CONSONANTS

What makes one consonant different from

another?

VOCAL
TRACT

What are articulators ?

Articulators

are the parts of the

oral tract that are used in
producing speech sounds. They
are often grouped into two kinds,
active & passive.

Active Articulators
Active

articulators are ones that

move: the tongue tip is an active
articulator in sounds like [s t n],
since it moves up to behind the
teeth.

Passive Articulators
Passive

articulators are articulators that

cannot move, but are the target for
active articulators. In the case of sounds
like [s t n], the passive articulator is the
bony ridge behind the upper teeth,
known as the alveolar ridge.
Most places of articulation are described
by reference to the passive articulator.
We start our description of them with
the lips, working our way down the
vocal tract.

Landmarks in the Vocal

Tract
The

vocal tract contains some

discrete physical landmarks
which are
used primarily in producing and
describing consonants. In
describing
the place of articulation, we are
describing where in the vocal
tract a
sound is made.

What is constriction ?
Producing a consonant involves
making the vocal tract narrower at
some location than it usually is. We
call this narrowing a constriction.

Pronouncing consonants
Which

consonant you're
pronouncing depends on where in
the vocal tract the constriction is
and how narrow it is. It also
depends on a few other things,
such as whether the vocal folds
are vibrating and whether air is
flowing through the nose.
Consonant sounds make up 62%
of our speech

Classifying Consonants
We

classify consonants along

three major dimensions:
place of articulation
manner of articulation
voicing or degree of Voicing

The Place of Articulation I

This dimension specifies where in the vocal

tract the constriction is.
The place of articulation simply means
the involvement of active and passive
articulators in the production of a
particular consonant.
A few are:

10

Bilabial : Bi- means two, and labial

is an adjective based on the Latin word for lips.
In English, the sounds
[p b m] are bilabial.

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Labio-dental: Labiodental sounds are made with

the upper teeth (dental) against the lower lip
(labio). In English the labiodental sounds [f v]
occur.
Dental: Dental sounds involve an articulation made
against the back of the upper teeth. [ ] in English
(as in the initial sounds of think and then) are
often dental; they can also be interdental, that is,
produced with the tongue between (inter in Latin)
the teeth, especially in North America. Dental forms
of [l] and [n] are used in words like health and
tenth,where they are followed by a dental; and
dental forms of [t] and [d] are regularly used in
many varieties of English (e.g. some forms of Irish or
New York English, and in Nigeria) as forms of [ d].

Alveolar:
Alveolar

sounds are made at the alveolar ridge. This is a

bony ridge behind the upper teeth. If you rest your
tongue on the upper teeth then gradually move it
backwards, you will feel a change in texture from the
smooth enamel to the bumpier gum. Just behind the
teeth you should be able to feel the alveolar ridge. This
sticks out a bit just behind the teeth. Peoples alveolar
ridges are very variable: some are very prominent,
others hardly noticeable. Alternatively, try isolating the
consonant sounds in the word dent, and you should
feel that the tongue tip is making contact with the
alveolar ridge. Sounds with an alveolar place of
articulation in most varieties of English are [t d n l r s z].
The tip or blade of the tongue is the active articulator
and the teeth-ridge is the passive articulator.

Postalveolar
Postalveolar

sounds are made just

behind (post) the alveolar ridge. The
tip of the tongue is the active
articulator and the back of the teethridge is the passive articulator. There
are four of these in English, [] and
[], the sounds spelt <sh> in ship,
[ip], and <si> in invasion, /n
ve()n/, and the sounds [t d] as
in church and judge.

Retroflex
Retroflex:

the tip of the tongue is the active

articulator, and it is curled back. The back of
the teeth-ridge or the hard palate is the
passive articulator. So, retroflex sounds
are made with the tongue curled (flex)
back (retro) to the hard palate. (This is
one case where the place of articulation
refers to the active articulator.)

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Retroflex symbols
The

symbols for
retroflex sounds are
easy to remember:
they all have a
rightward-facing
hook on the bottom:
Retroflex are
frequently used in
Indian varieties of
English instead of
alveolars for the
sounds [t d n].

