Overview

1. Description and Classification of Consonants

2937. English Phonetics and Phonology. 1.1. Voice

2012-2013 1.2. Place of articulation (POA)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
Week 3.
Unit 1. Lecture 2. 2. Examples of consonant description & classification

Consonants 3. Summary and references

1. Consonant Description & Classification 1.1. Voice

─ To describe consonants, a simple pedagogical three- • VOICE (or Voicing)

term labelling system for consonants is often used ─ The state of the glottis supplies the first term in the
─ This system uses three parameters in the order… three-term labelling system for consonants
VOICE (1st) ─ 2 relevant states of the glottis ─ /s/ English Sue
PLACE OF ARTICULATION (2nd)
MANNER of ARTICULATION (3rd) Voiceless Voiced ─ /z/ English zoo
─ E.g. /s/ in ‘sun’ is a voiceless alveolar fricative ─ /p/ Spanish pata
VOICE POA MOA
─ /b/ Spanish bata

1.2. Place of articulation (POA) 1.2. Place of articulation (POA)

• The oral cavity
─ There are static or passive /k/ as in ‘call’
articulators on the upper ─ the velum (or soft palate)
surface of the oral cavity ─ the hard palate
─ the alveolar ridge
─ There are active articulators
─ the teeth (upper & lower)
(lower lip and tongue) moving
towards the passive ones ─ the lips (upper & lower)
─ the tongue tip
─ POA is the target area where blade
an active articulator is when it’s front
moved towards the passive one back

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 1.2. Place of articulation (POA) 1.2. Place of articulation (POA)
• Articulators: structures/parts of the vocal tract that • There are nine main POA categories in English,
interact to create specific sounds named after the articulators
─ Upper lip: (bi)labial
• Most important active • Most important passive ─ Teeth: dental
articulators articulators for English
─ Lower lip and upper teeth: labio-dental
─ Lower lip ─ Upper lip ─ Alveolar ridge: alveolar
─ Tongue (and its parts) ─ Teeth ─ Back of alveolar ridge: post-alveolar
─ Vocal folds ─ Alveolar ridge ─ Hard palate: palatal
─ Hard palate ─ Velum/soft palate: velar
─ Soft palate (velum) ─ Vocal folds: glottal
─ Upper lip and velum: labial-velar

1.2. Place of articulation (POA) 1.2. Place of articulation (POA)

Rare Infrequent

Labio-dental /f/ in fest Dental /θ/ in think

Glottal /h/ hot Palatal /j/ yes Labial-velar /w/ we
/v/ in vest /ð/ in this

1.2. Place of articulation (POA) 1.2. Place of articulation (POA)

Frequent Very frequent
(bi)labial /p/ pet Velar /k/ car Alveolar /t/ time /s/ loose Post-alveolar /ʃ/ shy
/b/ bet /g/ game /d/ day /z/ lose /ʒ/ casual
/m/ met /ŋ/ sing /n/ net /ʧ/ chain
/ʤ/ Jane
/r/ rain

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 1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
─ MOA refers to the way the articulators alter the shape
of the vocal tract which, in turn, modifies the airflow
─ There are five main MOA categories in English:
plosives, nasals, fricatives, affricates and approximants
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
• NASALS have three main stages, in this order:
a) oral closure + nasal airflow (air
goes through oral and nasal cavities
simultaneously)
b) hold (the oral closure is maintained)
c) release (the oral closure is released)
-bilabial /m/ (from, my)
-alveolar /n/ (nut, sin)
-velar /ŋ/: (sing, strong)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
PLOSIVES
• AFFRICATES have three stages:
a) closure (articulators approach and
make a firm contact)
b) hold (the closure is maintained) FRICATIVES
c) slow release (which leaves a narrow
space between the articulators
permitting some turbulent airflow)
AFFRICATES
-post-alveolar /ʧ/ (chin)
/ʤ/ (gin)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
• PLOSIVES have three main stages, in this order:
a) closure (articulators approach
and make a firm contact)
b) hold (the closure is maintained)
c) rapid release (articulators part)
-bilabial /p/ (pin), /b/ (bin)
-alveolar /t/ (tour), /d/ (door)
-velar /k/ (come), /g/ (gum)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
• FRICATIVES have two stages:
a) approach (articulators approach)
b) narrow approximation (articulators
leave a narrow space in between them,
permitting a turbulent airflow heard as
a hissing, buzzing, or hushing sound)
-labio-dental /f/ (ferry), /v/ (very)
-dental /θ/ (think) , /ð/ (this) -alveolar /s/ (sue, /z/ (zoo)
-post-alveolar /ʃ/ (she), /ʒ/ (treasure) -glottal /h/ (he)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
PLOSIVES, NASALS,
• APPROXIMANTS have two stages: AFFRICATES
a) approach (articulators approach)
b) wide approximation (articulators
leave a wide space in between them, FRICATIVES
with the airflow escaping freely
without any turbulence)
─ Old-fashioned names for specific
types of approximants are semi- APPROXIMANTS
vowels (/w/, /j/) and liquids (/r/, /l/)
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 1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)
• APPROXIMANTS: /w/ and /j/
• APPROXIMANTS
— Often called semivowels because
FRICATIVE
APPROXIMANT they resemble the vowels [i] and
[u] articulatorily and acoustically

Labial-velar /w/: won, one

Palatal /j/: young, yest

Wide space Narrow space

1.3. Manner of articulation (MOA)

2. Examples of consonant descr. & class.
• APPROXIMANTS: /l/ and /r/ Post-alveolar /r/

─ 3-term labelling of consonants: Examples

— /l/ and /r/ are often called ‘liquids’
(laterals and r-sounds) VOICING PLACE MANNER
1st 2nd 3rd
— Post-alveolar /r/: red
/p/ in ‘shepherd’ voiceless bilabial plosive
— Alveolar /l/: light Alveolar LATERAL
APPROXIMANT
(the air escapes through the sides of /l/ in ‘light’ voiced alveolar lateral
the tongue, so it’s sometimes approximant
described as a lateral (approximant)

2. Examples of consonant descr. & class. 2. Examples of consonant descr. & class.
─ 3-term labelling of consonants: Examples ─ 3-term labelling of consonants: Examples

VOICING PLACE MANNER VOICING PLACE MANNER

1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd

/m/ in ‘my’ Voiced bilabial nasal /j/ in ‘yes’ voiced palatal approximant

/f/ in ‘cough’ Voiceless labio-dental fricative /ʤ/ in ‘just’ voiced post-alveolar affricate

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 3. Summary and references

─ Three-term labelling system for English consonants

─ Voicing: (2 categories) voiced/voiceless

─ Place of articulation: (9 categories) bilabial, dental,
labio-dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar, glottal,
labial-velar
─ Manner of articulation: (5 categories): plosive,
fricative, affricate, nasal, approximant

Roach, P. 2001. English Phonetics & Phonology: A Practical

Coursebook. CUP.