Describing the English Consonants:

Place of Articulation

Consonant sounds are distinguished in terms of place of articulation, manner of

articulation and voicing. It seems difficult but don’t worry, it’s very simple.

The articulation of consonants implies some kind of obstruction of the air

passage. The place of articulation is the meeting point between an active and a
passive articulator (the articulators which make the obstruction). The active
articulator usually moves in order to make the constriction and the passive
articulator just sits there and gets approached. In this image we can see the
articulators:

In English we find eight places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental,

alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.

1. Bilabial: it's done by bringing both lips together .

2. Labiodental: it's is done with the lower lip and the upper teeth.
3. Dental: it's done with the tongue and the upper teeth.
4. Alveolar: it's done with the tongue and the alveolar ridge.
5. Post-alveolar: it's done with the blade of the tongue and the back of
the alveolar ridge.
6. Palatal: it's done with the front of the tongue and the hard palate.
7. Velar: it's done with the back of the tongue and the soft palate.
8. Glottal: it's done with the vocal folds open.

The manner of articulation is the degree of the airstream's obstruction and the
type of closure made by the articulators. In English there are seven manners of
articulation: plosive, nasal, fricative, approximant, lateral, tap and affricate.

1. Plosive: it's made when the articulators are tight united producing a
complete obstruction of the airstream. When the air finally separates
the articulators a small explosion is produced.
2. Nasal: it's made when there is a complete obstruction of the airstream
in the oral cavity and the air goes to the nasal cavity because the soft
palate (or velum) is down.
3. Fricative: it's made by a narrowing of the vocal tract, so that a
turbulent airflow is produced.
4. Aproximant: it's made by one articulator approaching another, but
with less constriction than in a fricative.
5. Lateral: it's made by an obstruction in the center of the oral tract, with
incomplete closure between both sides of the tongue and the roof of
the mouth so the air can pass through them.
6. Tap: it's made by a single tap of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
7. Affricate: it's made by the combination of a plosive with a fricative.

Finally the voicing allows us to distinguish between voiced and voiceless sounds.
This is easy to test by putting your finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration
the sound is voiced. If you don't feel the vibration (just a short explosion of air as
you pronounce) the sound is voiceless.

Source: http://easypeasyenglishlearning.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-to-describe-consonant-
sounds.html