Encyclopedia Britannica
retroflex,

in phonetics, a
consonant sound produced with
the tip of the tongue curled back
toward the hard palate. In
Russian the sounds sh, zh (like
the English s sound in
pleasure), and shch are
retroflex; there are also many
retroflex consonants in the
languages of India.

Role of tip of the tongue

On

the IPA chart, sounds

are described according to
where in the mouth they
are made; but it is equally
important to think about
which part of the tongue is
used to make them.
Dental, alveolar,
postalveolar and retroflex
sounds are all made with
the front part of the
tongue, the tip (the very
frontmost part of the
tongue) or the blade (the
part just behind
the tip).

Coronal
There

is a lot of variability among English speakers

as to which
part of the tongue they use to articulate dental,
alveolar and postalveolar
sounds, so usually this factor is ignored, since it
seems to play no
linguistic role for English. In the phonology literature,
sounds made with
the front part of the tongue are often called coronal,
a term which does
not appear on the IPA chart. (The Latin word corona
means crown;
this is the term used to refer to the front part of the
tongue.)

Palatal
Palatal

sounds are made with the

tongue body, the massive part of the
middle of the tongue, raised up to the
hard palate, or the roof of the mouth.
Palatal sounds arent common in
English, except for the sound
[j], which is usually spelt <y>, as in
yes, yacht, yawn; or as part of the
sequence [ju] represented by the letter
<u> in words like usual, computer.

Velar
Velar

sounds are made with the tongue back (or

dorsum) raised towards the soft palate. The soft
palate is at the back of the roof of the mouth, and
is also known as the velum. The sounds [k ] are
velars, as is the sound [], represented by <ng> in
words like king, wrong, hang, but there are in
fact many variations in the precise place of
articulation in English.
The velum also acts as a kind of valve, because it
can be raised and lowered. When it is lowered, air
can pass into the nasal cavities and escape
through the nose. When it is raised, the nasal
cavities are sealed
off, and air can only escape through the mouth.

Uvula

Uvular
Uvular

sounds are made with the uvula (which

is Latin for little egg, the shape of the uvula).
The uvula is the little fleshy appendage that
hangs
down in the middle of your mouth at the back. If
you gargle, the uvula vibrates. French, German,
Dutch and Danish all use uvular articulations
for orthographic <r>; and in fact, one variety of
English (around the north east of England) has,
in its more archaic forms, a uvular sound too
in this position.

Pharyngeal
The

pharynx is the
cavity behind the
tongue root and just
above the larynx.
Pharyngeal sounds
are made by
constricting the
muscles of the neck
and contracting the
pharynx; this kind of
articulation occurs
rarely in English.

Relaxed Pharynx

The

pharyngeal
constrictor
muscles are
relaxed during
low-pitch
phonation.
Notice the open
pyriform sinuses.

Constricted Pharynx
During

high-pitch
phonation, the
pharyngeal
constrictor
muscles contract
(in direction of
green arrows) to
obscure the
pyriform sinuses;
the midline is
now evident
(blue arrow).

Glottal
Glottal

sounds are made at the

glottis, the space between the
vocal folds, which are located at
the larynx. English uses a number
of such sounds: [h] as in head
and its voiced equivalent
between two vowels, as in
ahead.

PLACE OF ARTICULATION
Bilabial

Using closing movement of both lips,

e.g. /p/ - /b/

Labio-dental

Using the lower lip and the upper

teeth, e.g. /f/- /v/

Dental

The tongue tip is used either between

the teeth or close to the upper teeth,
e.g. ///

Alveolar

The blade of the tongue is used close

to the alveolar ridge, e.g. /t/- /s/.

Palatoalveolar
Palatal

The blade ( or tip) of the tongue is

used just behind the alveolar ridge,
e.g. //-//

Velar

The back of the tongue is used against

the soft palate, e.g. /k/- //

The front of the tongue is raised close

to the palate, e.g. /j/

The gap between the vocal cords is

Guess place of articulation

Bilabial
/p/,

/m/

/b/,

Labioden

tal
/f/, /v/

Dental
. /t/, /d/

Alveola

Postalveol
ar

Retroflex

Velar
[k ] &
[]

Glottal
/h/

Manner of articulation
As

well as knowing where a sound is made, we need to know how it is

made. Consonants involve at least two articulators. When the articu lators are brought closer together, the flow of air between them
changes:
for instance, it can be stopped or made turbulent. The channels
between
any two articulators govern the pressure and flow of air through the
vocal tract, and in turn this affects the kinds of sound that come out.
The
way a sound is made (rather than where it is made) is called manner
of
articulation. Most manners of articulation are combinable with most
places of articulation.
Manner of articulation is the type of closure made by the articulators
and the degree of the obstruction of the airstream by those
articulators or how narrow the constriction is.

