LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

PART II
Phonetics

Lesson 3
Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and
Consonant Articulation
At the end of the lesson, you shall have:
• identified the parts of the vocal tract responsible for producing different sounds;
• describe the manner and places of articulation of consonants; and,
• produced consonant sounds.

Phonetics refers to the description of speech sound (how they are made, transmitted,
and received), while phonology refers to how these sounds are produced into the
individual languages. Articulatory phonetics is concerned with how the vocal organs
produce speech. Acoustic phonetics deals with the physical characteristics of
speech, such as the duration, frequency, and intensity of sounds. Auditory
phonetics examines the perception of speech by the auditory system. Acoustic,
articulatory, and auditory phonetics are all interrelated since changing the articulatory
configuration of the vocal tract results in acoustic changes which in turn potentially
influence the perception of a sound.

The Speech Organs

The physical production of speech requires intricate coordination between several
parts of the upper body, from the stomach up to the nose. It is common to divide the
speech organs into three subsystems: the subglottal system, the larynx, and the
supralaryngeal (or supraglottal) system.

Figure 3.1 Three subsystems of speech articulation

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 17
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

The Subglottal System

The subglottal system includes the lungs and the trachea (or windpipe), which
provide the air the upstream articulators manipulate to produce sound. The
lungs function like balloons, recoiling after inspiration and setting the air
molecules in the vocal tract in motion.

The Larynx
Moving up from the lungs and trachea, the larynx is the source for many of the
sounds produced in speech. It is located behind the thyroid cartilage (or Adam’s
apple), which is the bump you can feel on the front of the neck if you lean your
head back. The larynx contains two vocal folds that vibrate during voiced
sounds, such as z or v.

In English, two sounds only involve the larynx and not any articulators above
the larynx. One is the h sound in words like a hat or ahead. The other is the
glottal stop found in the middle of the expression uh-oh. Try saying uhoh
emphatically while your hand is on your larynx and your head is leaned back.
You will feel an abrupt stoppage of voicing during the glottal stop between the
two vowels as the vocal folds come together to block off all airflow through the
larynx. This is called a glottal stop, as you stop the airflow by closing the glottis
(the space between the vocal folds).

The Supralaryngeal Vocal Tract and Place of Articulation

Above the larynx is the supralaryngeal vocal tract, which contains most of the
structures that are manipulated in speech. The articulators of the
supralaryngeal vocal tract are shown in Figure 3.2. When you use different
articulators to produce speech sounds, you are changing the place of
articulation of the sound.

Nasal
Alveola
ridg Hard Velu
(soft }
Lip
Uvul
Oral
Teet
Tongu
Lip
Pharyn

Figure 3.2. The supralaryngeal vocal tract

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 18
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

Sound is vibrating air. Speaking means using your vocal tract (lungs, trachea,
larynx, mouth, and nose) to get air moving and vibrating, and then shaping
that movement in different ways.

Most speech sounds are made with air exiting the lungs; therefore, speech
begins with the breath. To begin to speak, you pull down your diaphragm, the
big muscle that separates your chest cavity from your stomach. This enlarges
the lungs, which draws air in. Then the diaphragm relaxes, and the muscles
around the ribs contract, slowly squeezing the lungs and forcing the air out and
up the windpipe or trachea.

At the top of the trachea is a little box of cartilage called the larynx (the “adam’s
apple”). Inside the larynx, two folds of soft tissue, called the vocal folds
(sometimes called ‘vocal cords’), lie across the top of the trachea. If the vocal
folds are held in the correct position with the correct tension, the air flowing
out of the trachea causes them to flap open and closed very quickly (around
200 times per second). You can feel this opening and closing motion as a
vibration in your throat. Find your larynx (you should be able to feel the bump
of the adam’s apple at the front of your throat), and then hum a tune. Muscles
attached to the cartilages of the larynx allow you to adjust the tension of the
folds, thus adjusting the rate of vibration and raising or lowering the pitch. The
faster the vibration, the higher the pitch of the voice. Other muscles also allow
you to draw the folds apart so that no vibration occurs.

