1. Practical Phonetics Week 2
Classifying sounds: place and manner of articulation
Where and how sounds are made

2. Thinking about sounds Say ‘mmmm’ – where is the ‘m’ sound produced?
It’s a bilabial consonant (this is the place of articulation)
Pinch your nose – what happens?
It stops: it’s a nasal (not an oral) consonant
Put your fingers in your ears – what do you hear?
The vibrations of the vocal cords: it’s a voiced consonant

3. Some places of articulation: bilabial consonants
lips
p pie b buy m mute w wood

4. Labiodental consonants
upper teeth
lower lip
f fine v vine

5. Dental consonants
upper teeth
tip of tongue
θ thin ð this

6. t tie d die s Sue z zoo n night l light Alveolar consonants
alveolar ridge
tip/blade of tongue
t tie d die s Sue z zoo
n night l light

7. Post-alveolar / palato-alveolar consonants
ʃ shoe, pressure Ʒ pleasure
ʧ cheap ʤ jeep r rack

8. Palatal consonants
j yes

9. Velar consonants
velum
back of tongue
k curl g girl ŋ rang

10. Some manners of articulation: plosives (think explosion) or stops
Bilabial: p b
Alveolar: t d
Velar: k g

11. Fricatives (think friction)
Palato-alveolar or post-alveolar: ʃ Ʒ
Labiodental: f v
Alveolar: s z

12. Oral Nasal
(Velum is lowered, allowing air to enter the nasal cavity)

13. Nasals
Bilabial: m
Alveolar: n
Velar: ŋ

14. Other consonants ʤ = voiced post-alveolar affricate
Affricates (a combination of stop + fricative):
ʧ = voiceless post-alveolar affricate
ʤ = voiced post-alveolar affricate
Approximant (articulators approach each other but do not touch): w r j
Lateral (also called lateral approximant; air flows over sides of tongue): l

15. Summary of Places of Articulation
Bilabial (lips) p b m w
Labiodental (lips and teeth) f fine v vine
Dental (tongue and teeth) θ thin ð then
Alveolar (tongue and alveolar ridge)
t d s z n l
Palato-alveolar (tongue and front part of hard
palate) ʃ shoe ʒ measure ʧ cheap ʤ jeep r
Palatal (tongue and hard palate) j yes
Velar (tongue and velum) k g ŋ running
Glottal (glottis) h

16. Summary of manners of articulation
Plosive / Stop p b t d k g
Fricative f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h
Affricate (stop + fricative) ʧ ʤ
Nasal m n ŋ
Approximants w r j (central) l (lateral)

17. Classifying consonants
Voiced or voiceless
Place of articulation
(Central or lateral)
(Oral or nasal)
Manner of articulation
Example 1 : s (sing):
A voiceless, alveolar, (central), (oral) fricative
A voiceless, alveolar plosive/stop = ?
/t/ What is /k/?
- A voiceless, velar plosive/stop

18. The International Phonetic Alphabet: the English consonants
Full IPA with audio illustrations:

19. And finally…an x-ray (not x-rated) movie:
Review activities
Complete the “Classifying Consonants” chart
Labels practice:
Symbols practice: