Phonetics Lesson 04: Describing Consonants PDF

PHONETICS LESSON 04 Describing consonants according to their voicing, placement and manner of articulation.  WHAT IS A CONSONANT ? DEFINITION: ⚫ A consonant represents the class of sound that is associated with the obstruction of airflow during the production. ⚫ There...

PHONETICS LESSON 04 Describing consonants according to their voicing, placement and manner of articulation.  WHAT IS A CONSONANT ? DEFINITION: ⚫ A consonant represents the class of sound that is associated with the obstruction of airflow during the production. ⚫ There are 24 consonants in english, and they’re devised into two sub-categories: ⚫ Sonorant (7) and Obstruent (17). SONORANTS AND OBSTRUENTS: ⚫ Sonorants share several features (sonority and continuation) with vowels: ⚫ /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/. ⚫ With obstruents the airflow is always obstructed to a great extent when the sounds are articulated: ⚫ /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /h/.  DEFINING CONSONANTS DEFINING CONSONANTS: ⚫ Consonants can be described in terms of the location of the constriction, the manner of the constriction, and the type of phonation it supports (see Clark and Yallop 1992: 76). ⚫ In short, consonants are classified by place, manner, and voicing. VPM VOICING: ❑ All the consonants are subclassified as either voiced or voiceless. ❑ At the phonation stage, the vocal folds are in tight contact for the production of voiced consonants, while the air for voiceless consonants passes through the glottis with vocal folds set apart. ❑ All the sonorant sounds are voiced. The Place of Obstruction: In the classification system for consonants, “place” denotes the location or place of obstruction and the active organ of speech involved in the articulation stage of the production of the consonants. 1. BILABIAL : Bilabial sounds are produced with the upper and lower lips pushed together /p/, /b/, /m/, /w/ 2. LABIO-DENTAL : Labio-dental sounds are articulated with contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth /f/, /v/ 3. DENTAL / INTERDENTAL / APICO-DENTAL: Dental sounds are generated with the tip of the tongue protruded between the lower and the upper teeth /θ/, /ð/ 4. ALVEOLAR / APICO-ALVEOLAR: Alveolar sounds are made by advancing the tip of the tongue toward the alveolar ridge /t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/ 5. POST-ALVEOLAR / PALATO-ALVEOLAR: Palato/Post/Lamino- alveolar sounds are produced by raising the blade of the tongue toward the alveolar region /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ 6. PALATAL: Palatal sounds are pronounced by advancing the blade of the tongue toward the highest part of the hard palate /j/ 7. VELAR: Velar sounds are made as the tongue body makes contact with the soft palate /k/, /ɡ/, /ŋ/ 8. GLOTTAL: glottal sound is produced by the narrowing of the glottis as the wall of the pharynx makes contact with the root of the Tongue /h/ The Manner of Obstruction: The manner of obstruction is concerned with the degree or extent of the obstruction and the way in which it is formed in the vocal tract (see Clark and Yallop 1992: 81). 1. PLOSIVE: In the production of plosives, the air is obstructed and then released with a small burst of noise (plosion). They are also defined as stops because they cannot be prolonged. /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/ 2. FRICATIVE: In the production of fricatives, the constriction is narrowed to generate turbulent airflow this results in a sound with a hissing or sibilant quality. Fricatives are all continuant consonants, they can be continued for a long time. /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /θ/, /ð/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/ 3. APPROXIMANTS: Approximants, also referred to as “constrictive sonorants”, have an articulation in which the constriction of airflow is not great enough to cause turbulence, so the airflow penetrates in higher volume. /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/ 4. AFFRICATES: Affricates are the two sounds that are produced in this manner: /tʃ/, /dʒ/ The initial complete closure of the plosive sounds /t/ and /d/ is released through a constriction for the fricative sounds /ʃ/ and /ʒ/. 5. NASAL: In the production of Nasal sonorants a stoppage at some point in the oral cavity occurs, and the velum is lowered for the air to escape through the nasal cavity. /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ 6. TRILL: In the production of Trills the tongue strikes the alveolar ridge with a sequence of fast strikes. This manner of articulation is absent in Standard English, but is commonly used in Spanish-Alveolar Trill and Arabic-Uvular Trill (Collins & Mees, 2013). /r/ (Alveolar Trill) , /R/ (Uvular Trill) 7. TAP: Taps occur when the tongue strikes the alveolar ridge only one strike, but “not enough times for pressure to build up” (Knight, p. 47). /ɾ/ END OF THE LESSON