Just above the larynx, at the base of the tongue, is the epiglottis. The epiglottis
is a muscular structure that folds down over the larynx when you swallow to
prevent food from going down into the lungs before it enters the passage to
the stomach. The payoff for the risk of a larynx located low in the throat is an
open area at the back of the mouth, the pharynx. The pharynx allows the
tongue freedom for front and back movement. Other mammals, including
nonhuman primates, have the larynx high up at the back of the mouth,
connected to the nasal passages. Because they have no pharynx, chimps could
never learn to talk.

Inside the mouth itself, there are many different structures – active and passive
articulators – that we use to shape speech sounds as the air passes through
the vocal tract. The active articulators move toward the passive articulators to
constrict and shape the air that is moving out from the lungs. Active articulators
include the lips, which can be opened or closed, pursed, or spread, and the
tongue. We usually see the small, pink tip of the tongue, but it is a large mass
of interconnected muscles that fills the floor of the mouth.

Although the tongue has no bones or cartilage, different parts of the tongue
can move fairly independently. The tongue front (including the tip and the
blade, which extends a few centimeters back from the tip), the tongue body
(the main mass of the tongue, also known as the dorsum), and the tongue root
(the lowest part of the tongue, back in the pharynx), are considered separate
active articulators.

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 19
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

The passive articulators lie along the top of the vocal tract. Run your tongue
along the top of your mouth, beginning behind your upper teeth. You will first
encounter the alveolar ridge, the bony rise just behind your teeth. The
postalveolar region arches from the alveolar ridge toward the hard palate, the
roof of the mouth. If you curl your tongue very far back in your mouth, you can
feel that the bony structure of the hard palate gives way to softer tissue, which
is known as the soft palate, or velum. The velum is a muscular structure that
regulates the velar port, the opening in the back of the mouth that connects
the mouth and nose. When the velum is lowered, as it is for breathing and
some sounds such as [m] and [n], the port is open, and air flows freely between
the nose and lungs. (It’s a phonetic convention to write the symbols for sounds
within square brackets. When the velum is raised, as it is for most speech
sounds, the opening to the nose is closed off, and all the airstream is directed
through the mouth. At the very end of the velum is the uvula, the little pink
pendulum you can see hanging down in the back of your mouth when you open
wide and say “ah.”

How Speech Sounds are Produced

1. Your diaphragm muscle contracts allowing your lungs to fill up with air.
2. Your diaphragm expands and pushes the air up from your lungs through your
windpipe, your voice box (often called the larynx in phonetics), and then in your
pharynx (the space in the very back of your throat)
3. When the air is passing through your larynx, your vocal folds vibrate.
4. The sound waves continue bouncing around and are affected by different parts of
your mouth, including your lips, hard and soft palates, tongue, etc. (these are the
places of articulation)
5. The sound waves come out of your mouth or nasal cavity in the case of nasal
sounds.
6. The sound waves then go into the environment and are picked up by others and
interpreted as sound.

Phonetic Criteria

*NOTE: labio-velar *Voicing: voiced (+) and voiceless (-)

Point of articulation refers to the place where the sound is made or the
constrictions and obstructions of air occur. The place of a sound is where the
mouth is the narrowest. Point or place of articulation may be:
©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 20
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

Figure 3.3. Place of articulation

1. Bilabial
Bilabial consonants occur when you
block/constrict airflow out of the
mouth by bringing your lips together.
English contains the following three
bilabial consonants:
/p/ as in “purse” and “rap“
/b/ as in “back” and “cab“
/m/ as in “mad” and “clam“

2. Labio-Dental
Labio-dental consonants occur when
you block/constrict airflow by curling
your lower lip back and raising it to
touch your upper row of teeth.
English contains the following two
labio-dental sounds:
/f/ as in “fro” and “calf“
/v/ as in “vine” and “have”

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 21
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

3. Dental
Dental consonants occur when you
block/constrict airflow by placing
your slimy tongue against your upper
teeth. English contains the following
two labio-dental sounds:
/θ/ as is “thick” and “bath“
/ð/ as in “the” and “rather”

4. Alveolar
The alveolar ridge is where your teeth
meet your gums. You create Alveolar
consonants when you raise your
tongue to the alveolar ridge to block or
constrict airflow. The English alveolar
consonants are as follows:
/n/ as in “no” and “man“
/t/ as in “tab” and “rat“
/d/ as in “dip” and “bad“
/s/ as in “suit” and “bus“
/z/ as in “zit” and “jazz“
/l/ as in “luck” and “fully”

5. Retroflex
The tip of the tongue is curled back and articulates with alveolar. It
occurs in /r/ followed by a vowel like red and real.

