UNIVERSIDAD PEDAGOGICA EXPERIMENTAL LIBERTADOR

INSTITUTO PEDAGOGICO DE CARACAS

DEPARTAMENTO DE IDIOMAS MODERNOS
PROGRAMA INGLÉS
CÁTEDRA DE FONÉTICA Y FONOLOGÍA

Consonants

Designed by Glasmiry Bello

 Consonants

Celce Murcia (1996) “The sounds in which the air stream

meets some obstacles on its way up from the lungs” (p. 27)

Simplified definition:
They are human speech sounds made with a complete or
partial obstruction of the airflow, at some point of the vocal
tract, as a result, of the approximation of two articulators.
 Consonants
Characteristics
 Thesesounds are made with a constriction or full closure at
some point of the vocal tract made by the
contact/approximation of 2 articulators.

 Consonants can be voiced or voiceless: there may or may not

be audible vocal cord vibration.

 Consonants are mostly oral: they are produced with airflow

through the oral cavity; nevertheless, for some consonants the
air escapes through the nasal cavity, so they are nasal
 Criteria to classify
consonants

 Point/Place
of Articulation (Where the obstruction or close
approximation in the vocal tract is produced)

 Manner of Articulation (How the obstruction affects the

airflow during the production of the consonant sound)

 Voicing (The Audible or Non-audible vibration of the vocal

folds)
 Point/Place of
Articulation

 Bilabial: /p, b, m/
 Labiodental: /f, v/
 Dental: / θ, ð/
 Alveolar: /t, d, n, s, z, l, r/
 Alveopalatal / palato-alveolar: ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ/
 Palatal: (Spanish-ñ)
 Velar: /ŋ, k, g/
 Point/Place of
Articulation

 Uvular (French-r)
 Pharyngeal

 Glottal /h/
 Labio-velar: /w/
 Palato-alveolar: /j/
 Point/Place of
Articulation

English Consonants
 Manner of Articulation

 Stops: /p, b, t, d, k, g/
 Fricatives: /f, v, θ, ð, ʃ, ʒ, s, z, h/
 Affricates: /tʃ, dʒ/
 Nasals: /m, n, ŋ/
 Laterals: /l/
 Retroflex: /r/
 Approximants or Semivowels /j, w/
 Flap: [ʕ]
 Trill: (Spanish-r)
 Manner of Articulation

Oral Consonants Nasal Consonants

 Voicing

 Voiceless and Voiced