/ju:nɪvɜ:səti ɒv ði: eɪtθ ɒv meɪ naɪnti:n fɔ:ti faɪv/

/fæklti ɒv letəz ænd læŋgwɪdʒɪz/

/dɪpɑ:tmənt ɒv letəz ænd ɪŋglɪʃ/
Teacher: Mr /zəmu:rɪ /
/fənetɪks/

/fɜ:st jɪə/

Plosives
Plosive consonants are formed by completely closing the air passage, then compressing the air
and suddenly opening the passage so that the air escapes making an explosive sound.
Description of the articulation of a plosive: The articulation of a plosive passes through
four different stages:
1. The closing stage (stricture): It is when an articulator or two articulators move to form
an obstacle.
2. The compression phase: The air stream which is cut is blocked and compressed behind
the obstacle; the vocal folds may vibrate for voiced plosives.
3. The release phase: The articulators used to form the obstacle are moved so as to allow
the air to escape, the vocal folds may vibrate for voiced plosives.
4. The post-release phase: It is what happens immediately after the release phase.
*English has six plosive consonants /p, b, t, d, k, g/. The glottal plosive /?/ occurs frequently
but it is of less importance since it is usually just an alternative pronunciation of /t/.

Bilabial Alveolar Velakr

Voiceless (fortis) /p/ /t/ /k/
Voiced (lenis) /b/ /d/ /g/

Possible distributions of plosives:

/p/: A voiceless bilabial plosive consonant.

Initial Medial Final Sp Spr Pl Pr p/p

Position Position Position cluster cluster cluster cluster clash
Pea Appear Lip Speed Spring Please Pray Top people
Peace Cooper Cap Spade Spray Reply Proud Top please
Pit Compose Cup Spot Spread Employ Print Sharp pin
Pet Compare Tape Spy Surprise
Pot

/p/ sound is represented by the letter “p”. it is sometimes silent when it is followed by “t, n, s,”
for example: psalm, pneumatic, ptarmigan, cupboard, raspberry.

/b/: A voiced bilabial plosive consonant.

Initial Medial Final Br Bl Mb b/b

Position Position Position cluster cluster cluster clash
Be Obey Bread Bread Bleat Timber Rib broken
 Bit Robber Brother Brother Black Nmber Rob banks
Bet Stubborn Broad Broad Blast November Rub both
Bat Brain Brain Blood
But

/b/ as a final letter preceded by /m/ it is mostly silent, e.g. lamb, climb, comb. When it is
followed by /t/ it is sometimes silent, e.g. debt, doubt, subtle.

/t/: A voiceless alveolar plosive consonant.

Initial Medial Final St Str Tr tn Tl t/t

Position Position Position cluster cluster cluster cluster cluster cluster
Tea Attack White Stop Stream Stree Cotton Bottle At two
Tall Beauty Cat Stick Strike Attract Button Metal At time
Toy Entire Cut Student Stroll control Kitten Vital Cat tail
Tar Rat trap

- Final “ed” verbs: missed, laughed, washed, jumped …

- /t/ is sometimes silent with words ending in “sten”, “stle”, example: castle, listen, often,
fasten, Christmas.

/d/: A voiced alveolar plosive consonant.

Initial Medial Final Dr Dn Dl d/d

Position Position Position cluster cluster cluster clash
Dawn Address Lord Drop Golden Middle Blood drop
Down Ladder Good Drive Pardon Pedal Good days
Duke Reader Need Dream Sudden Puddle Mad dogs
Duck Wooden saddle

/k/: A voiceless velar plosive consonant.

Initial Medial Final /kl/ /kr/ /kw/ /kj/

Position Position Position cluster cluster cluster Cluster
Coal Hocky Park Clash Christmas Queen Cube
Cough Naked Look Claim Crazy Quiet Accuse
Cup Occur Neck Climb Cream Quite Queue
Record Spoke Crash Quick Secure

/k/ is spelt: “c” cat, coat, cut.

“ch” character, chemist, Christmas.

 “qu” quarter, queen, conquer, antique.

“x” is pronounced /ks/: box, ox.

/g/: A voiced velar plosive.

Initial Position Medial Position Final Position Gl cluster Gr cluster

Guest Bargain Pig Glide Green
Gossip Eager Egg Glove Great
Gun Forget Rug Glory Grain
Gone Vague Glare Grade
Grand

“x” is pronounced /gz/, example: exact, examine, exhibit.

Aspiration:

The release of /p, t, k/ is followed by a burst of noise (plosion) making a sound like /h/,
example: pardon /pa:dn/, take /t k/. full aspiration is heard when a voiceless plosive is in
intial position followed by long vowel or diphthong.

The most important and noticeable difference between initial. /p, t, k/ and /b, d, g/ is that /p, t,
k/ are produced with more force than /b, d, g/. names are given to the two parts of plosives
(and some other consonants), so the voiceless are called “fortis” meaning strong and the
woiced are called “lenis” meaning weak.

Rules of Aspiration:

1. The aspiration depends on quality and legth of vowels, diphthongs and triphthongs
e.g: [ ] [ ] [ ]
2. Aspiration depends on stress e.g. [ ] / [ ]
3. They are never aspirated finally e.g: [ ]
4. They are never aspirated when they are preceded by /s/ e.g: [ ]
5. When we have a sequence of consonants + /p, t, k/, they are never aspirated e.g: [stres]