6. Alveo-palatal
When you retract your tongue back
just a bit from the alveolar ridge, the
sounds change enough to be
recognized as distinct consonants. So
post-alveolar consonants are those
that occur when the tongue blocks or
constricts airflow at the point just
beyond the alveolar ridge. The alveo-
palatal English consonants are as
follows:
/ʃ/ as in “shot” or “brash”
/ʒ/ as in “vision” or “measure”
/tʃ/ as in “chick” or “match”
/dʒ/ as in “jam” or “badge“

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 22
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

7. Palatal
The roof of your mouth is the hard
palate. You may know it as “the place
that burns like hell when I eat pizza that
is too hot.” You create Palatal
consonants when you raise the tongue
to this point and constrict airflow.
English has only one palatal consonant:
/j/ as in “yes” and “bayou”

8. Velar
Behind your hard palate you have the
velum or soft palate. Unlike the bony hard
palate in front of it, the this consists of
soft, mucousy tissue. You make Velar
Consonants when you raise the back of
your tongue to the velum to block or
restrict airflow. English has the following
velar consonants:
/ŋ/ as in “going” and “uncle” (note that
the ‘n sound’ in these words is NOT made
at the alveolar ridge, which is why it is
distinct from /n/).
/k/ as in “kite” and “back“
/g/ as in “good” and “bug“
/w/ as in “wet” and “howard”

9. Glottal
The glottis is actually two vocal folds (i.e.
vocal cords). It acts as a sort of bottle cap
to your windpipe. Inhale and then hold
your breath for a few seconds while
keeping your mouth open. What you are
actually doing to keep the air from
expelling out of your lungs by closing your
glottis.

Glottal consonants aren’t actually consonants; they just play consonant

roles in the language. In English, the following things happen at the
glottis:
a) /h/ as in “hi” and “Bahamas.” Say these words and notice how
you’re not actually constricting or blocking airflow for this /h/

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 23
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

sound. You’re just exhaling a little bit harder than you would for
a normal vowel sound in transition to the following vowel sound.
b) /?/ – This is actually the culprit behind many of the “silent
syllables” we discussed in the first lesson. For example, in the
phrase “wha(t) time is it?” the /t/ in “what” is dropped and the
vowel sound before it is closed at the glottis.

The manner of articulation of a sound is how the airstream is affected as is

goes through your vocal tract. Essentially, the manners of articulation describe
how air is modified to create different speech sounds.

1. Stop
Like nasal consonants, stop consonants occur when the vocal tract is
closed completely. But for stops, the airflow is NOT redirected through
the nose. Instead, the air quickly builds up pressure behind the
articulators and then releases in a burst.
English contains the following stop consonants.
a) /p/ – purse and rap – oral passage is blocked by closing the lips
(bilabial).
b) /b/ – “back” and “cab” – oral passage is blocked by closing the
lips (bilabial)
c) /t/ – “tab” and “rat” – oral passage is blocked by pressing the
tongue tip against the alveolar ridge (alveolar).
d) /d/ – “dip” and “bad” – oral passage is blocked by pressing the
tongue tip against the alveolar ridge (alveolar).
e) /k/ – “kite” and “back” – block airflow with the back of the tongue
against the soft palate (velar).
f) /g/ – “good” and “bug” – block airflow with the back of the tongue
against the soft palate (velar).

2. Fricative
While nasal and stop consonants involve a complete blockage of the
vocal tract, fricative sounds involve only a partial blockage of the vocal
tract so that air has to be forced through a narrow channel.

For example, you create a /t/ stop consonant when you block airflow
completely with your tongue against the alveolar ridge. But if you let up
with the tongue a bit and let the air seep through, you make an /s/
fricative consonant.

