Free variation

Effects

English examples

• The rhotic consonant is in a free variation between the alveolar approximant, retroflex approximant, alveolar flap and alveolar trill, although all of these save for the first one are considered dialectal and rare.
• Glottalization of voiceless stops in word-final position: for example, the word stop may be pronounced with a plain unaspirated,, or with a glottalized,, also called a glottal stop or glottal plosive.
• The word economics may be pronounced with or in the first syllable; although individual speakers may prefer one or the other and one may be more common in some dialects than others, both forms are encountered within a single dialect and sometimes even within a single idiolect.
• In the words either and neither, "ei" can be pronounced as either or, even by the same speaker.
• Loanwords, especially of French and Latin origin, can often have multiple different pronunciations, such as route, which can be pronounced as either or .
• The word data can be pronounced as either or.
• Proper names, especially geographic state names, can have multiple different pronunciations, such as Colorado, which can be pronounced as either and