Participants: Danny Sicat: 13.872.572
Yennifer Sanchez 18.912.208
The English Consonants
Have you ever noticed how the 'c' in 'cat' and 'k' in kite' are pronounced the same way, but spelled differently? Or how the 'ch' in 'cheese' and the one in 'cache' is pronounced differently although they're spelled the same? That's because those letters represent different consonants!
There are 24 consonants in the English language, and each consonant represents different sounds. No, I'm not talking about alphabets (your ABCs), but the sounds of the English language. Out of the 24 consonants, 17 are represented by the English Alphabet.
Look at the table below to find out what are the consonants in English:
The table above shows all 24 consonants of the English language. Including the glottal stop /ʔ/, there are 25. Glottal stops are common among Londoners - Cockney speakers in particular - and a few other communities who speak English.
The weird symbols you see are IPA symbols, which are the official symbols used to represent sounds. The sounds of English are represented by IPA symbols enclosed in slashes //. These are called phonemes. IPA symbols enclosed in brackets [] are called phones. The easiest way to understand the difference between the phonemes and phones is that phonemes distinguishes the meaning of two words that are almost identical save for one consonant or vowel or diphthong. For example, 'tin' and 'din' have different meanings because the first phoneme of both words are different. 'Tin' starts with /t/ while 'din' starts with /d/.
Phones do not distinguish the meaning of words because they merely represent the different ways of pronouncing a phoneme. In other words, if you substitute one phone with the another, the meaning of the word will not change. For example, /t/ may be pronounced as [t] or with and aspiration (a puff of air) accompanying the /t/ sound. This aspirated version of [t] would then be symbolised as [th]. Then there's the American pronunciation of /t/ in the middle of words like 'water'. The [t] in 'water' would then be symbolised as [D]. So you would conclude that the phoneme /t/ can be pronounced as [t], [th], [D]. Pronouncing water with a [D] (called a 'flap') will not change the meaning, but pronouncing it with a /d/ will.
Manner and Place of Articulation
Notice the heading labelled 'Manner of Articulation', 'Place of Articulation' and 'Voicing' in the table above. Now, what could all those fancy terms mean?
'Manner of Articulation' simply means the way that the consonants are produced. So a simple version of that heading would be 'Ways of Production'. There are six ways to produce consonants, which are plosive, fricative, affricate, nasal, lateral, andapproximant. All these will be explained in the next section.
'Place of Articulation' actually means the place where the consonants are produced. You could say that the simpler version would be 'Place of Production'. As you can see from the table, there are eight places where consonants are produced and those arebilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar (or post-alveolar), palatal, velar, and glottal. In the next section, we will explore what all these means.
Next is 'Voicing'. Voicing actually refers to the vibration that occurs in our vocal tract when we produce a consonant. Certain consonants causes vibrations when they are produced while other don't. Consonants that cause vibrations when produced are called voiced consonants which are abbreviated as v in the table, while consonants that don't cause vibrations when produced are called voiceless consonants which are abbreviated as vl in the table. So looking at the table, you would know that the consonant /p/ is voiceless because it is on the left corner, just as the vl symbol, while the consonant /b/ is voiced because it is on the right corner, just as the v symbol.
Before we move on to the explanation for each manner and place of articulation, let's first look at the articulators, or the organs, involved in producing the sounds of English - the consonants, vowels and diphthongs (we will look at vowels and diphthongs later on).
Have you ever noticed how the 'c' in 'cat' and 'k' in kite' are pronounced the same way, but spelled differently? Or how the 'ch' in 'cheese' and the one in 'cache' is pronounced differently although they're spelled the same? That's because those letters represent different consonants!
There are 24 consonants in the English language, and each consonant represents different sounds. No, I'm not talking about alphabets (your ABCs), but the sounds of the English language. Out of the 24 consonants, 17 are represented by the English Alphabet.
Look at the table below to find out what are the consonants in English:
| Voicing | Place of Articulation | ||||||||
| vl v | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-Alveolar (Post Alveolar) | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Manner of Articulation | Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | ||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | ŋ | h | |||
| Affricate | tʃ dʒ | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | r | j | ||||||
The table above shows all 24 consonants of the English language. Including the glottal stop /ʔ/, there are 25. Glottal stops are common among Londoners - Cockney speakers in particular - and a few other communities who speak English.
