In phonetics, a fronted or advanced sound is one that is pronounced further to the front of the vocal tract than some reference point. The diacritic for this in the International Phonetic Alphabet is the subscript plus, [ ̟]. Both consonants and vowels may be marked as fronted. Phonetics (from the Greek word ÏÏνή, phone = sound/voice) is the study of sounds (voice). ... The vocal tract is that cavity in animals and humans, where sound that is produced at the sound source (larynx in mammals; syrinx in birds) is filtered. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet. ...
In English, the back vowel/u/ is further forward than what is normally indicated by the IPA letter <u>. This fronting may be shown explicitly, especially within a narrow transcription: [u̟ʷ]. Whether this is as far front as the central vowel[ʉ], or somewhere between [u] and [ʉ], may need to be clarified verbally. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... A back vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ... The International Phonetic Alphabet. ... A central vowel is a type of vowel sound used in some spoken languages. ...
In General American English, the /t/ in the word eighth is further front than normal, due to assimilation with the interdental consonant /θ/, and may be transcribed as [eɪt̟θ]. General American is a notional accent of American English based on speech patterns common in the Midwest of the United States and those used by many American network television broadcasters. ... Assimilation is a regular sound change process by which a phoneme changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. ... Interdental consonants are produced by placing the blade of the tongue against the upper incisors. ...
The difference between a fronted and non-fronted consonant can be heard in the English words key[k̟ʰiʲ] and coo[kʰuʷ], where the /k/ in key is fronted under the influence of the front vowel /i/.
In verbal description, the prefix pre- may be used to indicated fronting, especially in the terms prepalatal and prevelar. Otherwise phrases like "fronted u" may be used. Palatal consonants are consonants articulated with the middle or back part of the tongue raised against the hard palate (the middle part of the roof of the mouth). ... Velars are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate (the back part of the roof of the mouth, known also as the velum). ...
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation devised by linguists to accurately and uniquely represent each of the wide variety of sounds (phones or phonemes) used in spoken human language.
It is intended as a notational standard for the phonemic and phonetic representation of all spoken languages.
So phonemic /nixt/ is equivalent to phonetic [najt], but only if you share the belief that historical sounds such as the gh in night may remain in a word long after they have ceased to be pronounced, or that a phoneme may exist in a language without ever being directly expressed.