} which would normally be expressed with the sign {{IPA|[ɹ]}} in the [[International Phonetic Alphabet]], but the sign {{IPA|/r/}} is nonetheless traditionally used for RP in most of the literature on the topic.

[[Voiceless plosive]]s ({{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/k/}}, {{IPA|/tʃ/}}) are [[aspiration (phonetics)|aspirated]] at the beginning of a syllable, unless a completely unstressed vowel follows. (For example, the {{IPA|/p/}} is aspirated in "impasse", with primary stress on "-passe", but not "compass", where "-pass" has no stress.) Aspiration does not occur when {{IPA|/s/}} precedes in the same syllable, as in "spot" or "stop". When a [[sonorant]] {{IPA|/l/}}, {{IPA|/r/}}, {{IPA|/w/}}, or {{IPA|/j/}} follows, this aspiration is indicated by partial [[devoicing]] of the sonorant.{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=240}} {{IPA|/r/}} is a [[Voiceless postalveolar non-sibilant fricative|fricative]] when devoiced.{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=241}}

Syllable final {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/tʃ/}}, and {{IPA|/k/}} may be either preceded by a [[glottal stop]] ([[Glottalization#Glottal reinforcement|glottal reinforcement]]) or, in the case of {{IPA|/t/}}, fully replaced by a glottal stop, especially before a [[syllabic nasal]] (''bitten'' {{IPA|[ˈbɪʔn̩]}}).{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=240}}{{sfnp|Gimson|1970}} The glottal stop may be realised as [[creaky voice]]; thus, an alternative phonetic transcription of ''attempt'' {{IPA|[əˈtʰemʔt]}} could be {{IPA|[əˈtʰemm̰t]}}.{{sfnp|Roach|2004|p=241}}

As in other varieties of English, voiced plosives ({{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}}, {{IPA|/dʒ/}}) are partly or even fully devoiced at utterance boundaries or adjacent to [[voiceless consonants]]. The voicing distinction between voiced and voiceless sounds is reinforced by a number of other differences, with the result that the two of consonants can clearly be distinguished even in the presence of devoicing of voiced sounds:

*Aspiration of voiceless consonants syllable-initially
*Glottal reinforcement of /p, t, k, tʃ/ syllable-finally
*Shortening of vowels before voiceless consonants

As a result, some authors prefer to use the terms [[fortis and lenis|''fortis'' and ''lenis'']]<ref>{{Cite journal |title=Fortis and lenis obstruents in English |first=Herbert F. W. |last=Stahlke |date=1 January 2003 |journal=WORD |volume=54 |issue=2 |pages=191–216 |doi=10.1080/00437956.2003.12068832 |s2cid=141381109 |doi-access=free}}</ref> in place of ''voiceless'' and ''voiced''. However, the latter are traditional and in more frequent usage.

The voiced dental fricative ({{IPA|/ð/}}) is more often a weak [[dental plosive]]; the sequence {{IPA|/nð/}} is often realised as {{IPA|[n̪n̪]}} (a long [[dental nasal]]).{{sfnp|Lodge|2009|pp=148–149}}{{sfnp|Shockey|2003|pp=43–44}}{{sfnp|Roach|2009|p=112}} {{IPA|/l/}} has [[velarised]] [[allophone]] ({{IPA|[ɫ]}}) in the [[syllable rime|syllable rhyme]].{{sfnp|Halle|Mohanan|1985|p=65}} {{IPA|/h/}} becomes voiced ({{IPA|[ɦ]}}) between [[Voice (phonetics)|voiced]] sounds.{{sfnp|Jones|1967|p=201}}{{sfnp|Cruttenden|2008|p=204}}