Consonants Part Two Final
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1 CONSONANT SOUNDS IN ENGLISH We have already studied Plosives, Fricatives, Affricates, and Nasals. Now, we come to the remaining three types: Lateral Semi-Vowels Retroflex Approximant These three consonant types are sometimes collectively called APPROXIMANTS. APPROXIMANTS Lateral: There is one lateral consonant in English - /l/. It is produced in the following way: The soft palate is raised. So, the nasal passage is blocked. The articulators (organs of speech) create a partial stricture (blockage or stop) in the middle of the mouth passage. As a result, air escapes on both sides of the mouth. Sujatha Menon APPROXIMANTS Retroflex approximant SEMI-VOWELS lateral
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THE THIRD PART OF THE PHONETICS NOTES.
Transcript of Consonants Part Two Final
1
CONSONANT SOUNDS IN ENGLISH
We have already studied Plosives, Fricatives, Affricates, and Nasals. Now, we come to the remaining three types:
Lateral
Semi-Vowels
Retroflex Approximant
These three consonant types are sometimes collectively called APPROXIMANTS.
APPROXIMANTS
Lateral:
There is one lateral consonant in English - /l/. It is produced in the following way:
The soft palate is raised. So, the nasal passage is blocked.
The articulators (organs of speech) create a partial stricture (blockage or stop) in the middle of the mouth passage.
As a result, air escapes on both sides of the mouth.
Clear /l/ and Dark /l/:
When /l/ occurs in
the beginning or initial position, as in lead
before vowels as in the case of loose, learn
then it is pronounced more clearly.
This is called the clear /l/. For example, in the words lead, lamp, leak, /l/ is pronounced/articulated clearly.
But, when /l/ comes
after vowels, as in call
before consonants, as in bolt
it is pronounced differently. This is called dark /l/.
Clear /l/ and dark/l/ are different sound forms of the same consonant /l/. These variations or different sound forms of a phoneme are called allophones. So, clear /l/ and dark /l/ are allophones of the phoneme /l/.
/l/ = voiced alveolar lateral
Semi-Vowels:
Semi-vowels are so called because they these sounds do not have any stricture like the other consonant sounds. There are two semi-vowels in English - /j/ and /w/.
/j/ sounds like i and ya
/w/ sounds like /u/ and /wa/
They are considered consonant sounds because the articulation of the vowel sound, which comes at the beginning, is very short.
/j/ = voiced palatal semi-vowel
/w/= voiced bilabial semi-vowel
Retroflex Approximant:
English has one retroflex approximant /r/. Retro means back and flex means to bend. So a retroflex consonant is produced when the tongue curls backward towards the area between the alveolar ridge (teeth ridge) and the hard palate.
/r/ = voiced post-alveolar (after the alveolar ridge but before the hard palate) approximant.
lateral
Retroflex approximant
APPROXIMANTS
SEMI-VOWELS
Sujatha Menon
