This document summarizes how consonants are classified in English phonology. It discusses their place and manner of articulation, as well as voicing. Consonants are described based on where in the vocal tract the obstruction occurs (place of articulation), the type of closure or narrowing used to produce the sound (manner of articulation), and whether the vocal cords vibrate (voicing). There are eight places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, palato-alveolar, palatal, velar, and glottal. Manner includes plosives, fricatives, nasals, approximants, lateral, and affricates

3. consonants are described & classified in terms of:
Place of articulation
Manner of articulation
Voicing
At what point or points & between what
speech organs does the closure or
narrowing take place?
What is the type of closure or
narrowing at the point of
articulation?
Do the vocal cords vibrate or not?

4. Place of articulation the point of contact where an
obstruction occurs in the vocal tract
Bilabial
consonants
Labio-dental
consonants
Dental consonants
Alveolar consonants
Post/palato
alveolar
consonants
Palatal
consonants
Velar
consonants
Glottal
consonants

5. Alveolar ridge Back of alveolar ridge
Glottis Hard palate
Lower lip Lower lip
Soft palate Tongue back
Tongue blade Tongue blade
Tongue front Tongue tip
Upper lip Upper teeth
Upper teeth Vocal cords

6. Place of articulation the point of contact where an
obstruction occurs in the vocal tract
Bilabial
consonants
Labio-dental
consonants
Dental consonants
Alveolar consonants
Post/palato
alveolar
consonants
Palatal
consonants
Velar
consonants
Glottal
consonants
Upper lip
Lower lip
Lower lip
Upper teeth
Tongue tip
Upper teeth
Tongue blade
Alveolar ridge
Glottis
Vocal cordsTongue blade
Back of alveolar ridge
Tongue front
Hard palate
Tongue back
Soft palate

7. Bilabial consonants
Upper lip + lower lip
/p//b//m/ /w/

11. Bilabial consonants

12. Labio-dental consonants
/f/ /v/
Lower lip (active) + upper teeth (passive)

13. Labio-dental consonants

14. Dental consonants
Upper teeth (passive) + tongue tip (active)
/θ//δ/

15. Dental consonants

16. Alveolar consonants
Alveolar ridge (passive) + tongue blade (tip +blade) (active)
/t//d//n//z//s//l/

17. Alveolar consonants

18. Alveolar consonants

20. Alveolar consonants
/l/

21. Post/Palato-alveolar consonants
Tongue blade or tip & blade + back of
alveolar ridge +raising of tongue front
towards hard palate
/ʃ//ʒ//ʧ//ʤ//r/

22. Post/Palato-alveolar consonants

23. Post/Palato-alveolar consonants

24. Post/Palato-alveolar consonants

25. Palatal consonant
Hard palate + tongue front
/j/

26. Velar consonants
Soft palate + tongue back
/ŋ//k//g/

27. Velar consonants

28. Glottal consonant
the glottis, vocal cords

29. Name Articulators Examples
Bilabial Upper lip + lower lip
Labio-dental Lower lip + upper teeth
Dental Upper teeth + tongue tip
Alveolar Alveolar ridge + tongue blade (tip
+blade)
Post/Palato-
alveolar
Tongue blade or tip & blade +
alveolar ridge +raising of tongue
front towards hard palate
Palatal Hard palate + tongue front
Velar Soft palate + tongue back
Glottal Glottis, vocal cords
/p//b//m/ /w/
/f/ /v/
/θ//δ/
/t//d//n//z//s//l/
/ʃ//ʒ//ʧ//ʤ//r
/
/j/
/ŋ//k//g/
/h/

30. MANNER OF ARTICULATION
TYPE OF CLOSURE MADE BY THE
ARTICULATORS
Nasal consonants
Plosives/stops
Fricatives
Affricates
Lateral
consonant
Approximants

31. Nasal consonants
Nasal consonants are created when you
completely block air flow through your mouth
(by lowering the soft palate and let the air pass
through your nose.
+ /m/ two lips (bilabial)
+ /n/ tongue blade against the
alveolar ridge (alveolar).
+ /ŋ/ - the back of your tongue against the soft
palate (velar).

32. Plosives/stop consonants
• stop consonants occur when the
vocal tract is closed completely,
the air quickly builds up pressure
behind the articulators and then
releases in a burst (plosion)
• /p/ /b/ oral passage is blocked
by closing the lips (bilabial).
• /t/ /d/ - oral passage is blocked
by pressing the tongue blade
against the alveolar ridge (alveolar)
• /k/ /g/- block airflow with
the back of the tongue against the
soft palate (velar).

