1. Unit 2 Consonants and Vowels
The classification of consonants and vowels

2. Classification of Phonemes
I.Organs of speech
Speech sounds are made with organs of speech .Therefore, to help the study of English speech sounds, it is necessary for us to have a clear idea of the vocal organs and their functions.
Fig.1 is a diagram showing a side view of the organs of speech.

3. 15. epiglottis 16.glottis 17.Vocalcords
18Nasal cavity Pharynx cavity mouthcavity
1.upper lip/lower lip
2.upper teeth/lower teeth
3.teeth-ridge
4.hard palate
5.soft palate
6.uvula
7.pharynx
8.larynx
9.tip of the tongue
10.blade of the tongue
11. Front of the tongue
12.middle of the tongue
13.back of the tongue
14. Root of the tongue
( tip of the tongue /blade of the
tongue/body of the tongue/root
of the tongue.)

4. When we produce a sound, we draw air into the lungs and then release it slowly
through the larynx, the pharynx (the pharynx cavity) and the mouth (oral cavity) or the nose (nasal cavity).
The larynx contains the vocal cords. When they are drawn near together, they are
made to vibrate by the air coming from the lungs, thus producing voiced sounds such
as vowels and consonants. If the vocal cords are drawn apart , the air leaves freely .
There is no vibration of the vocal cords. The sound ,thus made ,is voiceless.
Nasal sounds refer to the sounds produced with the air coming out of the nose.
Oral sounds refer to the sounds produced with the air coming out of the mouth.
Three resonating cavities: the Pharynx, the Nasal cavity and the oral cavity. ( As we
know sounds produced by the movement of the vocal cords need to be amplified and
further modified in order to be functional in speech. Without the resonating cavities,
the vocal cords, like the strings of violin without the body of the instrument, would make
very little

5. Classification of English Phonemes
1.Phonemes and Allophones
In the study of English Phonetics it is necessary to distinguish between phonemes
and allophones. Many linguists agree that English has 44 phonemes , that is,20 vowels and
24 consonants. But in fact each of these can be pronounced in many slightly different ways,
so that the total number of sounds actually produced in speech is practically endless. For
example:
1) / l / in let is clear, and the / l / in tell, told and always is dark ,the / l / in please is
voiceless, etc.
2) the / k / in key, kiss is advanced, the / k / in cop , cook is retracted and the / k / in cup,
curl is normal, neither advanced ,nor retracted.
However, the native speakers still hold that English has one / l / sound and only one,
one / k / sound and one only. Why? The answer is that they have customarily divided all
those slightly different sounds they could possibly produce into a definite number of groups.
Only those “sounds” which serve to distinguish one word from another are regarded as
belonging to different groups, or to different phonemes in our technical term. Phonemes are
distinctive and contrastive. So phoneme is “the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which
may bring about a change of meaning” as A. C. Gimson defined. The /l/ sounds and the / k /
sounds mentioned above are called allophones of the phonemes / l / and / k / respectively.

6. The symbols used to represent phonemes are phonemic symbols, which are put in
slant bars / /.
There are 44 basic phonemes in English. They are divided into vowels and
consonants.
2.What are vowels or consonants?
Vowels are sounds produced without obstruction of the air passage in the mouth but
with the vibration of the vocal cords. So all vowels are voiced.
Consonants are sounds produced with a complete or partial obstruction which prevents
the air from going freely through the mouth .They are either voiced or voiceless.

7. Why use phonemic symbols?
The alphabet which we use to write English has 26 letters but (British) English has 44 sounds. Inevitably, English spelling is not a reliable guide to pronunciation because
Some letters have more than one sound
Sometimes letters are not pronounced at all
The same sound may be represented by different letters
Sometimes syllables indicated by the spelling are not pronounced at all
Questions:
How do you pronounce gh in 'enough', 'through' and
'ghost'? (like f in fun, not pronounced, like g in got)
How many syllables are there in 'chocolate'?

8. Description of the English consonants
Classification of English Consonants
There are 24 consonants in English. They are classified according to three different principles:
a) the vibration of the vocal cords/the state of the vocal cords.
b) place of articulation; and
c) manner of articulation.

9. Places of articulation
1.  bilabial (two lips)
2.  labio-dental (top teeth/bottom lip)
3.  dental (tongue tip/top teeth)
4.  alveolar (tongue tip/tooth ridge)
5.  post alveolar (tongue tip or mid/hard palate)
6. palatal-alveolar
7. palatal (tongue mid/hard palate)
8.  velar (tongue back/ soft palate)
9. glottal

10. Manners of articulation
1.  Stops (or plosives)
2.  Fricatives
3.  Affricates
4.  Nasals
5.  Lateral
6. Approximants (Semi-vowels)

11. Table of English Consonants

12. Stops ( Plosives)
Stops/Plosives - English has six bursts or explosive sounds produced by complete closure of the vocal tract followed by a rapid release of the closure - 'p', 't', 'k', 'b', 'd', 'g'.
/p/- voiceless bilabial stop
/b/- voiced bilabial stop
/t/- voiceless alveolar stop
/d/- voiced alveolar stop
/k/- voiceless velar stop
//- voiced velar stop

13. The pronunciation of /p/ and /b/

14. The pronunciation of /t/ and /d/

15. The pronunciation of /k/ and /g/

16. Page 15: Listening Exercise 1
Practice 1: Listening
Page 15: Listening Exercise 1
What are the differences between stops at the beginning of a word and those at the end? e. g. pat, lap
How to discriminate sounds like need and neat?

17. Voiceless stops
At the beginning: strong releasing (送气); pat
At the end: very weak; lap
Voiced stops
At the beginning: vibration before releasing; bed
At the end: very weak; robe
neat & need: which /i:/ is longer?
The vowel in front of a voiced consonant is longer
than the one in front of a voiceless consonant.

18. Allophonic variations (音位变位)
Spot, stop, sky
// // /g/
当和 /l/ 连缀时，称为舌侧爆破音
Padlock, clock, glad
/t/ /d/
当处于辅音组合 /tr/ /dr/ 时，发音兼爆破和摩擦的特征
Train, drain

19. // // /t/ // // //
当位于词尾，后接辅音时，不完全爆破
Top tea, sit still, take three, rob the man, Dad said so, lag behind
// // /t/ // // //
当两个相同的爆破音相连时，只需要发一次爆破音，并延长发音
时间。
Stop Pete, let Tim, take Kim, rob Bob, sad Dave, big grapes

20. // // /t/ // // //
当后面紧跟的是鼻音时，爆破不在口腔，而在鼻腔，又称鼻爆破。
Stop him, rob him, button, bread’ n butter, beacon, pig and goat

21. // //
当后接前元音或圆唇音时，发音部位会前移或成圆唇
Keen, geese, quarter, goose

22. /t/
当处于两个元音之间时，听起来像闪音: letter
当位于成音节 /l/ 前时，成了舌侧爆破音: little
/k/
当位于成音节 /n/ 前时，成了鼻爆破音: bacon