TYPES OF CONSONANTS: VOICED AND VOICELESS

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS:

VOICING

There are 44 sounds (24 consonants and 20 vowels) in English language. Consonants are the sounds which are articulated with some obstruction within the mouth. This obstruction is done either with the lips or teeth or tongue or glottis. The consonants can be classified in three different manners as under:

1.   Place of Articulation (8)

NO.	TYPE	EXAMPLE
1)	Bilabial	/p/, /b/, /m/
2)	Labiodental	/v/, /f/
3)	Dental	/θ/, /ð/
4)	Alveolar	/t/, /s/, /d/, /z/, /n/, /l/, /r/
5)	Palato Alveolar	/ʃ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʒ/
6)	Palatal	/j/
7)	Velar	/ŋ/, /w/, /k/, /g/
8)	Glotal	/h/

 

2. Manner of Articulation (6)

 

NO.	TYPE	EXAMPLE
1)	Nasal (3)	/m/, /n/, /ŋ/
2)	Stop (6)	/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
3)	Fricative (9)	/f/, /v/ /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
4)	Affricate (2)	/tʃ/, /dʒ/
5)	Approximant (3)	/w/, /j/, /r/
6)	Lateral (1)	/l/

 

3. Voicing:

All sounds are either voiced or voiceless. Voiced sounds are those that make our vocal chords vibrate when they are produced. Voiceless sounds are produced from air passing through the mouth at different points.

VOICED SOUNDS:   

Voiced sounds are those that make our vocal chords vibrate when they are produced. Feel the vibration by touching your hands to your throat, and then pronounce this sound: /z/. (zoo) We feel somevibration in our throat. Many consonant sounds are voiced, and all vowel sounds are voiced.

 

 

VOICELESS SOUNDS:

Voiceless sounds do not have vibration of the vocal cords. When we pronounce the sound: /s/, we don’t feel any vibration in our throat.

NO	VOICELESS	EXAMPLE	VOICED	EXAMPLE
1)	/p/	Pen	1)  /h/	House
2)	/b/	Bat	2)  /w/	Woman
3)	/t/	Toy	3)  /n/	Name
4)	/d/	Dog	4)  /m/	Mouse
5)	/k/	Kite	5)  /r/	Rat
6)	/g/	God	6)  /j/	Yes
7)	/f/	Father	7)  /ŋ/	King, pink
8)	/v/	Vine	8)  /l/	laughter
9)	/s/	Sit
10)	/z/	Zoo
11)	/θ/	Thing
12)	/ð/	This
13)	/ʃ/	Shoe
14)	/ʒ/	Pleasure
15)	/ʈʃ/	Church
16)	/dʒ/	Judge