Scribd
Upload
31 views4 pages

Lecture 1

This document provides information about consonants in the English language. It defines consonants as sounds made with partial or full constriction in the vocal tract, unlike vowels which are characterized by tongue position and lip shape. Consonants are classified based on three aspects: place of articulation (where in the mouth the constriction occurs), manner of articulation (how the air flow is blocked or restricted), and voicing (whether the vocal cords vibrate during production). The document then lists and describes the different types of consonants in English according each of these three aspects.

Uploaded by

ABDOU T O U M I
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
31 views4 pages

Lecture 1

This document provides information about consonants in the English language. It defines consonants as sounds made with partial or full constriction in the vocal tract, unlike vowels which are characterized by tongue position and lip shape. Consonants are classified based on three aspects: place of articulation (where in the mouth the constriction occurs), manner of articulation (how the air flow is blocked or restricted), and voicing (whether the vocal cords vibrate during production). The document then lists and describes the different types of consonants in English according each of these three aspects.

Uploaded by

ABDOU T O U M I
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 4

Teacher’s Name: Prof Faiza SENOUCI

Level: L1

Module: Phonetics

Course number: 01

Course title: English consonants

The definition of consonants:

Consonants are sounds made with partial or full constriction made by articulators at some
level in the vocal tract during their production. Unlike vowels which are characterized with
tongue-height, frontness/backness and lip position, consonants are described and classified
on the basis of three aspects:

1. Place of Articulation: it refers to the point where the constriction occurs (as two
speech organs come close to each other to form this constriction). Following the
place articulation, the 24 English consonants are classified into eight types:

-Bilabial: the lips are pressed together: /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/.

-Labio-dental: the lower lip is in contact with the upper teeth: /f/, /v/

-Dental: the tip of the tongue is raised against the upper teeth: /Ɵ/, /ð/

-Alveolar: the tip of the tongue is raised against the alveolar ridge: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/,
/n/, /l/.

- Palato-alveolar: the front of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge and the front of
the hard palate: /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /r/.

- Palatal: the front of the tongue is raised against the hard palate: /j/

- Velar: the back of the tongue is in contact with the soft palate (velum): /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.

- Glottal: constriction behind the glottis (opening between the vocal cords): /h/, plus
the glottal stop [Ɂ] as an allophonic realization.

2. Manner of Articulation: it refers to the manner of constriction (i.e., whether there


is a complete or a slight closure of the air passage). In other words, it is the way in
which consonants are produced. Taking this aspect into consideration, the English
consonants are classified into six types:

- Plosives (also called stops): they are sounds produced with a complete closure of
the airstream behind the glottis, then a sudden release of air with a plosion: /p/,
/b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.

- Fricatives: they are sounds produced with a partial blocking of air, as it continues to
flow through a narrow passage between the articulators making an audible kind of
friction: /f/, /v/, /Ɵ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/,/ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/

- Affricates: just like plosives, the air is blocked at the beginning of their production,
then, like fricatives, they are released with friction through a narrow passage; there
are two affricates in English: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.

- Nasals: these sounds are particular because during their production, the air escapes
through the nasal cavity and nostrils while the velum is lowered, and there is a
complete closure in the oral cavity: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.

-Lateral: in English there is only one lateral sound /l/. It is called so, because during
its production the air does not flow the usual way along the tongue as for other
consonants, but through the two sides of the tongue which are pulled down while
the tip of the tongue is against the alveolar ridge.

- Approximants: during the production of these sounds, the articulators approach


each other without making a real contact, allowing the air to pass without a real
constriction: /w/, /j/, /r/.

3. Voicing: this aspect denotes whether the sound is voiced or voiceless. The quality
of voicing is the result of the different positions the vocal cords take when
articulating sounds. a- When they are wide apart without any vibration, the sounds
produced are voiceless. English has the following voiceless sounds: /p/, /t/, /k/,
/f/, /Ɵ/, /s/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/. b- When the space between the vocal cords is narrowed, the
result is the voiceless fricative sound /h/. c-When there is a rapid closing and opening
of the vocal cords, the air passing through the glottis causes vibration and the sounds
produced are voiced. Besides the English vowel sounds which are all voiced, the
voiced consonants are: /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /ð/, /z/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/, /m, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /w/, /j/,
/r/.

The following table summarizes the classification of the English consonant sounds on
the basis of the three aforementioned aspects.

Table 1.1 The English consonants

* The glottal stop [Ɂ] only occurs as an onset to vowels, as in [(Ɂ)ǝʊld], or as an allophonic
realisation of /p, t, k/ in certain phonetic contexts or certain dialects, e.g., [ˋpʰɪɁtʃə] instead of
[ˋpʰɪktʃə].

Differentiation between Vowels and Consonants

Given the different nature of these two speech sound classes, vowels and
consonants are described in different terms: 1. Vowels are described in terms of
tongue position > close/open, front/back, length and lip position, e.g. /i:/ is a long
close/front vowel with rounded lips. 2. Consonants are described in terms of
articulation > place and manner + voicing, e.g. /m/ is a voiced bilabial nasal
consonant. 3. Another distinction is in the passage of air: during the production of
vowels, there is no real obstruction to the flow of air from the glottis to the outside;
but in consonantal production, the speech organs make an obstruction to the flow of
air which can be partial, as in fricatives like /s/, or total in plosives like /b/. However,
in the case of /h/ and /w/ (traditionally regarded as semivowels), it is their
consonantal distribution which classifies them as 9 consonants. Roach (1991: 51) says
that “phonetically h is a voiceless vowel with the quality of the voiced sound that
follows it.” But phonologically, it is a consonant as it is followed by a vowel as in
‘head’ or ‘ahead’.

You might also like