The weird symbols you see are IPA symbols, which are the official symbols used to represent sounds. The sounds of English are represented by IPA symbols enclosed in slashes //. These are called phonemes. IPA symbols enclosed in brackets [] are called phones. The easiest way to understand the difference between the phonemes and phones is that phonemes distinguishes the meaning of two words that are almost identical save for one consonant or vowel or diphthong. For example, 'tin' and 'din' have different meanings because the first phoneme of both words are different. 'Tin' starts with /t/ while 'din' starts with /d/.
Phones do not distinguish the meaning of words because they merely represent the different ways of pronouncing a phoneme. In other words, if you substitute one phone with the another, the meaning of the word will not change. For example, /t/ may be pronounced as [t] or with and aspiration (a puff of air) accompanying the /t/ sound. This aspirated version of [t] would then be symbolised as [th]. Then there's the American pronunciation of /t/ in the middle of words like 'water'. The [t] in 'water' would then be symbolised as [D]. So you would conclude that the phoneme /t/ can be pronounced as [t], [th], [D]. Pronouncing water with a [D] (called a 'flap') will not change the meaning, but pronouncing it with a /d/ will.
Manner and Place of Articulation
Notice the heading labelled 'Manner of Articulation', 'Place of Articulation' and 'Voicing' in the table above. Now, what could all those fancy terms mean?
'Manner of Articulation' simply means the way that the consonants are produced. So a simple version of that heading would be 'Ways of Production'. There are six ways to produce consonants, which are plosive, fricative, affricate, nasal, lateral, andapproximant. All these will be explained in the next section.
'Place of Articulation' actually means the place where the consonants are produced. You could say that the simpler version would be 'Place of Production'. As you can see from the table, there are eight places where consonants are produced and those arebilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar (or post-alveolar), palatal, velar, and glottal. In the next section, we will explore what all these means.
Next is 'Voicing'. Voicing actually refers to the vibration that occurs in our vocal tract when we produce a consonant. Certain consonants causes vibrations when they are produced while other don't. Consonants that cause vibrations when produced are called voiced consonants which are abbreviated as v in the table, while consonants that don't cause vibrations when produced are called voiceless consonants which are abbreviated as vl in the table. So looking at the table, you would know that the consonant /p/ is voiceless because it is on the left corner, just as the vl symbol, while the consonant /b/ is voiced because it is on the right corner, just as the v symbol.
Before we move on to the explanation for each manner and place of articulation, let's first look at the articulators, or the organs, involved in producing the sounds of English - the consonants, vowels and diphthongs (we will look at vowels and diphthongs later on).
As you can see from the diagram above, the mouth isn't just the mouth and the throat isn't just the throat. There are many organs with specific names and functions within our mouth and throat that are vital to the production of sounds. All the parts labelled in the diagram are used in the production of English vowels, consonants and diphthongs - except the uvula, oesophagus and the epiglottis. However, please note that there are labels missing from the diagram, which you will be able to add yourself once you're familiar with all the speech organs.
Imagine someone missing his two front teeth - he would sound very funny if he tried to speak! That's because teeth, as are the lips, are important to the production of sound. Contrary to popular belief, the teeth - namely the upper front teeth - is important in speech, especially in the production of labiodental and dental fricatives. Without the upper front teeth, it would be impossible to say 'van' or 'fan' or 'think' or 'that'.
Apart from sensing salty, bitter, sweet and sour tastes, the tongue is also responsible for articulating consonants, vowels and diphthongs. It is divided into six parts - the tip, blade, front, centre, back, and root. You can observe the position of the tip, blade, front and back of the tongue from the diagram. The centre of the tongue is situated in between the front and back of the tongue while the root is situated after the back of the tongue and is opposite the wall of the pharynx. It's not possible to see the tongue root as it is too far down the throat. The whole tongue, from the tip to the root, is known as the tongue body.
The roof of the mouth is also divided into several sections - alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate and uvula. These are all clearly indicated in the diagram. The hard palate is often referred to merely as the palate, while the soft palate is often referred to as the velum. The velum can be lowered to block the passage of air into the oral cavity or raised to block the passage of air into the nasal cavity. It is the only part of the roof of the mouth that can be moved.
The larynx, which is also known as the voice box, holds the vocal folds (or vocal cords). The opening between the vocal folds is called the glottis. Below is a diagram of the larynx. It is here that the air is disturbed to produced either voiced or voiceless consonants. When the vocal cords are apart, air can pass without obstruction, producing voiceless consonants; but when thevocal cords are close together, air has to pass through a narrow opening, producing voiced consonants. This phenomenon is called voicing and you can tell whether a consonant is voiced or voiceless by placing two fingers on your throat when you say /p/ and /b/. /b/ is voiced so you'll be able to feel a vibration in your throat when you say it, but you will not feel any vibration when you say /p/ because it is voiceless. Try it yourself so you will understand better what I'm talking about. If you're not sure how /p/ and /b/ sounds, use the English soundboard at the very bottom of this page to help you.
