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CONSONANT SOUNDS IN ENGLISHThere are 24 consonant sounds in English. They are divided according to

place of articulation

manner of articulation

PLACE OF ARTICULATION

MANNER OF ARTICULATION

Positions:Consonants generally occur in three positions initial, medial, and final. When they come in the beginning of a word, they are in the initial position. When they occur in the middle, they are in the medial position and when they appear at the end of a word, they are in the final position.

Plosives:

There are 6 plosives (and a glottal stop) in English. They are p, b, t, d, k, and g. Plosives are produced in the following way:

The soft palate is raised. So, the nasal passage is blocked.

The articulators (organs of speech) create a stricture (blockage or stop) in the mouth passage.

Then the air is released with force or plosion.

Since, these sounds are released with plosion, they are called plosives.

The Four Phases:There are four phases in the production of plosives.

Closing Phase: In this phase, the mouth passage is closed.

Compression Phase: During this phase, the air is blocked inside the mouth.

Release Phase: The air is released in this phase.

Post-release Phase: The sound is produced.

The Three-term Label:Generally, we use a three-term label to describe consonants. The three-term label includes

position of the vocal cords (whether they are voiced or voiceless) place of articulation

manner of articulationDescription of Plosives:/p/Voiceless bilabial plosive

/b/Voiced bilabial plosive

/t/Voiceless alveolar plosive

/d/Voiced alveolar plosive

/k/Voiceless velar plosive

/g/Voiced velar plosive

Aspiration:The voiceless plosives /p/, /t/, and /k/ are pronounced with more force in the initial position. This is called aspiration.

Fricatives:There are 9 fricatives in English - /f/, /v/, //, //, /s/, /z/, //, //, and /h/. They are produced in the following way:

The soft palate is raised.

The mouth passage is narrowed.

Air escapes with a hissing sound.

Fricatives are also called continuants. They can be produced as long as one has air in the lungs.

Description of Fricatives:/f/Voiceless labio-dental fricative

/v/Voiced labio-dental fricative

//Voiceless dental fricative//Voiced dental fricative

/s/Voiceless alveolar fricative

/z/Voiced alveolar fricative

//Voiceless post-alveolar fricative//Voiced post-alveolar fricative/h/Voiceless glottal fricativeAffricates:

There are 2 affricates in English. They are /t/ and /d/. They begin as plosives and end as fricatives. Affricates are produced in the following way:

The soft palate is raised. First, there is a stricture (blockage or stop) in the mouth passage.

Then there is a narrowing of the mouth passage. Air escapes with a hissing sound.

Description of Affricates:/t/

Voiceless post-alveolar affricate

/d/

Voiced post-alveolar affricateNasals:There are three nasals in English - /m/, /n/, and //. They are produced in the following way:

The soft palate is lowered. So, the mouth passage is blocked.

There is a stricture or blockage of air in the nasal passage.

Then air is released through the nose.

Description of Nasals:/m/

Voiced bilabial nasal

/n/

Voiced alveolar nasal

/ /

Voiced velar nasal

Fortis and Lenis:Generally, voiceless consonants are pronounced with more force than voiced consonants. So, voiceless consonants are generally called fortis consonants and voiced consonants are called lenis consonants. Examples of fortis consonants are p, s, t, k, while lenis consonants are m, b, g, n etc.

DENTAL

BILABIAL

LABIO-DENTAL

PALATAL

POST-ALVEOLAR

VELAR

ALVEOLAR

Place of articulation

APPROXIMANT

PLOSIVES

FRICATIVES

AFFRICATES

NASALS

LATERAL

Place of articulation

SEMI-VOWELS

Sujatha Menon