PHONETICS

ENGLISH CONSONANTS

Phonetics means the study of speech sounds. In English there are 26 letters of
alphabets. But there are 44 varied sounds which are called phonemes. A phoneme is
the smallest sound unit in a language that is capable of conveying district meaning.
These phonemes are in accordance with International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). These
phonemes are mainly classified into Vowels and Consonants. This classification is
based on the sound but not alphabet.

The phonetics of English consists of forty four symbols for the various speech
sounds. They are divided into two groups such as vowels and consonants. Consonants
are twenty four in number.

Consonants are the speech sounds produced with some audible friction. While
producing a Consonant, the air stream is blocked at some places.

When we describe the consonants, we must give the following details.

1. Place of articulation.
2. Manner of articulation.
3. Position of the soft Palate (Velum) – whether it is raised or lowered.

When the vocal cards vibrate, the voiced Consonants are produced, when they
do not vibrate, the voiceless Consonants are produced.
The articulators involved in the articulation of consonants are:
1. Lower lip and tongue. They are movable and called Active Articulators.
2. Upper lip, upper teeth, teeth ridge (alveolum) hard palate, and soft palate
(Velum).
 According to the manner of articulation the Consonants are divided into seven
groups namely;

1. Plosives,
2. Affricates,
3. Fricatives,
4. Nasals,
5. Lateral,
6. Frictionless Continuant and
7. Semivowels.

The table - showing the Place and Manner of English Consonants.

Refer the book

 Plosives are produced with a stricture of complete closure of oral

passage and a sudden release of air stream.
 Affricatives are produced with a complete closure and slow release
of air.
 Fricatives are produced with some friction.
 During the production of nasals, soft palate is lowered and closed the
oral passage. The air stream passes through the nose. They are
Voiced Consonants.
 During the production of lateral, the sides of the tongue touch the
alveolar part. The air escapes along the sides of the tongue. It is
Voiced Consonant.
 During the production of Semivowels, the soft palate is raised the air
passes through the mouth. The tongue takes a position necessary to
produce a Vowel sound.