English Pronunciation and Phonetics

LESSON EIGHT

THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS

I. DESCRIPTION

In the production of consonants, the air stream from the lung is stopped or obstructed obstruction
of the air stream formed in the mouth by the articulators.

As being compared with vowels, the consonants are different from vowels in three aspects.

ASPECTS VOWELS CONSONANTS

Manner of articulation Without any obstruction With stoppage or restriction of the air
stream

Voicing All vowels are voiced Some are voiced whereas others are
sounds voiceless

Distribution Syllabic (forming the core All but some nasal and lateral are not
of a syllable) syllabic; they cannot form the center of
a syllable.

II. CLASSIFICATION

A/ PRINCIPLES:

1. Place of articulation
- Sounds made with both lips (bilabial): The obstruction of the air stream occurs at the
lips; these sounds are made with the two lips coming together.
- Sounds made with the lower lip and the upper teeth (labio-dental): The obstruction
occurs because the lower lip and the upper teeth come together.
- Sounds made with the tip of the tongue and the teeth (dental): The obstruction of the
air stream occurs because the tip of the tongue is between the teeth or touches the
area just behind the upper teeth.
- Sounds made with the tip of tongue and the tooth ridge (alveolar): The obstruction
occurs when the tip of the tongue touches the tooth ridge or alveolar ridge.
- Sounds made with the blade of tongue and the area slightly further back (palato-
alveolar): These sounds are made when the blade of the tongue approaches the area
just behind the tooth ridge.
- Sounds made with the blade of the tongue and the hard palate (palatal): In the
pronunciation of this sound, the blade of the tongue approaches the hard palate.
- Sounds made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate (velar): In producing
these sounds, the back of the tongue touches the soft palate, causing an obstruction
to the air stream.

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- Sounds made with the narrowing opening between the vocal folds (glottal)

BILABIAL POSITION LABIO-DENTAL POSITION DENTAL POSITION

ALVEOLAR POSITION PALATO-ALVEOLAR POSITION PALATAL POSITION

VELAR POSITION

2. Manner of articulation – the way in which the air stream is obstructed

- Complete obstruction of the air stream (stops)
- Partial obstruction of the air stream (fricatives)
- Complex consonants sounds (affricates) – a combination of a stop followed by a
fricative
- Sounds made with the air being stopped in the oral cavity and escaping through the
nasal cavity (nasals)

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- Sounds made with the air escaping along the sides of the tongue (lateral)
- Sounds made when the articulators approach each other but do not get completely
closed (approximants)

3. Voicing – whether there is vibration of the vocal cords

- Sounds made with the vocal folds vibrating (voiced): /b, d, g, v, D, z, Z, dZ, m,
n, N, l, w, r, j/
- Sounds made with no vibration of the vocal folds (voiceless): /p, t, k, f, T, s, S,
h, tS/

v FORTIS and LENIS

- The voiceless consonants are sometimes called fortis (meaning ‘strong’) and voiced
are then called lenis (meaning ‘weak’). When they are in final position, the difference
between them is primarily the fact that vowels preceding voiceless are shorter. The
shortening effect of the voiceless sounds is most noticeable when the vowel is one of
the long vowels or diphthongs.

B/ CONSONANT CHART

Articulatorsà Bilabial Labio- Dental Alveolar Palato- Palatal Velar Glottal

Manners of dental alveolar
articulationâ

Plosive (stop) p b t d k g

Fricative f v T D s z S Z h

Affricate tS dZ

Nasal m n N

Lateral l

Approximant w r j

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