The English fricative sounds are as follows:

a) /f/ – “fro” and “calf“- air is forced through the upper teeth and
lower lip (labiodental)
b) /v/ – “vine” and “have” – air is forced through the upper teeth
and lower lip (labiodental)

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 24
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

c) /θ/ – “thick” and “bath” – air is forced through upper teeth and
tongue (dental)
d) /ð/ – “the” and “rather” – air is forced through upper teeth and
tongue (dental)
e) /s/ – “suit” and “bus” – air is forced through tongue and alveolar
ridge (alveolar)
f) /z/ – “zit” and “jazz” – air is forced through tongue and alveolar
ridge (alveolar)
g) /ʃ/ – “shot” and “brash” – air is forced through the tongue and
point just beyond alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)
h) /ʒ/ – “vision” and “measure” – air is forced through the tongue
and point just beyond alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)
i) /h/ – “happy” and “hope” – actually /h/ isn’t a fricative. It’s
technically not even a real consonant sound since there’s no
constriction/obstruction of airflow.
3. Affricate
When stop consonants mix with fricative consonants, the result is an
affricate consonant. Affricate consonants start as stop sounds with air
building up behind an articulator which then releases through a narrow
channel as a fricative (instead of a clean burst as stops do).

The English affricate sounds are:

a) /tʃ/ – “chick” and “match” – air is blocked with tongue just
beyond the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar), then released as a
fricative.
b) /dʒ/ – “jam” and “badge” – air is blocked with tongue just beyond
the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar), then released as a fricative.

4. Lateral
Lateral consonants are when the tongue blocks the middle of your mouth
so that air has to pass around the sides. You create this when you
a) /l/ – “luck”- place the tip of the tongue at the alveolar ridge
(alveolar).

5. Nasal
Nasal consonants are created when you completely block air flow
through your mouth and let the air pass through your nose. There are
three nasal consonants in English.
a) /m/ – “mad” and “clam” – oral passage is blocked by closing the
lips (bilabial).
b) /n/ – “no” and “man‘ – oral passage is blocked by pressing tongue
tip against the alveolar ridge (alveolar).
c) /ŋ/ – “going” and “funk” – Oral passage is blocked by pressing
the the back of your tongue against the soft palate (velar).

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 25
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

6. Approximant
Approximants are when two articulators come close together but not
quite close enough to create air turbulence. The resulting sound is more
like a fast vowel than anything else. For example, the /w/ approximant
is like a fast /u/ sound (say /u/ + /aɪ/ really fast and you get the word
“why”). Notice how your tongue never actually comes in contact with
the top of your mouth.

There are three English approximants:

a) /w/ – “wet” and “howard” – back of tongue raises to velum (but
not too close!) and lips are rounded (velar)
b) /j/ – “yes” and “bayou” – tongue raises to hard palate (but not
too close!) (palatal)
c) /ɹ/ – “right” and “roar” – tongue raises to hard palate (but not too
close) (alveolar/post-alveolar)

Voicing
Voiced Consonants
Your vocal cords, which are mucous membranes, stretch across the larynx at
the back of the throat. The vocal cords modulate the flow of breath expelled
from the lungs by tightening and relaxing as you speak.

An easy way to determine whether a consonant is voiced or not is to place a

finger on your throat. As you pronounce a letter, feel the vibration of your vocal
cords. If you feel a vibration, the consonant is a voiced one.

Voiceless consonants do not use the vocal cords to produce their hard,
percussive sounds. Instead, they slack, allowing air to flow freely from the lungs
to the mouth, where the tongue, teeth, and lips engage in modulating the
sound.
Voiced
Voiceless Consonants
Consonants

/b/ back, above /p/ pencil, drop

/d/ day, need /t/ two, wait
/g/ gold, rug /k/ candy, awake
/v/ very, give /f/ find, before
/ð/ the, this /ɵ/ thin, with
/z/ zone, has /s/ see, city
/ʒ/ measure, beige /ʃ/ she, dish
/dʒ/ jeans, enjoy /tʃ/ change, rich
/m/ make, same
/n/ no, town
/ŋ/ sing, pink
/l/ look, believe
/r/ red, car

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 26
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

Consonant Sounds

Why do we learn English’ proper pronunciation? First, when we learn to make

the correct sounds, our English will become easier to understand. Second, it
will help us listen to English better. And our confidence will grow.

