STKIP Kusuma Negara Department of English Education

A. CONSONANT

There are 2 groups of consonants: Voiced and voiceless. When you

pronounce voiced consonants, your throat should vibrate. Put your fingers around
your throat (Adam’s Apple) and feel your throat vibrate. When you
pronounce voiceless consonants, your throat does not vibrate. Only air comes out
of your mouth. It’s same air that would come out if you blew a birthday candle. The
consonant sounds are represented using the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA). Compare between voiced and voiceless consonants as follows.

IPA examples   IPA Examples

Voiced consonant Unvoiced consonant

B book p please
(b k) (pliz)

V vanilla   f five
(v nIl ) (faIv)

they   thirty
( eI) ( ti)

D dish   t ten
(dI ) (t n)

Z zero   s sir
(z ) (s )

genre   she
( nr ) ( i)

jump   cheers
( mp) ( s)

G good   k king
(g d) (kIŋ)
Many consonant sounds come in pairs. For example, P and B are produced in the
same place in the mouth with the tongue in the same position.

The only difference is that P is an unvoiced sound (no vibration of the vocal cords)
while B is a voiced sound (vocal cords vibrate). Put your hand on your throat as you
say the pairs below to feel the difference.

Note that the first pair of consonants in the table (p, b) is produced at the front of the
mouth. Each pair shifts further back with the last pair (k, g) being produced in the
throat.

B. Changing Voice
When consonants are put in groups, they can change the vocal quality of the
consonant that follows. A great example is the past simple form of regular verbs. You
can recognize these verbs because they end in "ed." However, the consonant sound
of this ending can change from voiced to voiceless, depending on the consonant or
vowel that precedes it. In almost all cases, the E is silent. Here are the rules:

 If the "ed" is preceded by a voiceless consonant such as K, it should be

pronounced as a voiceless T. Examples: parked, barked, marked.

 If the "ed" is preceded by a voiced consonant sound such as B or V, it

should be pronounced as a voiced D. Examples: robbed, thrived, shoved.

 If the "ed" is preceded by a vowel sound, it should be pronounced as a

voiced D because vowels are always voiced. Examples: freed, fried, lied.

 Exception: If the "ed" is preceded by T, it should be pronounced a voiced

"id" sound. In this case, the "e" is pronounced. Examples: dotted, rotted,
plotted.

This pattern can also be found with plural forms. If the consonant preceding the S is
voiced, the S will be pronounced phonetically as a Z. Examples: chairs, machines,
bags

If the consonant preceding the S is voiceless, then the S also will be pronounced as
a voiceless consonant. Examples: bats, parks, pipes.

C. Connected Speech
When speaking in sentences, the ending consonant sounds can change based on
the following words. This is often referred to as connected speech.

Here is an example of a change from a voiced B in the word "club" to a voiceless P

because of the voiced T in "to" of the following word: "We went to the club to meet
some friends."

Here is an example of a change from a voiced D past simple verb changed to

voiceless T: "We played tennis yesterday afternoon."