Consonant Sounds.

Presentation

Sitio: Aula virtual Facultad de Lenguas Imprimido por: Gabriela Vanesa Ponce Villagra
Curso: Práctica de la Pronunciación del Inglés 2021 Día: jueves, 22 de mayo de 2025, 10:55
Libro: Consonant Sounds. Presentation
 Tabla de contenidos

1. Classification
2. Consolidation
3. Practice

1. Classification

A consonant sound is a speech sound which involves an obstruction of the air stream as it passes through the vocal
tract (Carley et al., 2018, p. 10).

Consonant sounds can be classified considering three different criteria: voicing, place of articulation and manner of
articulation.

1. VOICED AND VOICELESS SOUNDS

A sound can be produced with or without the vibration of the vocal cords. As the vocal cords vibrate during the
production of vowel sounds, vowels are all voiced. In addition, vowels are produced as a result of the air being released
through the mouth with little friction in comparison to consonants, which involve some kind of blockage or friction.

As regards consonant sounds, there are two groups of English consonant sounds which can be differentiated by
absence or presence of vibration of vocal folds. Voiceless consonants, i.e. those which do not involve vocal cord
vibration, are said to be fortis in that the degree of breadth and muscular effort used in the production of the sound is
much greater. In turn, voiced consonants, i.e. those which involve the vibration of the vocal cords, are termed lenis as
they are produced with less effort and can lose their voice depending on the phonetic environment.

2. PLACE OF ARTICULATION

The articulators and consonant sounds

The tongue is an active articulator and its tip or blade is the part which is most frequently involved in the realisation of
consonant sounds. The tip of the tongue participates in the production of dental, alveolar and post-alveolar consonant
sounds, while the back of the tongue is involved in the articulation of velar consonants.

In order for you to become aware of the way in which some articulators participate in the production of consonant
sounds, we will refer to how some active (lips, tongue) and passive articulators (palate) behave when producing some
consonant sounds in English.

Articulate the sounds given on the left hand side and classify them into two broad categories under the headings labial
(lips prominent and active) and lingual (where the tongue is most active and the place of articulation in the mouth is
most prominent). Do not attempt to classify sounds any further at this stage, and do not worry if your conclusions at
this point are a little uncertain.

Useful divisions of tongue and palate

For practical reasons, the tongue is divided into: tip, blade, front and back and the palate is divided into alveolar ridge,
hard palate and velum. Following is a brief anatomical description of them.

Tip of tongue

The extreme, most movable part of the tongue

Blade of the tongue

A portion which is located just behind the tip

Front of tongue

The bit lying behind the hard palate

Back of tongue

The tongue section also known as root of the tongue and the most inward part in the mouth

Palate
Alveolar ridge

The hard ridge or mount of gum situated immediately behind the top front teeth, before the gum rises to the hard
palate in the roof of the mouth

Hard palate

The internal top or roof of the mouth, the hard round gum area between the soft palate and the teeth ridge

Velum or soft palate

The backmost part of the palate, which can be moved upwards or downwards. If lowered, air passes into the nasal
cavity and the sounds / m /, / n / and / ŋ / are produced.

Classification labels of consonant sounds

Consonant sounds can be classified according to their place of articulation in the voice tract, i.e. the place where the
most significant obstruction to the passing of air takes place. The following diagram shows the main places of
articulation:
Figure 2: Speech Mechanism (M. A. Applied Linguistics/TESOL. Module 2, Unit 9 p. 9)
The majority of the classification labels borrow their names from the passive articulators. Here are the places of
articulation which apply to English consonant sounds:

Bi-labial (both lips pressed together)

Labio-dental (top teeth and bottom lip)

Dental (tongue behind or between the teeth)

Alveolar (tip of the tongue touching alveolar ridge)

Post-alveolar (tip of the tongue falling just behind the alveolar ridge before the hard palate)

Palato-alveolar (tip and blade of tongue against alveolar ridge and front of tongue raised towards hard palate: two
points of articulation)

Palatal (front of tongue raised to hard palate)

Velar (back of tongue raised to soft palate)

Glottal (in the glottis, the opening of the vocal cords)

3. MANNER OF ARTICULATION

Consonant sounds can be classified according to their manner of articulation in the voice tract, i.e. the way in which
the airflow is affected according to the type of stricture made between the articulators and, as a result, the manner in
which consonant sounds are perceived. The following table shows the main manners of articulation of English
consonant sounds and the classification labels used.

Plosive Plosive sounds are produced by a complete closure

of the airway, with compression building up so that
the release of air involves plosion (the air is suddenly
let out).
Fricative Fricative sounds are produced when the obstruction
to the airway is not quite complete, so that air
escapes through the mouth producing friction.
Unlike plosives, fricatives are continuants (long
sounds).

Affricate Affricate sounds are produced with a sequence of a

plosive and a fricative and perceived as a
simultaneous plosion and friction.

Nasal Nasal sounds are produced by stopping or blocking

up the mouth and lowering the soft palate so that the
air escapes through the nose.

Lateral When lateral sounds are produced, the air passes

along the sides of the contact made by the tongue
against the alveolar ridge.

Approximant Approximant sounds involve an approximation of the

articulators which does not cause friction. This is the
case of English /r/, a post-alveolar frictionless
sound. /r/ is a quick, smooth glide towards a
following vowel sound. This sound can be described
as a frictionless continuant.
 Semi-vowel or Semi-vowels or semi-consonants are also
Semi-consonant approximants. Articulatorily, they are like vowels, but
they function in the position of consonants. Semi-
vowels or semi-consonants can be said to be
characterised by a quick, smooth, non-friction glide
towards a following vowel sound. English semi-
vowels (or semi-consonants) are /w/ and /j/

Chart adapted M. A. Applied Linguistics/TESOL. Module 2, Unit 9 pp. 14-15

This last factor, manner of articulation, is the one chosen in this subject to present and practice consonant sounds.

2. Consolidation

In this chart, as has been the case with Pure Vowel Phonemes and Diphthongs, you will have access to interesting
information regarding both the general classification outlines that were presented in the previous section and the more
detailed account of the characteristics of each individual consonant phoneme of BBC English.
 3. Practice

We invite you to do the following exercise that will help you get more familiar with the terminology used to classify
consonant sounds.
1. Matching Activity. Consonant sounds and their place of articulation Go!

2. Fill in the blanks. Consonant sounds and their manner of articulation Go!

3. Grouping. Consonant sounds and voicing Go!

4. Put everything together Go!