1. Phonetics for field methods
Understanding consonants and
introducing the IPA

2. What is a consonant
• Something that is not a vowel
– Vowels relatively obstruction-free path through
the mouth
– Consonants are created through creating some
kind of mouth shape through which the air must
escape.
• We can distinguish consonants from each
other by examining with reference to three
qualities: voicing, manner, place

3. Voicing
• Many types of consonants can be contrasted in the quality
of their voicing
• Voiceless consonants are produced with the vocal folds
(often referred to as the vocal cords) are apart
• Voiced consonants are produced with the vocal folds held
together. This means air must push between them forcing
them to vibrate.
• You can feel this vibration when saying sounds that you can
hold or draw out such as:
• /zzzzzzzzzzzz/ now say /sssssssssssss/
• You should notice tha tyour mouth stays roughly in the
same shape, but the buzzing switches off for the /s/
sequence

4. Place
• The flow of air from lungs to outside the body
follows the pathway known as the vocal tract
• Along the tract the air passes over, through
and below various places which can
manipulate the sound qualities.
• The different places are represented on the
picture:

5. Places in the vocal tract

6. Stops or plosives
Non-continuant sounds
3 phases
blocking the air at point in the mouth
holding the air for ‘a beat’ to build pressure
the release (the audible phase)
English has a series of stops that you will recognised from this
detail of the IPA chart, /p/ and /b/ /t/ and /d/ and /k/ and
/g/

7. English stops
• They constitute the 3 pairs of stops
• Within each pair is a voicing contrast.
• The left of the pair is always voiceless
• Just because English has both pair partners does
not mean all languages have both. Polynesian
languages for example only have voiceless stops.
• Note that the glottal stop has no voiced
counterpart – hence is grey shading.

8. fricatives
• Fricatives are similar to stops except for the notion of
blockage
• Rather than a complete blockage, fricatives produce
a narrowing of the vocal tract
• Create a noisy frication-y sound
• This sounds can be held onto continuously
• Can be voiced or voiceless

9. Nasals
• Air released through the nasal cavity
• Like stops, there is a complete blockage somewhere
in the vocal tract - the oral portion
• Like fricatives in that there is continuous flow
through the nasal cavity
• Usually voiced but some languages have voiceless
nasals