ARTICULATORY PHONETICS CONSONANTS ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

Consonants When we pronounce consonants, the airflow out of the mouth is completely blocked, greatly restricted, or diverted through the nose. This gives consonants a more noisy, less melodic quality than vowels.

Consonant Classification Manner of articulation Place of articulation Voicing

Manner of Articulation There are five types of English consonants relating to the way the airstream from the mouth is modified: Plosives Fricatives Affricatives Nasals Approximants

Place of Articulation The exact point in the oral cavity at which the airstream is modified – that is, lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, etc. – gives a second dimension for classifying consonants; this dimension is called place of articulation.

Voicing Voicing depends on wheter or not the vocal folds are vibrating during the production of the consonant. For example, /z/ is voiced (the vocal folds are vibrating) while /s/ is voiceless (the folds are apart). If you pronounce them out loud, you hear the “buzzing” of the vocal folds accompanying the /z/, and you can feel their vibration if you put your hand on the thyroid cartilage.

Articulators and the terms Combination One lip Labial Labio - Two lips Bilabial - Teeth Dental Alveolar Ridge Alveolar Alveo - Hard Palate Palatal Palato - Velum Velar

The Plosive A plosive consonant is formed by blocking the oral cavity at some point. The velum is raised, effectively shutting off the nasal passages. Pressure is built up inside the oral cavity and suddenly released with an explosion or ‘popping’. /p/ as in ‘pan’ is one of plosive sounds.

Bilabial Plosives The plosive /p/ is a bilabial sound. The blockage of the oral cavity is made with the two lips. /p/ is a voiceless sound The vocal folds are not vibrating Comparing to /b/, it is voiced.

Alveolar Plosives The oral blockage of sounding /t/ and /d/ occurs by placing the blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge. The sides of the tongue are placed along the upper teeth. The release occurs by lowering the blade of the tongue and allowing the pressure to explode over the top. /t/ is voiceless alveolar plosive, and /d/ is voiced.

Velar Plosives The next point at which English produces plosives is with the back of the tongue against the soft palate or velum. The two velar plosives are /k/ and /g/; /k/ is voiceless while /g/ is voiced.

Released and Unreleased Plosives Notice that at the end of a phrase or sentence the oral cavity may or may not be opened after producing a plosive. If you say only the word “stop”, for example, you may keep the lips closed after saying /p/. This may be called an unreleased plosive as contrasted with a released plosive (as in ‘pan’).

The Fricative Fricative sounds are produced by forcing air through such a narrow passageway that a turbulent hissing noise is porduced. This is accomplished in the oral cavity; as plosives, the velum is raised to close off the nasal cavity.

Labial Fricative In Englsih, there are no bilabial fricatives. However, English has a pair of labiodental fricatives. This means that the samll passage through which the air must pass if formed with the teeth and the lip. The upper teeth and lower lips are used in English; the voiceless labiodental fricative is /f/, and its voiced cognate is /v/.

Dental Fricative This is the sound we spell th. In English, there are two fricative sounds produced with the tongue and the teeth. The tongue that is placed behind the front teeth is called a dental fricative as in the word ‘the, this, either’ (transcribed with a crossbar), while the tongue that placed between the upper and lower teeth is called an interdental fricative as in the word ‘both, thought’ (transcribed with a theta)

Alveolar Fricatives There is a pair of fricatives produces with the blade of the tongue close to the alveolar ridge. There alveolar fricatives are /s/ (voiceless) and /z/ (voiced). The characteristic of alveolar fricatives is the tongue that is slightly grooved.

Alveopalatal Fricatives The alveopalatal fricatives are articulated by bringing the blade of the tongue close to the part of the roof of the mouth where the alveolar ridge and the hard palate join. Unlike the alveolar fricative, there is no grooving of the tongue. The voiceless alveopalatal fricative is usually spelled sh in English as in words “shore, bush, sugar, position”. The symbols transcribed the sound are ʃ or š. The voiced alveopalatal fricative is less common in English such as in words “measure, version and leisure” with ž or Ʒ as the transciption.

Glottal Fricative The sound /h/, as in ‘house’, is usually classified as a fricative. It is different from the other fricatives in that the vocal tract is wide open, so there is little friction. /h/ is voiceless and there is no voiced cognate.

The Affricate An affricate is made up of the close sequence of two speech sounds acting as a single linguistic unit, namely, a plosive followed by a fricative. In English, the sounds that are usually spelled ch and j are affricates. The voiceless alveolar affricate occurs in the words “chin” or “batch”. It can be analyzed as a /t/ followed by / š/. It is Usually transcribed /t š/, /t ʃ / or č. The voiced alveolar affricate occurs in the words “jam” or “jump”. It can be analyzed as a /d/ followed by a /ž/ such as /tž/, /tƷ/ or ǰ

The Nasal The nasal consonants are produced through the nose. The oral cavity is completely blocked during their production, and for this reason they are called nasal stops. All English nasals are voiced. The bilabial nasal is /m/ as in “mouse,” and “hammer.” The alveolar nasal is /n/ as in “no,” “banner,” and “fan.” The velar nasal is spelled ng and nk (ŋ) as in “sing” and “sink”

Approximants As the name suggests, these sounds are produced with the articulators approximated, or brought close together, during their articulation. There are two subcategories of approximants: the glide and the liquids.

Glides Glides are considered as semi vowels. The sound of glides is the letter y in English with its phonetic symbol /j/ as in the English words “yellow” (voiced and palatal). This sound often precedes the vowel /u/ as in “use,” “beauty” and “mute.” Another sound is /w/ as in “want.” It is voiced and bilabial.

The Liquids #1 The term liquid is often used to classify the consonants /l/ and /r/. Like the approximants, the liquids share qualities with both vowels and consonants. They are like vowels in being resonant or melodic in nature and in being able to form a syllable by themselves. They are like consonants in having more of the oral cavity blocked than most vowels.

The Liquids #2 The /l/ is articulated in the alveolar region, with the blade of the tongue in almost the same position as for /t/ and /d/. The manner of articulation of the /l/ is lateral. The term lateral refers to ‘the sides,’ and indeed /l/ is produced by blocking the center of the oral cavity with the tongue, allowing air to pass on both sides as in the words “leave, life, long, tall” In pronouncing /r/, the mouth is closed off at the sides of the tongue, and the air passes centrally, over the body of the tongue. The /r/ sound is voiced. It is the words “rest, room, radio”

Exercise Write two words for each consonants such as /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /.../, /.../, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /č/, / ǰ/, /n/, /m/.