Plosives
Plosives

are made with a complete closure

in the oral tract, and with the velum raised,
which prevents air escaping through the nose.
English plosives include the sounds [p t k b d ].
Plosives are maintainable stops
because they can be held for a long time, and
the closure portion arises from a deliberate
articulation. The term plosive relates to the
way the stop is released with what is
sometimes called an explosion. It is worth
pointing
out that many phoneticians use the word stop
to mean plosive.

In

the production of a plosive,

there is a simultaneous oral and
nasal closure. The air behind the
oral closure is compressed and
when the active articulator is
removed suddenly from contact
with the passive one, the air
escapes with an explosion.

Nasal
Nasals

are made with a complete closure

in the oral tract, but with the velum
lowered so that air escapes through the nose.
For English there are three main nasal sounds,
[m n ], bilabial, alveolar and velar
respectively.
Nasals are usually voiced in English. The other
kinds of stopped articulations are trills and
taps. In these sounds, a closure is made only
for a very short time, and the closurearises
because of aerodynamics or the movement of
articulators from one position to another.

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Taps or Flaps
Taps

on the other hand are quite

common in English. These consist
of just one short percussive movement
of the tongue tip against the alveolar
ridge. They occur in many varieties of
English, but are especially well known
as kinds of [t] or [d] sound in many
North American varieties in words like
bu[]er, wri[]er, a[]om. The flap
is very common in American English.

American Flaps
Some

people say that words with

t in tin between 2 vowel letters,
the sound seems to turn from t to
d in American English.
For example, the words Better
and Water in American English
seem to sound like : Bedder
and Wadder unlike British
English.

The Manner of Articulation

- III

43

Trill (rolled consonant) The active

articulator taps several times against the
passive articulator (i.e., stricture of
intermittent closure). E.g., [r] in horse.
Flap: For a flap the active articulator strikes
against the passive articulator once only.
E.g., [r] in very.
Lateral : A lateral consonant is produced
by a stricture of closure in the centre of the
vocal tract , but the air has a free passage
on the sides. E.g., /l/.

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The Manner of Articulation

- IV
Fricative: In the production of a
fricative consonant the
articulator is one of close
approximation. The active
articulator is brought so close to
the passive articulator that the
passage between them is very
narrow and the air passes
through it with audible friction.
E.g., /f/, /v/
Frictionless continuant: [r] in
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red

44

Plosives Consonants
A plosive is formed by the complete obstruction of
the vocal tract by the articulators. This obstruction
is then released, allowing the air to "explode" out of
the mouth.
When the air is blocked by the articulator, it begins
to raise in pressure. Then, when the air is released,
the high pressure air rushes out into the lower
pressure area beyond the blockage. This results in
a burst of air, signifying a plosive. In the following
diagram, the dots represent the pressure of the air.
The higher pressure area have more dots per area,
while the lower pressure areas have fewer dots per
area.

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Plosives Consonants

Examples of plosives in English are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/

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Bilabial

(made
with two lips)
2. Labiodental
(made with lower
lips and upper
teeth)
3. Dental (made
with tongue tip
or blade and
upper front
teeth).

 Retroflex

(tongue tip
and the back of
alveolar ridge).
7. Palatal (front of the
tongue and hard
palate).

 8.

Velar (back of the

tongue and hard
palate).
9.Uvular
10. Pharyngeal
11. glottal

4.

Alveolar
(made with
tongue tip or
blade and the
alveolar ridge)
5. Palato-alveolar
(tongue blade
and the back of
the alveolar
ridge).

