VOWELS AND CONSONANTS
AHMAD BAKHTIAR
Consonants are sounds blocked by the
tongue, teeth or lips.
According to the place of articulation
(where in the mouth or throat the sound is
produced) the consonants are:
Bilabial
Bilabial consonants occur
when you block/constrict
airflow out of the mouth by
bringing your lips together.
English contains the
following three bilabial
consonants:
•/p/ as in “purse” and “rap“
•/b/ as in “back” and “cab“
•/m/ as in “mad” and
“clam“
Labio-Dental
Labio-dental consonants occur
when you block/constrict airflow
by curling your lower lip back
and raising it to touch your
upper row of teeth.
English contains the
following two labio-dental
sounds:
•/f/ as in “fro” and “calf“
•/v/ as in “vine” and “have”
Dental
Dental consonants occur
when you block/constrict
airflow by placing your slimy
tongue against your upper
teeth.
English contains the
following two labio-
dental sounds:
•/θ/ as is “thick” and
“bath“
•/ð/ as in “the” and
“rather”
Alveolar
The alveolar ridge is where your
teeth meet your gums.
You create Alveolar
consonants when you raise
your tongue to the alveolar
ridge to block or constrict
airflow.
The English alveolar consonants
are as follows:
•/n/ as in “no” and “man“
•/t/ as in “tab” and “rat“
•/d/ as in “dip” and “bad“
•/s/ as in “suit” and “bus“
•/z/ as in “zit” and “jazz“
•/l/ as in “luck” and “fully”
Post-Alveolar
When you retract your tongue back
just a bit from the alveolar ridge, the
sounds change enough to be
recognized as distinct consonants.
So post-alveolar consonants
are those that occur when the
tongue blocks or constricts
airflow at the point just beyond
the alveolar ridge.
The post-alveolar english consonants
are as follows:
•/ʃ/ as in “shot” or “brash”
•/ʒ/ as in “vision” or “measure”
•/tʃ/ as in “chick” or “match”
•/dʒ/ as in “jam” or “badge“
is the hard palate. You may know
it as.
You create
Palatal consonants when you
raise the tongue to this point
and constrict airflow.
English has only one palatal
consonant:
•/j/ as in “yes” and “you”
Velar
Behind your hard palate you have
the velum or soft palate. Unlike the
bony hard palate in front of it, the this
consists of soft, mucousy tissue.
You make Velar Consonants when you
raise the back of your tongue to the
velum to block or restrict airflow.
English has the following velar
consonants:
•/ŋ/ as in “going” and “uncle” (note
that the ‘n sound’ in these words is
NOT made at the alveolar ridge, which
is why it is distinct from /n/).
•/k/ as in “kite” and “back“
•/g/ as in “good” and “bug“
•/w/ as in “wet” and “howard”
Glottal
The glottis is actually two vocal folds
(i.e. vocal cords). It acts as a sort of
bottle cap to your windpipe.
Inhale and then hold your breath for
a few seconds while keeping your
mouth open. What you are actually
doing to keep the air from expelling
out of your lungs by closing your
glottis.
In English, the following things
happen at the glottis:
•/h/ as in “hi” and “Bahamas.” Say
these words and notice how you’re
not actually constricting or blocking
airflow for this /h/ sound.
• Classifying the Consonants Sounds of English
According to the Manner and Place of
Articulation
• According to the manner of articulation
(how the breath is used) the consonants
are: stops, also known as plosives,
fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals, and
approximants. Nasals, laterals and
approximants are always voiced; stops,
fricatives and affricates can be voiced or
unvoiced.
During production of these sounds, the airflow
Stops from the lungs is completely blocked at som
/Plosives/ point, then released. In English, they are /p/
/b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/.
The flow of air is constricted, but not totally stopped o
Fricatives blocked. In English, these include /f/, /v/, / /, /
/s/, /z/, / /, / /, and /h/.
These sounds begin like stops, with a complete blockag
of air/closure of the vocal tract, and end with
Affricates restricted flow of air like fricatives. English has tw
affricates - the / / sounds of "church" and the / / o
"judge".
Nasals are sounds made with air passing through th
Nasals
nose. In English, these are /m/, /n/, and / /.
Lateral consonants allow the air to escape at the sides o
Laterals
the tongue. In English there is only one such sound - /l/
In the production of an approximant, one articulator
close to another, but the vocal tract is not narrowed t
Approximants such an extent that a turbulent airstream is produced. I
English, these are /j/, /w/ and /r/. Approximants /
•VOWELS
Vowels are sounds made with the mouth
open without any trouble.
VOWEL IS DIVIDED INTO :
• 1. Monophthong
•2. Diphthong
•The main difference is that a monophthong is a
phoneme that consists of only one vowel sound
(“mono” means one) (“phthong” means sound or
tone) and a diphthong is a phoneme consisting of two
(“di” means two) vowel sounds that are “connected”
or “linked” to each other.
•
TONGUE TWISTER
• RIVER VALLEY ROAD
/ˈrɪvər/ /ˈvæli/ /roʊd/
• RED LORRY YELLOW LORRY
• /red/ /ˈlɑːri/ /ˈjeloʊ/ /ˈlɑːri/
• SHE SELLS SEASHELLS ON THE SEASHORE
• /ʃiː/ /sels/ /ˈsiːʃels/ /ɒn/ /ðə/ /ˈsiː:ʃɔːr/
FINISHED
THANK YOU
