Editing Slovene language (section)

=== Consonants ===
Slovene has 21 distinctive consonant phonemes.

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|+ Slovene consonant phonemes<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Herrity|2000|pp=15–16}}</ref>
|-
!colspan=2|
![[Labial consonant|Labial]]
![[Dental consonant|Dental]]/<br />[[Alveolar consonant|Alveolar]]
![[Palatal consonant|Palatal]]
![[Velar consonant|Velar]]
|-
!colspan=2|[[Nasal consonant|Nasal]]
| {{IPA link|m}}
| {{IPA link|n}}
|
|
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Plosive consonant|Plosive]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|p}}
|{{IPA link|t̪|t}}
|
|{{IPA link|k}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|{{IPA link|b}}
|{{IPA link|d̪|d}}
|
|{{IPA link|ɡ}}
|-
!rowspan=2|[[Affricate consonant|Affricate]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|t̪͡s̪|t͡s}}
|{{IPA link|t͡ʃ}}
|
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|
|{{IPA link|d͡ʒ}}
|
|-
!rowspan=2| [[Fricative consonant|Fricative]]
!{{small|[[voicelessness|voiceless]]}}
|{{IPA link|f}}
|{{IPA link|s̪|s}}
|{{IPA link|ʃ}}
|{{IPA link|x}}
|-
!{{small|[[voice (phonetics)|voiced]]}}
|
|{{IPA link|z̪|z}}
|{{IPA link|ʒ}}
|
|-
!colspan=2|[[Approximant consonant|Approximant]]
|{{IPA link|ʋ}}
|{{IPA link|l}}
|{{IPA link|j}}
|
|-
!colspan=2|[[Rhotic consonant|Rhotic]]
|
|{{IPA link|r}}
|
|
|}

All voiced [[obstruent]]s are devoiced at the end of words unless immediately followed by a word beginning with a vowel or a [[voiced consonant]]. In consonant clusters, the [[Voice (phonetics)|voicing]] distinction is neutralized and all consonants assimilate the voicing of the rightmost segment, i.e., the final consonant in the cluster. In this context, {{IPA|[v]}}, {{IPA|[ɣ]}}, and {{IPA|[d͡z]}} may occur as voiced allophones of {{IPA|/f/}}, {{IPA|/x/}}, and {{IPA|/t͡s/}}, respectively (e.g., {{lang|sl|vŕh drevésa}} {{IPA|[ʋrɣ dreˈʋesa]}}).<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Herrity|2000|p=16}}</ref>

{{IPA|/ʋ/}} has several [[allophone]]s depending on context.
* Before a vowel, pronunciation is labiodental, {{IPAblink|ʋ}}<ref name="skp136">{{Harvcoltxt|Šuštaršič|Komar|Petek|1999|p=136}}</ref> (also described as {{IPAblink|v}}).<ref name="gr18">{{Harvcoltxt|Greenberg|2006|p=18}}</ref>
* After a vowel, pronunciation is bilabial {{IPAblink|w}} and forms a diphthong.<ref name="skp136"/><ref name="gr18"/>
* At the beginning of a syllable, before a consonant (e.g., in {{lang|sl|vsi}} "all"), the pronunciation varies more widely by speaker and area. Many speakers convert {{IPA|/ʋ/}} into a full vowel {{IPA|[u]}} in this position.<ref name="skp136"/><ref name="gr18"/> For those speakers who retain a consonantal pronunciation, it is pronounced {{IPAblink|w}} before a voiced consonant and {{IPAblink|ʍ}} before a voiceless consonant.<ref name="skp136"/><ref name="gr18"/> Thus, {{lang|sl|vsi}} may be pronounced as disyllabic {{IPA|[uˈsi]}} or monosyllabic {{IPA|[ʍsi]}}.

The sequences {{IPA|/lj/}}, {{IPA|/nj/}}, and {{IPA|/rj/}} occur only before a vowel. Before a consonant or word-finally, they are reduced to {{IPA|/l/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}, and {{IPA|/r/}}, respectively. This is reflected in the spelling in the case of {{IPA|/rj/}}, but not for {{IPA|/lj/}} and {{IPA|/nj/}}.

Under certain (somewhat unpredictable) circumstances, {{IPA|/l/}} at the end of a syllable may become {{IPA|[w]}}, merging with the allophone of {{IPA|/ʋ/}} in that position.