Summary of lecture 1

All the consonants of English can be classified by three properties: voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. If you know these three things, you can always identify which consonant is being talked about.

Voicing

Voiced: the vocal folds in the throat vibrate, as in [m, a, v, g, l] etc.

Voiceless: the vocal folds do not vibrate, as in [s, f, k, t] etc.

Places of articulation: what part of the mouth is used to constrict the air flow?

Bilabial: Both lips come together. Ex.: [b], [p], [m].

Labio-dental: The upper teeth touch the lower lip. Ex.: [f], [v]

Inter-dental: The tongue tip is placed between the teeth, as in the first sounds of this and think (we learned special symbols for these). Some English speakers make these sounds with the tip of the tongue behind the upper teeth. In this case, they are called simply "dental" sounds.

Alveolar: The tip of the tongue (or the blade of the tongue, which is the area just behind the tip) approaches the "alveolar ridge", which is the bony ridge behind the upper teeth. Ex.: [t], [d], [n], [l], [s], [z] are all alveolar in English.

Post-alveolar: The tongue approaches just behind the alveolar ridge, as in the first sounds of child, judge, shin and the sound spelled by 's' in treasure. These sounds are also sometimes called palato-alveolar, because they are around the border between the alveolar ride and the hard palate.

Palatal: The tongue approaches the hard palate, which is the flat bony area behind the alveolar ridge. The only example in English is the first sound in young, which is phonetically written [j].

Velar: The back of the tongue approaches the soft palate, also known as the velum. This is the soft area behind the hard palate. Ex.s: [k], [g], and the last sound in ring.

Glottal: The vocal folds come together. (The space between the vocal folds is called the glottis). Ex.: [h]

Labio-velar: The sound [w] involves two constrictions: one at the lips and one at the velum.

Manner of articulation

Plosive (also known as stop): the airflow is completely stopped, then released all at once. Ex.s: [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]

Fricative: The air continues to flow, but not smoothly. At some point there is a narrow constriction so that the air becomes turbulent. Ex.s: [f], [v], [s], [z]

Affricate: The air is completely stopped, then released slowly. An affricate is phonetically two sounds, a stop followed by a fricative. The first sounds in church and judge are affricates.

Approximant: The air continues to flow smoothly, without turbulence, because the constriction is very wide. Ex.s: [r], [w], [j] (as in young).

Lateral approximant: The air continues to flow smoothly, but only around the sides of the tongue, as in [l].

Nasal: Air flows through the nose, as in [n], [m]. For these particular sounds (which can be called nasal stops), there is no airflow through the mouth; it is blocked by the lips or tongue.