As a recap, we have 21 consonants. And these are:

b c d f g
h j k l m
n p q r s
t v w x y z

If these consonants are written like these, they are mere letters. But, if they
are written within bars / /, like / b /, they become sounds. This means that b
is produced as b as a consonant letter. But /b/ is produced as /b/ as a consonant
sound.

So, what are consonant sounds? These are sounds produced when articulators
touch or almost touch and release suddenly, slowly or hold their position. These
oral cavity parts called articulators to include the tongue, lips, teeth, and hard
and soft palates.

Consonant Sound English Words

/b/ baby, best, buy, bring
/d/ day, dear, die, door
/f/ fast, female, five, forest
/g/ game, gap, get, Grover
/h/ hair, help, history, home
/ʤ/ jam, Jimson, jet, jelly
/k/ Christopher, kind, kill, kilogram
/l/ late, let, live, alone
/m/ make, men, mind, mother
/n/ napkin, never, night, no
/p/ paper, person, pick, pour
/r/ Rocky, Ronald, rise, brief
/s/ send, size, song, system
/t/ task, tell, time, tone
/v/ violet, vein, van, vague
/w/ wall, war, way, west
/j/ year, yacht, yes, yawn
/z/ zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle
/ŋ/ sing, bling, finger, anger
/ʧ/ Mozart, pizza, church,bleach
/ʃ/ nation, sash, flush, bush
/ɵ/ thank, thick, think, thought
/ð/ this, that, then, though
/ʒ/ garage, mirage, pleasure, measure

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 27
 LESSON 3 Sound Production, Consonant Classes, and Consonant Articulation

References

Beare, K. (2019, June 26). Voiced vs. voiceless consonants.

https://www.thoughtco.com/voiced-and-voiceless-consonants-1212092
Billie English. (2011, November 22). Consonants Part 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBhrpu-3fI.
Burridge, K. & Stebbins, T. N. (2020). For the love of language: an introduction to
linguistics. Cambridge University Press.
Campusweb. (n.d.) Voiced and voiceless consonants.
http://campusweb.howardcc.edu/ehicks/YE618/Mastering%20American%20Pro
nunciation/Voiced_Voiceless_Sounds/Voiced_Voiceless_Sounds_print.html
Emma. (2016, July 22). 3 Reasons You Should Study & Practice English
Pronunciation.https://www.mmmenglish.com/2016/07/22/3-reasons-you-
should-study- practice-english-pronunciation/.
English Pronunciation Roadmap. (2016, July 12). What is a consonant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5uf4w0gOZE.
Galvez, J. (2021). Place of articulation.
https://www.mindmeister.com/845184773/place-of-articulation
Genetti, C. (2019). How languages work: an introduction language and linguistics.
Cambridge University Press.
Masaitiene, D. (2009). Introduction to linguistics: a teaching guide. Vytauto Didziojo
Universitetas.
The Mimic Method. (2019). Manner of articulation.
https://www.mimicmethod.com/ft101/manner-of-articulation/
The Mimic Method. (2019). Place of articulation.
https://www.mimicmethod.com/ft101/place-of-articulation/
Mullany, L. & Stockwell, P. (2010). Introducing english language: a resource book for
students. Routledge.
Powershow. (n.d.). Phonetics: the study of speech sounds.
https://www.powershow.com/view/15a71-
NmViM/Phonetics_The_study_of_speech_sounds_powerpoint_ppt_presentation
?varnishcache=1
Radford, A., Atinson, M., Britain, D., Clahsen, H. & Spencer, A. (2009). Linguistics: an
introduction. Cambridge University Press.
Rowe, B. M. & Levine, D. P. (2018). A concise introduction to linguistics. Routledge.
Szczegielniak, A. (n.d.) Itroduction to linguistic theory.
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/adam/files/phonetics.ppt.pdf
Surya, D. A. (2013, February 21). Phonetics and phonology.
https://www.slideshare.net/dewiitusurya/phonetics-and-phonology-ppt
Wardaugh, R. (1972). Introduction to linguistics. McGraw-Hill Incorporated.

©2021 Caraga State University | Department of Communication and Humanities EL 100 (Introduction to Linguistics) 28