Consonants

Consonants are sounds with obstructed airflow from the mouth. 

They are characterized by three features:

• voiced/voiceless distinction.

• place of articulation

• manner of articulation. 

In IPA have 24 consonant sounds

Voiced & Voiceless Sounds

Meaning: 

• voiced: speech sounds produced with vibration of the vocal folds.

• voiceless: speech sounds produced without vibration of the vocal folds.

How can be distinction be felt physically?

-You can put if a sound is voiced or not by:

- Putting your hand gently on your throat -> vibration voiced sounds: no vibration: voiceless sounds.

-Putting a finger near in each ear-> vibrations: voiced sounds; no vibration: voiceless sounds.

Place of Articulation

Meaning: where in the mouth the sound is made (or produced)

1. Bilabials:

• Produced by using both (=bi) lips (=labia).

• Consonant sounds produced: /b/; /p/; /m/; /w/

2. Alveolar:

• Produced with the tongue tip to the alveolar ridge.

• Consonant sounds produced: /t/; /s/; /d/; /z/; /n/; /l/; /r/.

3. Post-alveolar:

• Produced by raising the tongue to the palate, also called " alveolar- palatal"

• Consonant aounds produced: /∫/   as in "short" ; /ʒ/  as in measure;  /t∫/ as in chick;  /dʒ/  as in jam. 

4. Palatal:

• Produced whent he center of the tongue approaches the palate.

• English has only one distingguishing palatal consonant: /j/ as in you

5. Velar:

• Produced by raising the back of the tongue to the velum.

• Consonant sounds prodcued: /k/; /g/; /ŋ/ .

6. Glotal:

• Primary constriction is at the glottis (the space between the vocal folds in the larynx).

• Consonant sounds produced: /h/ 

Manner of Articualtion

Meaning: Refers to how the air stream from the lung is diredted to the mouth and modified by the the various structes to produce a consonant phoneme.

• Stop: also called "Plosives" produced by complete closure of the lips and subsequent release: /p/, /b/.

• Fricatives: Produced by almost blocking the airstream: /f/, /v/,  /ð/,  /θ/, /z/, /∫/,  /ʒ/, /h/. 

• Affricates: A combination of "Stops" + "Fricatives" : ch=  /t∫/ , j=  /dʒ/ 

• Nasals: lower the velum, let air flow out through the nose : /m/, /n/, /ŋ/

• Liquids: raise and curl tongue, let airflow escape round the sides: /l/, /r/

• Glides: move tongue to or from a vowel: /w/, /j/

A consonant chart

Meaning: described the most common consonant sounds, organizing them by place of articulation, voicing, manner of articulation.

Casual speech:

*Harry Portter -> remove /h/  and /tt/ ( glottal stop)

• Glottal => A sound produced when the air passing through the glottal is stopped completely then released.

*latter/ladder: same sound

• Flap 

=> A sound produced with the tongue tip briefly touching the alveolar ridge

Vowels

Meaning : are produced with a relatively free flow of air. 

Example: 

• a as in cat

• e as in wet

• i as in big

• o as in clock

• u in but

Key term: 

• short vowel: Short vowels are the standard pronunciation of vowels

• long vowel: Long vowels are a little more complex. Generally, they’re created by combining two vowels, where one is typically silent.

• Schwa : may be written using any of the following letters.

-'a' as in about 

-'e' as in taken

-'i' as in pencil

-'o' as in memory

-'u' as in supply

-'y' as in sibyl

-unwritten as in rhythm

-Same letter, different sound

Eg:      pea and wear

           /i:/           /eə/

-Different letter, same sound

Eg:      make and eight

           /ei/           /ei/

Describe vowel

Eg: bed ( mid- front- unrounded)

      hot  ( mid- back- rounded)

Dipthongs

Meaning: Diphthongs are sounds produced by combining two vowels.

Example: /ɔɪ/ is a diphthong. It is the ‘oi’ sound in words such as boy /bɔɪ/, toy/tɔɪ/, or coin /kɔɪn/.

Note: a word has two vowels next to each other does not mean it will produce a diphthong sound. For example, the word feet /fiːt/ doesn't have a diphthong but contains the monophthong /iː/ (the longer e sound)