TABLE OF ENGLISH
CONSONANTS

Place of Articulation

Manner of Articulation

Front

Back
Bilabi
al
p

Plosive

Alveol Palato Palat Vela

ar
al
r
alveol
t
k
ar
d

Fricativ
e

Glot
al

Lateral
Approxi
mant

Dent
al

Affricati
ve

Nasal

Labi
odent
al

l
(w)

Unvoiced phonemes are on shaded background. Voiced phonemes

are normal

Classification of Consonants by
Manner of Articulation
Manner

of articulation refers to the degree of

constriction as the consonants begin or end a
syllable
Stops are defined by complete closure of the lips and
subsequent release (p, b)
Fricatives use an incomplete closure of the lips to
create turbulent noise (f, s, sh)
Nasals resonate through the nasal cavity (m, n)
Hint: try making these nasal sounds with your nostrils plugged

Glides and Liquids are produced when the tongue

approaches a point of articulation within the mouth but
does not come close enough to obstruct or constrict the
flow of air enough to create turbulence (l, r, w)

The manner of
articulation
It

refers to the interaction between

the various articulators and the air
stream; i.e. The air is temporally
trapped and then released.
The manners of articulation are:
PLOSIVE

AFFRICATIVE

FRICATIVE

NASAL

LATERAL

APPROXIMAN
T

Voiced vs. Voiceless

Consonants
Voiced

consonants are produced with

the vocal cords vibrating
Voiceless consonants are produced
with the vocal cords open
Example
The sounds /f/ and /v/ are both labiodental
fricatives; however, /f/ is voiceless and /v/ is
voiced

MANNER OF
ARTICULATION
A complete closure is made in the vocal tract
PLOSIVE

and the soft palate is also raised. Air pressure

increases behind the closure and is then
released explosively, e.g. /p/ and /b/

AFFRICATIVE

A complete closure is made in the mouth and

the soft palate is raised. Air pressure increases
behind the closure, and is released more
slowly than the plosive, e.g. /t/- //

FRICATIVE

When two vocal organs come close enough

together for the movement of air between
them to be heard, e.g. /f/- /v/

NASAL

A closure is made by the lips, or by the tongue

against the palate, the soft palate is lowered,
and air escapes through the nose, e.g. /m/- /n/

LATERAL

A partial closure is made by the blade of the

tongue against the alveolar ridge. Air is able to
flow around the sides of the tongue, e.g. /l/

APPROXIMAN

Vocal organs come near to each other, but no

so close as to cause audible friction , e.g.

Consonants

can be voiced or
unvoiced (voiceless) i.e. a sound
is voiced when the vocal cords
are open and unvoiced when the
vocal cords are close and the air
which passes makes them
vibrate.

FORCE OF
ARTICULATION
Fortis

or strong: it is related
to unvoiced sounds, which
require a more forcefully
expelled airstream.
Lenis or weak: it is related to
be voiced sounds.
The

force of articulation is
very difficult to define and
measure

Resonance

the quality of a sound that

stays loud, clear, and deep for a long time
Dependent

upon the size and shape of

the:
Vocal Tract
Oral Cavity
Nasal Cavity
The

resonant frequency of each of our

voices will differ depending on the size
and shape of the structures above,
much like how the resonance of a cello
or bass differs from a guitar .

Voiced and Voiceless Sounds

The voicing parameter specifies whether the
vocal folds are vibrating. All the sounds produced
in the English are either voiced or voiceless.
Voiced sounds occur when the vocal cords
vibrate when the sound is produced. There is no
vocal cord vibration when producing voiceless
sounds. To test this, place your finger tips hand
on your throat as you say the sounds. When
saying the voiced sounds, you should be able to
feel a vibration. When saying the voiceless
sounds you sound not be able to feel a vibration.
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62

Voiced
Voiceless
b
p
d
t
g
k
v
f
z
s
thth
sz
sh
j
ch
l
h
m
n
ng
r
w-y
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Voiced and Voiceless

Sounds
Tips

To distinguish between voiced &

unvoiced sounds:
1. Put your hands over your ears & say the
sounds - you'll hear the voiced sounds.
2. Put your hand on your throat while saying
the sounds - you'll feel a vibration for the
voiced sounds.
3. Put a piece of paper in front of your mouth
when saying the sounds - the paper will
move when saying the unvoiced sounds.

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