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Consonants

Dr.B.Winmayil

Assistant Professor of English

V.V.Vanniaperumal College for Women

Virudhunagar

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Twofold Classification

Vowels	Consonants
Air from the lung escapes
freely	With difficulty
continuously	Producing a lot of friction
Through the mouth	Not through the mouth

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Activity

Pronounce any five vowel sounds
Pronounce any five consonant sounds
Pronounce the sounds – [s],[m],[k]

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Definition - Consonants

Speech sounds during the articulation of which the air from the lung does not escape freely or continuously or through the mouth are called CONSONANTS

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Description of Consonants

Air-stream mechanism

State of the Glottis

Position of the palate

Active & Passive Articulators

Stricture Involved

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Activity

Articulate the sounds

[a:] ,[u:]
prolonged [f], [z], [l], [m], [n]

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a) Air-Stream Mechanism

Pulmonic Egressive Air-stream Mechanism – all the sounds in English
Pulmonic means connected with the lungs
Expiratory lung-air => air we breathe out

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b)The State of the Glottis

Far away vocal cords

Wide- open glottis

Voiceless sounds

Closely kept vocal cords

Closed glottis

Voiced sounds

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c) The Position of the Soft Palate

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Moved up/ Raised

Touches back wall of the pharynx

Closure of nasal cavity

Air escapes through mouth

Oral sounds

Moved down/ lowered

Away from the wall of the pharynx

Opening of nasal cavity

Air escapes through nose

Nasal sounds

All the 20 vowels and 21 consonants are oral sounds

The consonants [m],[n],[ᵑ] are nasal sounds

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Place of Articulation

Articulators – two organs of speech for any speech sound

(AA)Active – which move

(PA)Passive – which does not move

Determined by the passive articulator
The resulting sound is named after the passive articulator
Eg- if the back of the tongue(AA) moves towards the velum(PA) to produce [k], it is called velar

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Bilabial

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Lower lip	Upper lip

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[p]	pity	/piti/
[b]	bee	/bi:/
[m]	meet	/mi:t/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfoRdKuPF9I

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Labio- Dental

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Lower lip	Upper front teeth

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[f]	fan	/fᵆn/
[v]	vote	/vəʊt/

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Dental or Interdental

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Blade of the tongue	Upper front teeth

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[θ]	thin	/θin/
[ð]	then	/ðən/

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Denti-alveolar

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Tip and Blade of the tongue	Upper front teeth & teeth-ridge

letter	Example	IPA Symbol
த	தமிழ்	/ṱ/
த	வதனமென	/ḓ/

No denti-alveolar consonants in English

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Alveolar

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Tip or Blade of the tongue	Teeth ridge/ alveolam

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[t]	star	/sta: (r)/
[d]	do	/du:/
[n]	nice	/nais/
[z]	zoo	/zu:/
[l]	lip	/lip/
[s]	sip	/sip/

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Post-Alveolar

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
tip of the tongue	Post-alveolam

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Palato-Alveolar

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Blade of the tongue & Front of the tongue	Teeth Ridge and Hard Palate

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[tʃ]	teach	/ti:tʃ/
[dʒ]	judge	/dʒᴧdʒ/
[ʃ]	Sheep	/ʃi:p/
[ᶾ]	vision	/viᶾn/

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Palatal

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Front of the tongue	Hard Palate

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[j]	yes	/jes/

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Velar

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Back of the tongue	Soft palate

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[k]	skin	/skin/
[g]	God	/gᴐd/
[ᵑ]	think	/ᶿiᵑk/

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Uvular

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Extreme black of the tongue	Uvula

No Uvular consonants in English

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Pharyngeal

Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Root of the tongue	Back wall of the Pharynx

No Pharyngeal consonants in English

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Glottal

Articulators	Sounds like gentle cough
Vocal cards	Glottal Stop [ʡ] , [h]

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Labial-Velar

Active Articulators	Passive Articulator
Back of the tongue & Lower Lip	Soft Palate & Upper lip