Now that you're familiar with the the organs of speech, let's go back to the topic of manner and place of articulation. Study the table below once again.
| Voicing | Place of Articulation | ||||||||
| vl v | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palato-Alveolar (Post Alveolar) | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | |
| Manner of Articulation | Plosive | p b | t d | k g | ʔ | ||||
| Fricative | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | ŋ | h | |||
| Affricate | tʃ dʒ | ||||||||
| Nasal | m | n | |||||||
| Lateral | l | ||||||||
| Approximant | w | r | j | ||||||
As I mentioned before, place refers to the parts of the speech organs where consonants are produced while the manner refers to the way that consonants are produced. Lets take a look at the manner of articulation first, and then move on to the place of articulation.
Manner of Articulation
There are six manner of articulation - plosive, fricatice, affricate, nasal, lateral and approximant. Let's examine each manner at a time.
1. Plosive
A plosive is called thus due to the small explosion of air produced when a plosive consonant is articulated. Try placing your palm in front of your mouth and saying /p/ and /b/ consecutively. You will feel a puff of air against your palm, like a mini explosion. This happens when the air is stopped in mid-flow, causing pressure to build up in the mouth. When this pressurised air is released, it escapes forcefully through the lips in a puff of air. To memorise this manner of articulation better, remember that the word 'plosive' comes from the word 'explosive' and always do the palm test I mentioned earlier - if you feel a puff of air against your palm when you say a consonant, it's a plosive.
2. Fricative
A fricative consonant is produce by obstructing the airstream while it passes through the oral cavity. This obstruction is done using any combination of articulators, whether it's the upper lip and lower teeth, the tongue and teeth, or the alveolar ridge and the tongue blade. Fricative consonants are produced when the articulators are brought so close together that the airflow is severly blocked. This means that air is forced to escape through a very narrow opening, causing turbulence.
I find it easier to remember fricatives by associating it with the word friction - and rightly so! The friction caused by two articulators working together is what produces the sounds /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ and /h/. But then, you ask, how do I know if there is friction or not? That's easy! Fricatives are characterised by the hissing sound that accompanies the production of such consonants. For instance, try saying /f/ and /v/ - you'll hear the hissing sound I mentioned.
3. Affricate
There are only two affricate consonants in English: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/. And even though fricative has to do with friction, affricate has nothing to do with Africa. What you should remember about affricates is that an affricate is a combination of a plosive and a fricative. Thus, affricated are sounds produced when airflow is blocked completely(as with plosives) and then gradually released(as with fricatives). For instance, /tʃ/ begins with the plosive /t/ and ends with the fricative /ʃ/. Of course the two consonants aren't to be pronounced separately or you would be hearing 'teh-sheh' instead of 'ch'. Try saying 'chair' and listen to the 'ch' sound - that's actually /tʃ/ you're hearing. The same goes for /dʒ/: it's a combination of /d/ and /ʒ/. You can hear the consonant/dʒ/ at the beginning and the end of the word 'judge'.
4. Nasal
If you've ever suffered the flu and had to speak while still sick, you would know what nasal sounds are like. Nasals are sounds produced when air escapes only through the nasal cavity(nose). Air doesn't flow through the oral cavity(mouth) because thevelum is lowered, blocking the opening to the oral cavity. There are only three nasal consonants in the English language: /n/, /m/ and /ŋ/. All three nasal consonants are fairly common in English. In fact, the last three words of the previous sentence contain them:
common - /kɒmən/
in - /ɪn/
English - /ɪŋɡlɪʃ
5. Lateral
While there may be many lateral sounds in other languages, there is only one in the English language - the /l/ sound. Words like 'love, 'life' 'lame', 'leave' and 'lazy' all begin with a lateral consonant. Lateral literally means 'the side of something' so laterals are sounds produced when the air flows through the sides of the tongue. The only obstruction occurs where the tip (or blade) of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge.
