Voicing

Place of Articulation

Manner of Articulation

CONSONANTSPART ONE

Eka Andriyani, S.Pd., M.Hum

WHAT IS CONSONANT?

Consonant is a speech sound produced by

completely or partly stopping the air being breathed

out through the mouth.

(Hornby: Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).

Consonant is a speech sound which is

pronounced by stopping the air from flowing easily

through the mouth, especially by closing the lips or

touching the teeth with the tongue. (Cambridge University Press. : Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary).

English consonants are described by

the IPA (International Phonetics

Alphabets) based on:

A. Voicing;

B. Place of articulation; and

C. Manner of articulation.

A. Voicing

The aspects of voicing are: voiced consonants (those created by the vibration of the vocal cords during production); and voiceless consonants(those created by the absence of vibration of the vocal cords during production).

NOTE:In phonetic chart of the English consonants, where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant.

B. Place of Articulation:

Place of articulation refers to the

places where the air stream from the

lungs or the sound stream from the

larynx is constricted (limited) by the

articulators.

Place: Description:

Bilabial Produced by lower and upper lips. Such as: [p, b, m, (w)].

Labiodental Produced by lower lip and upper front teeth. Such as: [f, v].

DentalProduced by tip or blade of the tongue and the upper front teeth.

Such as: [θ, ð].

AlveolarProduced by tip or blade of the tongue and the alveolar ridge or the gum.

Such as: [t, d, n, s, z, ɹ (r), l].

Palato

Alveolar

Produced by the blade of the tongue and the back part of the alveolar

ridge.

Such as: [ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ].

Palatal Produced by front of the tongue and the hard palate. Such as: [j].

VelarProduced by back of the tongue and the velum (soft palate).

Such as: [k, g, ŋ, w].

Glottal Produced in the epiglottis. Such as: [h].

The Description of Places of Articulation:

C. Manner of Articulation:

Manner of articulation refers to how

the air stream from the lungs is

directed to the mouth and modified

by the various structures to produce

a consonant phoneme.

The Description of Manner of Articulation:

Manner: Description:

PlosiveProduced by the obstruction of air stream from the lungs followed

by a release of the air stream. Such as: [p, b, t, d, k, g]

Nasal Produced by the release of the air through the nasal cavity.

Such as: [m, n, ŋ]

Fricative

Produced by the release of a ‘frictionlike noise’ created by the air

stream escaping through a variant of narrow gaps in the mouth.

Such as: [f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h]

Lateral

Approximant

Produced by the obstruction of the air stream at a point along the

center of the oral track, with incomplete closure between one or

both sides of the tongue and the roof of the tongue. Such as: [l]

Approximant

Produced by proximity (closeness) of two articulators without

turbulence (hard movement and frictionlike noise).

Such as: [w, ɹ (r), j]

Affricate

Produced by involving more than one of those manners of

articulation. Firstly, produce the sounds in the alveolar ridge, then

followed by or combined with fricative sounds. Such as: [tʃ, dʒ]

PHONETIC DIAGRAM OF ENGLISH

CONSONANTS:

p b t d k g

m n ŋ

f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ h

tʃ dʒ

(w) r j w

l

Bilabial Labio-

dentalDental Alveolar Palato-

alveolarPalatal Velar Glottal

Plosive

Nasal

Fricative

Approximant

Lateral

Approximant

Affricate

Note: /w/ is also categorized as a voiced labiovelar approximant.

The Explanation of Consonants

Presentation Format:

For the purposes of clarity and consistency of the parameters of consonant sounds, generally, it can be determined sequentially based on the three aspects of consonants: Describe the sound based on the voicing;

Describe the sound based on the place of articulation; and

Describe the sound based on the manner of articulation.

Thus, to make a sound parameter of /b/ for example, we can describe it as following:

“/b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive sound”.

The Phonetic Transcriptions of the English Consonants

in Words:

Consonants: Words:Phonetic

Transcriptions:

[p] pen /pen/

[b] bad /bæd/

[t] tea /ti:/

[d] did /dɪd/

[k] cat /kæt/

[g] got /gɒt/

[tʃ] chin /tʃɪn/

[dʒ] June /dʒu:n/

[f] fall /fɔ:l/

[v] van /væn/

[θ] thin /θɪn/

[ð] then /ðen/

Consonants: Words: Phonetic Transcriptions:

[s] so /səʊ/

[z] zoo /zu:/

[ʃ] she /ʃi:/

[ʒ] vision /vɪʒn/

[h] how /haʊ/

[m] man /mæn/

[n] no /nəʊ/

[ŋ] sing /sɪŋ/

[l] leg /leg/

[r] red /red/

[j] yes /jes/

[w] wet /wet/

Consonant Cluster:

“A cluster is when two or more consonants of different places of

articulation are produced together in the same syllable.”

(Source: Linda I. House – Introductory Phonetics and Phonology)

Note that clusters are determined based on the sounds, not the letters of the words.

Initial clusters are usually formed by combining various consonants with the /s/, /r/, or /l/ phonemes.

Examples:

sleep ['sli:p], green ['gri:n], blue ['blu:]

Medial clusters usually appear at the beginning of a second or third syllable in a multisyllabic word. Examples:

regret [rɪ'gret], apply [ə'plaɪ], approve [ə'pru:v]

• Final clusters are usually composed of a variety of phonemes including /sk/, /mp/, /ns/, /st/, and /ŋk/.Examples:

desk ['desk], camp ['kæmp], mince ['mɪns], fast ['fɑ:st], bank ['bæŋk].

Clusters can appear in the initial, medial, or

final positions of words: