/f/ /v/ /θ/ /ð/ /s/ /z/ / / / / /h/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ʃ ʒ

Manner of articulation

Manner of articulation describes the degree of narrowing in the oral tract (the degree of stricture). However, manner labels also specify the escape channel, the initiating source of the airflow involved, and certain acoustic or perceptual characteristics.Escape channel is either oral or nasal (or both – nasalized segments), and when it is oral it can be central or lateral.The airstream mechanism used for most speech articulations is pulmonic. The degree of stricture can be complete closure, producing stops and nasals. Pulmonic stops made with outward-flowing air are called plosives.

Fricatives are consonants with the characteristic that when they are produced, air escapes through a small passage and makes a hissing sound. All languages have fricatives, probably always including something like s. Fricatives are continuant consonants, which means that you can continue making them without interruption as long as you have enough air in your lungs. You can demonstrate the importance of the narrow passage for the air in the following ways:

- Make a long, hissing s sound and gradually lower your tongue so that it is no longer close to the roof of the mouth. The hissing sound will stop as the air passage gets larger.

- Make a long f sound, and while you are producing this sound use your fingers to pull the lower lip away from the upper teeth. Notice how the hissing sound of the air escaping between teeth and lip suddenly stops.

The basic characteristic of a nasal consonant is that the air escapes through the nose. For this to happen, the soft palate must be lowered; in the case of all the other consonants and vowels, the soft palate is raised and air cannot pass through the nose. In nasal consonants, however, the air does not pass through the mouth; it is prevented by a complete closure in the mouth at some point. If you produce a long sequence dndndndndndndn without moving your tongue from the position for alveolar closure, you will feel your soft palate moving up and down. The three types of closure are: bilabial (lips), alveolar (tongue blade against alveolar ridge) and velar (back of the tongue against the soft palate). This set of places produces three nasal consonants, m, n, ŋ, which correspond to the three places of articulation for the pairs of plosives p b, t d, k g.

Force of articulation

In linguistics, fortis and lenis are terms generally used to refer to groups of consonants that are produced with greater and lesser energy, respectively, such as in energy applied, articulation, etc. “Fortis” and “Lenis” were coined as less misleading terms to refer to consonantal contrasts in languages that do not employ actual vocal fold vibration in their voiced consonants but instead involved amounts of “articulatory strength”.

Consonants Voiced/Voiceless Force Manner/f/ Voiceless Fortis Fricative/v/ Voiced Lenis Fricative/ /θ Voiceless Fortis Fricative/ð/ Voiced Lenis Fricative/s/ Voiceless Fortis Fricative/z/ Voiced Lenis Fricative/ /ʃ Voiceless Fortis Fricative/ /ʒ Voiced Lenis Fricative/h/ Voiceless - Fricative/m/ Voiced - Nasal/n/ Voiced - Nasal/ŋ/ Voiced - Nasal

Manner of Articulation: The lower lip comes very close to the upper teeth and creates a narrow gap. The air escapes through the narrow gap with audible friction.

Voicing:Fricatives Voicing Reason/f/ Voiceless (Fortis) Vocal folds do not vibrate

while producing voice/v/ Voiced (Lenis) Vocal folds vibrate while

producing voice

Distribution: /f/ and /v/ can occur initially, medially and finally.Fricatives Initial Medial Final/f/ fast confer deaf/v/ void bevel dove

Manner of Articulation: The tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth and the blade touches the edge of the upper teeth. The air escapes through the narrow gap between the tip and the blade of the tongue and the front upper teeth and causes audible friction. However, these sounds could be produced in other manners as well:• The tongue tip may come close to the back of the upper teeth.• The tip or blade of the tongue may approach or touch the upper teeth.

Voicing:Fricatives Voicing Reason/θ/ Voiceless (Fortis) Vocal folds do not vibrate

while producing voice/ð/ Voiced (Lenis) Vocal folds vibrate while

producing voice

Distribution: /θ/and /ð/can occur initially, medially and finally.Fricatives Initial Medial Final/θ/ theme ether sheath/ð/ thus brother breathe

Manner of Articulation: The tip and the blade of the tongue come very close to the alveolar ridge and create a narrow gap. The air passes through the narrow gap with audible friction.

Voicing:Fricatives Voicing Reason/s/ Voiceless (Fortis) Vocal folds do not vibrate

while producing voice/z/ Voiced (Lenis) Vocal folds vibrate while

producing voice

Distribution: /s/and /z/can occur initially, medially and finally.Fricatives Initial Medial Final/s/ sit beside gas/z/ zoo dazzle nose

Manner of Articulation: The air passage is blocked by the above articulators. But in contrast with /s/ and /z/, the tongue is placed further back of the alveolar ridge. The closure is then released slowly and the air escapes with audible friction.

Voicing:Fricatives Voicing Reason/ʃ/ Voiceless (Fortis) Vocal folds do not vibrate

while producing voice/ʒ/ Voiced (Lenis) Vocal folds vibrate while

producing voice

Distribution: /ʃ/ can occur initially, medially and finally. Contrariwise, /ʒ/ occurs only medially.Fricatives Initial Medial Final/ʃ/ ship pressure wash/ʒ/ - Pleasure -

Manner of Articulation: This sound is produced differently than the other fricatives since it does not involve the tongue or the teeth as articulators. For /h/, the sole articulator is the glottis, which is the opening between the vocal folds. The sound is produced when the air passes through the glottis as it is narrowed. The said opening is narrow enough to create some audible friction in the airstream flowing past the vocal folds.

Voicing:Fricatives Voicing Reason/h/ Voiceless Vocal folds do not vibrate

while producing voice

Distribution: /h/ can occur initially and medially.Fricative Initial Medial Final/h/ hen behave -

Manner of Articulation: During the articulation of /m/ the two lips are pressed together and a closure is made. The soft palate is lowered; consequently the air then goes up the nasal cavity and passes out through the nose.

Voicing: During the articulation of /m/ the vocal folds vibrate, hence it is a voiced bilabial nasal sound.

Distribution: /m/ can occur initially, medially, and finally, for instance:

Nasal Initial Medial Final/m/ mat laymen gum

Manner of Articulation: During the articulation of /n/the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge and creates a closure. The air is held behind the closure for a while. The soft palate is lowered; consequently the air then goes up the nasal cavity and passes out through the nose.

Voicing: During the articulation of /n/ the vocal folds vibrate, hence it is a voiced alveolar nasal sound.Distribution: /n/ can occur initially, medially, and finally, for instance:

Nasal Initial Medial Final/n/ naive sand gun

Manner of Articulation: During the articulation the back of the tongue comes near the soft palate and creates a closure. The soft palate is lowered; consequently the air then goes up the nasal cavity and passes out through the nose.

Voicing: During the articulation of /ŋ/ the vocal folds vibrate, hence it is a voiced velar nasal sound.Distribution: /n/ can occur medially, and finally, for instance:

Nasal Initial Medial Final/ŋ/ - Ankle bring

Example words:/f/: fan /v/: van - /f/: safer /v/: saver - /f/: half /v/: halve/θ/: thumb /ð/: thus - /θ/: ether /ð/: father - /θ/: breath /ð/: breathe/s/: sip /z/: zip - /s/: facing /z/: phasing - /s/: rice /z/: rise

/ʃ/: ship (Initial ʒ is very rare in English) - /ʃ/: Russia /ʒ/: measure - /ʃ/: Irish /ʒ/: garage/h/: head - /h/: ahead - /h/: playhouse/m/: mother - /m/: gentleman - /m/: farm/n/: note - /n/: country - /n/: burn/ŋ/: (Initial ŋ does not exist) - /ŋ/: anger - /ŋ/: sing

Differences and similarities between English and Spanish consonants

First English makes use of the twenty-six consonant oppositions; Spanish only seventeen or nineteen, according to the variety spoken. Secondly, whereas English has two pairs of affricate and four pairs of fricative phonemes, Spanish has one single affricate and five (or four) single fricatives. Thirdly, half the English phonemes (i.e. thirteen) are normally articulated in the alveolar region, as against only six in Spanish. Lastly, only ten (or eleven) of the twenty-six English phonemes have similar Spanish ones to correspond: /p, b, k, g, tʃ, m, n, l, f, (θ), s/.

A confrontation at the phonetic level reveals that only about half the seventy-odd English allophones have either similar or near equivalent Spanish ones to correspond. This proportion would be even lower if we took into consideration regional differences – e.g. (θ, z, ʒ, h), etc. occur only in certain varieties of Spanish.Spanish consonants are in general articulated with weaker muscular tension than their English counterparts.Spanish consonants are in general shorter than the English ones.The Spanish lenis consonants are normally devoiced in the same circumstances as English ones.The velars and /n, m/ are influenced by the phonetic environment in the same way in English and Spanish, thus giving rise to pre- and post-velar, and labio-dental articulations, respectively; dentalization of /n, l/ when followed by /θ/ is possible only in Castilian, though not in Latin American Spanish, e.g. alza (‘alθa); post-alveolar variants do not normally occur in Spanish.

Consonants occur a little more frequently in English than in Spanish.

Distributional restrictions affecting allophones common to both languages:Sp. /b, d, g/ are realized as fricatives, or their corresponding approximants.Sp. /b, k, m/ are of extremely rare occurrence in final position.Sp. /s/ is normally dropped in preconsonantal and final position in Argentina, Chile and Central America, and replaced by /h/.Sp. /z/, an allophone of /s/ used by some nationalities (e.g. Colombian, Castilian), occurs only before voiced consonants; Eng. /z/ is of much freer occurrence.Sp. /ŋ/ an allophone of /n/, occurs only before velars. Its occurrence without the intervention of velars is restricted to some Andean and Central American nationalities; Eng. /ŋ/ occurs medially or finally, with or without the presence of other velars.

Common mistakes in Spanish speakers

/θ/ & /ð/Both of these consonants require that the speakers place the tip of the tongue between the teeth and and let the air escape through a little gap between the tongue and teeth but Spanish learners ,as with most learners of English, seem to find this quite difficult to manage. What happens then is that they keep their tongue inside and press the tongue tip against their teeth resulting in /t/ instead of /θ/ and /d/ instead of /ð/.

/θ/: thin; wrath; moth; thigh; Ruth; truth etc./ð/: weather; loathe; then; writhe; scythe; rather etc.

/m/It needs to be remembered that this is a consonant produced by closing the lips and pushing air through the nose at the same time. Spanish speakers have no problem pronouncing this consonant when it’s in the beginning of the word as in [miss] or [mister] but when it occurs in the end of the word, they fail to close their lips. Instead, they only raise their tongue tip up towards the gum producing /n/. The students need to be reminded to close their lips completely when they see /m/ in the end. The real challenge though is when Spanish learners have to pronounce [th] after /m/ as this requires sticking the tip between the teeth immediately after closing the lips for /m/.

/m/: dream; rhyme; fame; William; sitcom; some etc.

/n/ & /ŋ/When /n/ is either in the beginning or middle of the word, Spanish speakers place the the tongue tip between the teeth instead of bringing it into contact with the alveolar ridge. Although this does not affect the sound much, it delays the production of the succeeding sounds. Consider the word [anything]. When /n/ is the final sound of a word, Spanish speakers tend to confuse it with /ŋ/ and thus fail to raise their tongue tip up to contact the gum ridge and when they are instructed to do that, they have an issue synchronizing the movement of the tongue with releasing the air out. /n/ then does not sound entirely clear when it’s at the end of the word. Ironically, when Spanish speakers see [ng] in the end, they sometimes pronounce it as /n/ raising the tip of their tongue to touch the ridge area.

