INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS - CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS: ENGLISH CONSONANTS
**** Consonant is a speech sound produced by completely or partly stopping the air being breathed out through the mouth. (Homby: Oxford Advanced Learner's A Dictionary)
**** Consonant is a speech sound which is pronounced by stopping the air from flowing easily through the mouth, especially by closing the lips or touching the teeth with the tongue. (Cambridge University Press. : Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary).
**** English consonants are described by the IPA (International Phonetics Alphabets) based on: A. Voicing: B. Place of articulation; and C. Manner of articulation.
*** Voicing: The aspects of voicing are: voiced consonants (those created by the vibration of the vocal cords during production); and voiceless consonants (those created by the absence of vibration of the vocal cords during production)
***In phonetic chart of the English consonants, where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the right represents a voiced consonant Place of Articulation: Place of articulation refers to the places where the air stream from the lungs or the sound stream from the larynx is constricted (limited) by the articulators &Manner of Articulation: Manner of articulation refers to how the air stream from the lungs is directed to the mouth and modified by the various structures to produce a consonant phoneme. The Description of Manner of Articulation: Plosive Produced by the obstruction of air stream from the lungs followed by a release of the air stream. Such as: [p, b, t, d, k, g] Nasal Produced by the release of the air through the nasal cavity, Such as: [m Fricative Produced by the release of a friction like noise" created by the [f. air stream escaping through a variant of narrow gaps in the mouth Such as: v,0,0, s,z.J.3.h] Lateral Approximate Produced by the obstruction of the air stream at a point along the center of the oral track, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the tongue. Such as (1)
Approximate Produced by proximity (closeness) of two articulation without turbulence (hard movement and friction like noise).Such as: [w, I (r), j]
Affricate Produced by involving more than one of those manners of articulation. Firstly, produce the sounds in the alveolar ridge, then followed by or combined with fricative sounds. Such as: [tf, d3]
Thus the description of a consonant will include five kinds of information:
(1) the nature of the air-stream mechanism;
(2) the state of the glottis;
(3) the position of soft palate (velum):
(4) the articulators involved; and
(5) the nature of the stricture.
INTRODUCTION TO LINGUISTICS & PHONETICS - CLASSIFICATION AND DESCRIPTION OF SPEECH SOUNDS: ENGLISH CONSONANTS