Place, manner and voicing.

1. Consonant Sounds

2.  Say ‘mmmm’ – which parts of the vocal tract are
involved?
Mainly the lips - it’s a bilabial consonant
WHERE = PLACE OF ARTICULATION
 Pinch your nose – what happens?
The sound stops: it’s a nasal (not an oral)
consonant HOW = MANNER OF ARTICULATION
 Put your fingers in your ears – what do you hear?
(Or put them on your larynx – what do you feel?)
The vibrations of the vocal cords: it’s a voiced
consonant VOICED or VOICELESS

3. Using these three variables we can classify
any consonant:
 Place of articulation (where)
 Manner of articulation (how)
 Voiced or voiceless
In this presentation, voiced sounds are given
red symbols, e.g. /m/

4. lips
p pie b buy m mute w wood

5. upper teeth
lower lip
f fine v vine

6. upper teeth
tip of tongue
θ thin ð this

7. alveolar ridge
tip/blade of tongue
t tie d die
s Sue z zoo
n night l light

8. ʃ shoe, pressure Ʒ pleasure
ʧ cheap ʤ jeep r rack

9. j yes

10. velum
back of tongue
k curl g girl ŋ rang

11. Bilabial: p b Alveolar: t d Velar: k g

12. Palato-alveolar or
Labiodental: f v Alveolar: s z
post-alveolar: ʃ Ʒ

13. (Velum is raised, directing air (Velum is lowered, allowing air
out through the oral cavity) to enter the nasal cavity)

14. Bilabial: m Alveolar: n Velar: ŋ

15.  Affricates (a combination of stop + fricative):
ʧ = voiceless post-alveolar affricate
ʤ = voiced post-alveolar affricate
 Approximants (articulators approach each other but
do not touch): w r j
 Lateral (also called lateral approximant; air flows
over sides of tongue): l

16.  Voiced or voiceless
 Place of articulation
 Manner of articulation
Example 1 : s (sing):
= A voiceless, alveolar, (central), (oral) fricative
- A voiceless, alveolar plosive/stop = ?
/t/ What is /k/?
- A voiceless, velar plosive/stop

17. The International Phonetic Alphabet: the English consonants
Full IPA with audio illustrations:
http://web.uvic.ca/ling/resources/ipa/charts/IPAlab/IPAlab.htm