/n/ (beginning and middle): name; knight; north; listener; onion etc./n/ (end): corn; thin; pen; can; listen; Huston; pardon etc.

Voiced Vs. VoicelessOne of the most frequent errors for Spanish learners is voicing and de-voicing consonant. Quite a significant problem for them is /z/ + vowel as in [zero] which is pronounced as /si:roʊ/ but also /s/ + consosnant as in [sleep], which is sometimes pronounced as /zli:p/. It remains most difficult for them however to voice the final [s] in the word as in [please].Voicing and de-voicing consonants is an issue that does not only affect /s/, it also affects /f/ and /v/, /k/ and /g/, /t/ and /d/, /tʃ/ and /ʤ/, /∫/ and /ʒ/, /p/ and /p/ and finally /θ/ and /ð/. Sometimes the above consonants are also omitted from word endings depending on what comes after them.

/z/: zero; please; is; rise; hazard; hazel; etc./f/ and /v/: five and “fife”/k/ and /g/: log and lock/t/ and /d/: kid and kit/tʃ/ and /ʤ/ (especially at word endings): bridge and breach/∫/ and /ʒ/: usually and “ushully”/p/ and /b/: Bob and bop/θ/ and /ð/: with and width

/h/Not all Spanish learners make the same error as it depends on the area they come from as well as the level of proficiency. The error occurs when Spanish students move the root of the tongue back towards the velum narrowing the air passage considerably. Such a sound is also known to be a feature of the Arabic language. In English, the voiceless consonant /h/ is made by relaxing the tongue completely and letting the air flow out of the mouth without interference from the tongue. Commonly, Spanish learners mispronounce this consonant at the beginning of the word as in [have].

/h/: have; height; hell; husband; helicopter; haste etc.

/v/Apart from de-voicing or omitting /v/ at word endings, Spanish learners are not able to prevent the upper lip from coming into contact with the lower lip when producing /v/, the result is /b/. The greatest challenge for Spanish learners is represented by the word [over] when they are supposed to produce the vowel /oʊ/ prior to /v/ which requires them to move both lips, then freeze the upper lip and move the lower lip independently against the upper teeth.

/v/: over; oval; rove; novel; hover; drove, but also, prove; move; I’ve etc.

Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing the ways to pronounce the final -s in plurals and third person.Give students examples for each as follows:

"We pronounce it /z/ when the word ends with…"Final Letter Plurals He, She, ItB mobs grabsG bugs bringsV caves lovesD parades slidesM jams slamsN vans bansL dolls callsR doors starsW cows sows

"We pronounce it /s/ when the word ends with…"Final Letter Plurals He, She, ItP caps StopsK tasks AsksT dots PatsF puffs Stuffs

"We pronounce it /iz/ or /is/ when the word ends with…"Final Letter Plurals He, She, ItS glasses passesCH matches watchesSH dishes washes

Spanish speakers have difficulty distinguishing the ways to pronounce the -ed in past-tense verbs.Give students examples for each as follows:

"We pronounce it /d/ when the word ends with…"Final Letter Past TenseB mobbedG beggedV lovedM jammedN bannedL calledR starredW sowed

"We pronounce it /t/ when the word ends with…"Final Letter Past TenseP stoppedK askedS passedF stuffed (and laughed)

"When the word ends with t, it sounds like /tid/ as in patted.""When the word ends with d, it sounds like /did/ as in added."

Spanish speakers may leave out word endings when saying or spelling a word.

For example: restauran instead of restaurant; end instead of ended. They may also have problems spelling words that contain the consonant blends, initial sounds, and final sounds listed in the box above.Additionally, students might substitute:ll for y (because ll is the nearest sound in Spanish. For example: llelow instead of yellow.)j for h (because h is silent in Spanish, they might use j. For example: jope instead of hope.)