6. Approximant
When you say, 'approximately', you mean that something is close to another thing, but not quite there. For example, if you say 'I'll be arriving at approximately 10 am' you mean that you will be arriving at around that time, but not at exactly 10 am. The same goes for approximant consonants. The articulators involved in producing approximant sounds approach each other closely but do not touch. Thus, approximants can be defined as sounds produced when articulators approach each other but not close enough to obstruct airflow. For example, try saying /w/, or the word 'wait'. When your lips move to produce the /w/ sound, your upper lip and lower lip move close together but they don't touch. It's the same with the consonant /j/ as in 'yet' and /r/ as in 'red'.
And now that we're done with manner of articulation, let's move on to place of articulation!
Place of Articulation
There are eight places of articulation involved in the production of all 24 English consonants - bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal. Each one refers to a place in the mouth where the different consonants are produced. I'll explain each one to help you understand them.
1. Bilabial
Bilabial is the first checkpoint in the topic of place of articulation. 'Labia' means 'lip' and 'bi' means 'two'. So bilabial actually refers to our two lips. Bilabial consonants are produced by bringing the upper lip and lower lip together, and these consonants include /p/ as in 'pin', /b/ as in 'ball', /w/ as in 'wet', and /m/ as in 'mix'. In all bilabial consonants, the upper lip is considered the passive articulator while the lower lip is the active. This simply means that the upper lip doesn't move (or at least not so much) but the lower lip does. It is the lower lip that approaches the upper lip when bilabials sounds are being made.
2. Labiodental
Labiodentals involve the lip and the teeth - specifically, the lower lip and the upper teeth. Labiodental sounds are produced when the bottom lip (which is the active articulator) is brought up towards the upper teeth (which is the passive articulator). /f/ (as in 'fan') and /v/ (as in 'van') are labiodental sounds.
3. Dental
By now, you would've already known that dental refers to teeth. *In dental sounds, the tongue tip is placed between the upper and lower teeth. In this case, the tongue tip and the lower teeth are the active articulators while the upper teeth is the passve articulators. There are only two dental consonants in English: /θ/ as in 'think', and /ð/ as in 'that'.
In actuality, the specific term for this is interdental. Dental sounds are produced by placing the tongue tip behind the upper front teeth. However for easy learning purposes, we will ignore this and stick to dental. You may distinguish between these two once you have a clear understanding of phonetics.
4. Alveolar
Alveolar sounds are called thus because these sounds are produced at the alveolar ridge, which is a small bump just behind the upper teeth. If you're not sure where that is, refer to the diagram above. Alveolar sounds are produced when the tongue blade (the active articulator) is brought towards the alveolar ridge (the passive articulator). However, some people may produce alveolar consonants by placing the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge, instead of the tongue blade. Both ways are acceptable. Consonants which fall into this category are /t/ as in 'tin', /d/ as in 'den', /n/ as in 'net', /s/ as in 'sun', /z/ as in 'zip' and /l/ as in 'leg'.
5. Post-alveolar
Post-alveolar consonants are produced by placing the tongue blade behind the alveolar ridge, in front of the hard palate. Hence, the word 'post' because the placement of the tongue is behind the alveolar ridge. Post-alveolar consonants include /ʃ/ which is heard in 'shoe, /ʒ/ which is heard in the middle of 'measure', /tʃ/ which is heard in front of 'church', /dʒ/ which is heard in front of 'jungle', and /r/ which is heard in front of 'red'.
6. Palatal
As you might have guessed, palatal sounds are produced when the tongue body is brought towads the hard palate. The active articulator here is the tongue body while the passive articulator is the hard palate. There is only one palatal sound and that is the /j/ sound. No, that's not 'j' as in 'jet' but rather a 'y' as is 'yet'. So the transcription for 'yet' would not be /yet/ but rather /jet/.
7. Velars
Velar sounds are produced with the velum or soft palate playing the central role. A velar sound such a /k/ as in 'kite' is produced when the back of the tongue is raised towards the velum. The back of the tongue takes on the active articulator role, while the velum takes on the passive articulator role. Other consonants that are classified as velar sounds are /g/ as in 'gate' and /ŋ/ as in 'sing'.
8. Glottal
Glottal sounds are made when air flows through the different states of the glottis. The articulators involvd are the vocal cords. In the production of the /h/ consonant, the vocal cords are open but they are close enough together so that air passing between them (through the glottis) creates friction. On the other hand in the production of the /ʔ/ consonant (or the 'glottal stop'), the vocal cords close momentarily, cutting off all airflow through the glottis. As mention in the introduction, glottal stops are common among Cockney speakers. When you 'uh-oh' after something goes wrong, you are also making a glottal stop sound.
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