Types of Consonants in English, Phonetics

 Consonant Sounds

There are forty-four sounds in English and they are divided into two groups: Consonant sounds and vowel sounds. 

Consonant sounds are sounds whose articulation involves the contact of the organs of speech. This means that when we produce consonant sounds, our speech organs (our lips, teeth, tongue, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate) make contact with each other.

There are twenty-four consonant sounds in English, and they are divided into different groups using three criteria:

1. Place of articulation,

2. Manner of articulation 

3. Voicing

1. PLACE OF ARTICULATION:

By “place of articulation”, we mean the speech organs that are involved in the production of the consonant in question. Some sounds are produced with the two lips, some with the tongue and teeth, the tongue and alveolar ridge etc. Using this criteria, we have seven types of consonant sounds:

1. Bilabial sounds: Produced with the two lips:  (p, b, m)

2. Labia-dental sounds: Produced with the lower lips and upper front teeth (f, v),

3. Dental sounds: Produced with the contact of the tips of the tongue and the upper front teeth:

4. Alveolar sounds: Produced with the contact of the tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge

5. Palatal sounds: Produced with the contact of the blade of the tongue and the hard palate

6. Velar sounds: Produced with the contact of the back of the tongue and the soft palate

7. Glottal sounds: Produced in the larynx- h

2. MANNER OF ARTICULATION:

By “manner of articulation”, we mean the manner in which the pulmonic air (the air we use to form speech sounds) escapes from the mouth. With some sounds, the air is completely blocked, with some, it escapes with difficulty through the mouth, and with some others it escapes through the nostrils. Using these criteria, we have six types of consonant sounds:

1. Plosives or stops: Sounds in which the air is completely blocked: (p, b, t, d)

2. Fricatives: Sounds in which the air escapes with difficulty (f, v, s, z etc)

3. Affricates: Sounds that combined the feature of plosives and fricatives)

4. Nasals: Sounds in which the air escape through the nostrils (m, n,)

5. Liquids: Sounds in which the air is blocked, but not as much as in stops and fricatives. The air escapes through the sides of the mouth (r, l)

6. Glides: Consonants that have no obstruction of pulmonic air, the speech organs do not make any form of contact. That is, they are like vowels (w, j)

3. VOICING:

By “voicing”, we mean whether or not there is vibration in the vocal cords when the sound is produced. Using this criterion, we have two types of sound 1. voiceless sounds (those produced without vibration) and 2. voiced sounds (those produced with vibration).

 The chart below illustrates the above explanation:

 

With the above chart, you will be able to describe each of the sounds. For instance:

1. /p/ is voiceless bilabial plosive 

2. /b/ is voiced bilabial plosive 

3. /f/ is voiceless labia-dental fricative,

4. /z/ is voiced alveolar fricative Etc.