Consonant	Example	Phonetic script
[w]	wise	/wais/

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References – Web Sources

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1MvBHgEUic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBuA589kfMg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfoRdKuPF9I

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Manner of Articulation

Interaction of the articulators during articulation
Parameter – Stricture Involved
Stricture – Relationship between the active and passive articulators
Touch/without touch/AA brought near PA/ wide gap bt them
Nature of stricture – manner of articulation
Degree of stricture – how narrow the constriction is

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Complete Closure and Sudden Release�Plosives

Both oral and nasal passages of air are closed completely

Place of Articulation	Plosive		Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiceless	Voiced	Nasal Closure	Oral Closure
Bilabial	[p]	[b]	Raised soft palate	lips in firm contact
Alveolar	[t]	[d]	Raised velum	tip of the tongue with teeth ridge
Velar	[k]	[g]	Raised Velum	Back of the tongue with the velum

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Complete Oral Closure�NASALS

Release of lung-air through nostrils

Place of Articulation	Nasals	Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiced	Nasal opening	Oral Closure
Bilabial	[m]	Lowered soft palate	lips in firm contact
Alveolar	[n]	Lowered velum	blade of the tongue with teeth ridge
Velar	[ᵑ]	Lowered Velum	Back of the tongue with the velum

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Complete Closure and Slow Release�Affricates

Place of Articulation	Affricates		Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiceless	Voiced	Nasal Closure	Oral Closure
Palato- Alveolar	[tᶴ]	[dᶾ]	Raised soft palate	blade of the tongue with teeth ridge & front of the tongue raised towards hard-palate

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Audible friction

Close Approximations�Fricatives

Place of Articulation	Affricates		Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiceless	Voiced	Nasal Closure	Oral Closure
Labio-dental	[f]	[v]	Raised soft palate	Narrow gap between the lower lip and the upper teeth
Dental	[θ]	[ð]	Raised soft palate	Narrow gap between the blade of the tongue and the two rows of teeth
Alveolar	[s]	[z]	Raised soft palate	Narrow gap between the blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge
Palato-alveolar	[ᶴ]	[ᶾ]	Raised soft palate	Narrow gap between the blade of the tongue and the teeth ridge; front of the tongue raised towards hard palate

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Open Approximation�Approximants

Semi vowels – [j] & [w] – lies between vowel & plosive
Near /approximate closure and without friction

Place of Articulation	Approximants	Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiced	Nasal Closure	Oral Closure
Post-alveolar Frictionless Continuant (retroflex)	[ɹ] as in wrist	Raised soft palate	Wide gap between the tip of the tongue and the tip curls back just behind the teeth-ridge
Palatal	[j]	Raised soft palate	air is allowed to escape through the oral cavity in a continuous stream
Labial-velar	[w]	Raised soft palate

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Intermittent Closure�Trills

Happening at intervals; stopping and then starting
trills or rolled sounds
[r] pronounced by scotts
AA (tip) strikes against the PA (teeth-ridge) several times in quick succession
In southern British English, No rolled sound

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Quick Closure and Release�Taps or flaps

AA (tip)strikes quickly once against the PA(teeth ridge)
[r] :

when between two vowels as in /veri/ or /mᴂri/
When occurs after [ᶿ] as in / ᶿri:/

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Partial Closure�Laterals

tongue tip forming a complete closure but instead of the air stream escaping over the sides of the tongue laterally.

Place of Articulation	Approximants	Stricture involved
Place of Articulation	Voiced	Nasal Closure	Oral Closure
Alveolar lateral	[l]	Raised soft palate	Blade of the tongue in firm contact with teeth ridge

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Six Factor Description of Consonants

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Assignment

Day 1: Tabulate the strictures involved in the manner of articulation of English sounds.
Day 2: Write down the three term description of consonants
Day3: Tabulate the division of consonants according to their places and manner of articulation
Day 4:List down the number of consonants in their division according to their places and manner of articulation
Day 5:Give three example words and their transcription for each consonant by the place of its occurrence [beginning, middle and end] in a word