33. 4 phases of production of stops
• Closure phase: the articulators move to form
the stricture (obstruction)
• Hold phase: the compressed air is stopped
from escaping
• release phase: the articulators are moved to
allow air to escape
• Post-release phase

34. Fricative consonants
• fricative sounds involve only a partial
blockage of the vocal tract so that air
has to be forced through a narrow
channel, making a friction noise
• Fricatives are continuant consonants
• /f/ /v/ - air is forced through
the upper teeth and lower lip
(labiodental)
• /θ/ /ð/ air is forced through
upper teeth and tongue (dental)
• /s/ /z/ - air is forced through
tongue and alveolar ridge (alveolar)
• /ʃ/ /ʒ/ - air is forced through
the tongue and point just beyond
alveolar ridge (post-alveolar)
• /h/ - air passes through
the glottis (glottal), between the vocal cords

35. Affricates
• The Affricate consonants start as stops with
air building up behind an articulator which
then ends as an fricative.
• /tʃ/ /dʒ/ air is blocked with tongue just
beyond the alveolar ridge (post-alveolar), then
released as a fricative.
Stops Fricatives AFFRICATES

36. Approximant
• Approximants are created when two
articulators come close together but
not quite close enough to create air
turbulence.
• /w/ - back of tongue raises to velum
(but not too close!) and lips are
rounded (bilabial) (labio-velar)
• /j/ - tongue front raises to hard palate
(but not too close!) (palatal).
• /r/ - tongue blade raises to hard palate
(post-alveolar)

37. Lateral
• Lateral consonants are created when the
tongue blocks the middle of your mouth so
that air has to pass around the sides. There is
one lateral consonant in English - /l/ - which is
created when you place the tongue at the
alveolar ridge.

38. Manner of articulation
Types Features Symbols
Plosives (stop
consonants)
Complete
closure, air
pressure ->
explosion
Bilabial plosives: Alveolar
plosives:
Velar plosives:
Fricatives
(continuant
consonants)
Air escapes thru’
a small
passage=>
hissing sound
(friction)
Labio-
dental
fricatives:
Dental
fricatives
Alveolar
fricatives
Palato-
alveolar
fricatives
Glottal
fricative
Nasals Air escapes thru’
the nose
Bilabial nasal Alveolar nasal Velar nasal
/p/ /b/
/t/ /d/
/k/ /g/
/f/ /v/ /θ/ /δ/ /s/ /z/ /ʃ/
/ʒ/
/h/
/m/ /n/ /ŋ/

39. Manner of articulation
Types Features Symbols
Affricates
(Palato-
alveolar
affricates)
Closure between tip, blade,
rims of tongue & upper alveolar
ridge & side teeth.
Front of tongue raised towards
hard palate in readiness for
fricative release
Friction is shorter than in
fricatives.
(Alveolar)
Lateral
Tip of tongue makes contact
with upper teeth ridge.
Air escapes on both sides of
tongue on upper side teeth
Approximant
s
Articulators approach each
other but do not get sufficiently
close to each other to produce a
“complete” consonant such as
plosive, nasal or fricative
Post-
Alveolar
approximant
Palatal
approximant
bilabial
approximant
/ʤ/
/ʧ/
/l/
/r/ /j/ /w/

40. ACCORDING TO VOICING
1. Voiced consonants: are produced when
the vocal cords vibrate
e.g.
2. Voiceless consonants: are produced when
the vocal cords do not vibrate
e.g.

41. DESCRIBING ENGLISH CONSONANTS
• The description includes the following information:
a. Voicing
b. Place of articulation
c. Manner of articulation
e.g. /s/:
/n/:
/f/:
/t/:
//:
/j/:
/g/:

42. IDENTIFYING ENGLISH CONSONANTS
• A description in given and you have to identify which sound is
being described.
Voiced velar nasal:
Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative:
Voiced bilabial stop:
Voiced labio-dental fricative:
Voiced alveolar lateral:
Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate:
Voiced dental fricative:

45. Fortis and lenis consonants
plosives fricatives affricates
fortis
lenis

46. Fortis and lenis consonants
plosives fricatives affricates
fortis p t k f s ʃ θ tʃ
lenis b d g v z ʒ ð dʒ

47. Fortis vs. lenis
Fortis consonants
• Voiceless
• Slightly longer than lenis
• shorten preceding vowels
Eg. rɑɪs rɑɪt
• Strong
Lenis consonants
• Often voiced (but not always)
• Slightly shorter than fortis
• lengthen preceding vowels
Eg. rɑɪz rɑɪd
• Weak

48. Fortis vs lenis plosives
• Fortis plosives are strongly aspirated in initial (stressed)
positions
Eg. [pʰen] [tʰʌn] [kʰæn] [pəˈtʰeɪtəʊ]
• Fortis plosives are weakly aspirated in unstressed and final
position.
Eg. [pʰɒt] [təˈmɒrəʊ]
• /l, r, w, j/ are devoiced when following fortis plosives
Eg. [pl̥eɪ] [kr̥ɑɪ] [tw̥ɪn]
• Lenis plosives are voiced only when they are between voiced
sounds
Eg. [b̥ʊk] [d̥ɒg̊] [ˈhɑːdə]

49. Fortis vs. lenis fricatives
• Friction noise of fortis fricatives is louder
• Lenis fricatives are voiced between voiced
sounds
Eg. [lɑɪv̥] [briːð̥] [z̥uː] [ˈmeʒə]

50. Fortis vs. lenis affricates
• Lenis affricates are voiced between voiced
sounds.
Eg. [lɑːdʒ̊] [lɑːdʒə] [dʒ̊ɒb̥]

51. exercises
Compare the length of vowels in the following
pairs
• leaf vs. leave
• robe vs. rope
• sight vs. side
• broad vs. brought
• batch vs. badge
• age vs. h

52. Describe the state of the consonants
• Riches
• Lodging
• Plain
• Queen
• Crying
• Tray
• Park