Phonetics: Places of Articulation

• Phonetics is the study of the place and manner of articulation.
• Ali Hayat is the lecturer from Near East University.
• There are three aspects of articulatory properties: Voicing, Place of articulation and Manner of articulation.

Places of Articulation

• The place of articulation refers to where in the vocal tract a sound is produced.
• The English Consonants Chart shows the different places of articulation for English consonants.

Bilabial

• Bilabial sounds are produced by bringing the lower and upper lips together.
• Examples of bilabial sounds are [p], [b], and [m].

Labiodental

• Labiodental sounds are produced by bringing the lower lip to the upper teeth.
• Examples of labiodental sounds are [f] and [v].

Dental and Interdental

• Dental and interdental sounds are produced by placing the tip or blade of the tongue against or between the upper teeth.
• The sounds [θ] and [ð] are examples of dental and interdental sounds.

Alveolar

• Alveolar sounds are produced when the tongue tip approaches or touches the alveolar ridge.
• The alveolar ridge is located immediately behind the upper teeth.
• Examples of alveolar sounds are [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], and [l].

Postalveolar

• Postalveolar sounds are produced when the tip or blade of the tongue approaches or touches the back part of the alveolar ridge.
• Examples of postalveolar sounds are [ʃ], [ʒ], [tʃ], and [dʒ].

Palatal

• Palatal sounds are produced when the front of the tongue approaches or touches the hard palate.
• The sound [j] is an example of a palatal sound.

Velar

• Velar sounds are produced when the body of the tongue approaches or touches the soft palate, or velum.
• Examples of velar sounds are [k], [g], and [ŋ].

Glottal

• Glottal sounds are produced at the glottis, which is the opening between the vocal folds.
• Glottal sounds involve constriction made at the glottis.
• The consonant [h] is a glottal consonant
• In [h], the glottis opening is narrow, creating turbulence in the airstream past the vocal folds.

Co-articulated Consonants

• [ʍ] is a voiceless labialized velar approximant.
• [w] is a voiced labialized velar approximant.
• [ч] is a voiced labialized palatal approximant.
• [ɕ] is a voiceless palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative.
• [ʑ] is a voiced palatalized postalveolar (alveolo-palatal) fricative.
• [ɧ] is a simultaneous /x/ and /ʃ/ (disputed).
• [k͡p] and [t͡s] affricates and double articulations may be joined by a tie bar.

Manners of Articulation

• Manner of articulation describes how the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract.
• The manners of articulation include plosive, nasal, fricative, affricate, approximant, lateral, tap or flap, and trill.

Plosive

• Plosives involve the active articulator touching the passive articulator, completely cutting off airflow.

• The airflow is then released through the mouth.

• Examples of bilabial plosives are [p] and [b].

• Examples of alveolar plosives are [t] and [d].

• Examples of velar plosives are [k] and [g].

• Aspirated voiceless stops consonants are pronounced with the initial release of breath.

• Examples: English /p/, /t/, /k/ in "pie", "tie", "kind"; Thai /pʰ/, /tʰ/, /kʰ/.

• Unaspirated voiceless stops consonants are not pronounced with the initial release of breath.

• Examples: English /p/, /t/, /k/ in "speak", "star", "sky"; Thai /p/, /t/, /k/.

Nasal

• Nasal sounds are produced by lowering the soft palate.
• Lowering the soft palate allows air to flow out through the nasal cavity.
• An example of a bilabial nasal is [m].
• An example of an alveolar nasal is [n].
• An example of a velar nasal is [ŋ].

Fricative

• Fricatives do not involve the active articulator touching the passive articulator.
• The active articulator gets close enough that the airflow is gradually released through the mouth.
• [f] and [v] are examples of labiodental fricatives.
• [s] and [z] are examples of alveolar fricatives.
• [ʃ] and [ʒ] are Palato-alveolar or post-alveolar fricatives.

Affricative

• Affricates are a sequence of a plosive and a fricative which have the same or similar place of articulation.
• Affricates are transcribed using the symbols for the plosive and the fricative. [t͡ʃ] is a voiceless post-alveolar affricate.
• [d͡ʒ] is a voiced post-alveolar affricate.

Approximant

• Approximant sounds are when the active articulator approaches the passive articulator.
• The articulators don't get close enough for turbulent airflow.
• Examples of approximants are [w], [r], and [j].

Lateral

• Lateral sounds occur when the active articulator touches the passive articulator.
• Air goes out of the mouth along both sides of the tongue.
• A lateral is also called lateral approximant.
• An example of a lateral is [l].

Tap / Flap

• A tap or flap involves a quick motion of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
• The tongue makes one brief interruption of airflow.

Trill

• Trills are when the airstream is interrupted several times by an organ of speech, usually the tip of the tongue.