“2020 Año del Bicentenario del Legado del General Manuel Belgrano”
CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANT SOUNDS
All consonants (with the exceptions of /w/ and /j/) involve a restriction to the outflow of air, and
it is the precise place and manner of this restriction that gives each consonant its unique sound.
We can describe the uniqueness of each consonant quite well using three variables.
VARIABLE 1: PHONETIC FEATURES.
A sound is said to be voiced if it requires the vocal cords to vibrate; and voiceless if it doesn’t. In
English the voiced/voiceless distinction tends to coincide with gentle and strong aspiration (also
referred to as lenis and fortis). This means that voiced may be uttered with weaker breath force,
while voiceless consonants may be uttered with stronger breath force (this is partly because
voiced sounds take energy from the breath in order to drive the larynx, and partly because
voiceless sounds need to compensate for the lack of voice with force and clarity in their
articulation).
VARIABLE 2: PLACE OF ARTICULATION.
The place in the vocal track where the physical restriction or block to the air flow take place is
referred to as Place of Articulation. Where the characteristic component sounds of that
consonant are initiated.
The places of articulation are: bilabial – alveolar – post-alveolar – palate-alveolar – palatal –
velar – glottal – labiodental – dental or interdental.
VARIABLE 3: MANNER OF ARTICULATION.
The nature of the physical restriction to the air flow is referred to as Manner of Articulation,
how the characteristic component sounds of that consonant are initiated.
The manners of articulation are: plosives – fricatives – affricates – nasal – lateral –
approximant – semivowels.
/p/ Voiceless – bilabial – plosive sound
/b/ Voiced – bilabial – plosive sound
/m/ Voiced – bilabial – nasal sound
/v/ Voiced – labiodental – fricative sound
/s/ Voiceless – alveolar - fricative sound
“2020 Año del Bicentenario del Legado del General Manuel Belgrano”
/l/ Voiced – alveolar – lateral sound
/j/ Voiced – palatal - semivowel sound
/k/ Voiceless – velar – plosive sound
/w/ Voiced – bilabial – semivowel sound
/tʃ/ Voiceless – palato-alveolar – affricate sound
/r/ Voiced – post-alveolar – approximant sound
/ʃ/ Voiceless – palato-alveolar – fricative sound
/n/ voiced – alveolar – nasal sound
/h/ Voiceless – glottal – fricative sound
/g/ Voiced – velar – plosive sound
/t/ Voiceless – alveolar – plosive sound
/f/ Voiceless – labiodental – fricative sound
/dʒ/ Voiced – palato-alveolar – affricate sound
/ŋ/ Voiced – velar – nasal sound
/ʒ/ Voiced – palato-alveolar – fricative sound
/θ/ Voiceless – dental or interdental – fricative sound
/d/ Voiced – alveolar – plosive sound
/z/ Voiced – alveolar – fricative sound
/ð/ Voiced – dental o interdental – fricative sound
