Chapter 11.4: Consonants

The following chart gives the IPA symbols for each of the 24 consonants used in General American English. An interactive chart with sound examples of each phoneme tags: phonology can be found here

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar	Glottal
Voiceless Plosive	p			t		k
Voiced Plosive	b			d		g
Voiceless Fricative		f	θ	s	ʃ		h
Voiced Fricative		v	ð	z	ʒ
Voiceless Affricate					tʃ
Voiced Affricate					dʒ
Nasal	m			n		ŋ
Approximant				ɹ l
Semivowel	w				j

One way to understand phonemes is to categorize them according to their distinctive features. For consonants, the distinctive features are categorized under several broad headings:

Place of Articulation: The organ of speech which is the primary location for the production of the phone
Manner of Articulation: How the air flow is obstructed, whether stopped entirely or restricted by one of the organs of speech
Voicing: Whether the vocal cords vibrate or not during the production of the phone

Place of Articulation

The places of articulation are given across the top of the chart above. They are

bilabial: phones that are made by obstructing the air flow with both lips
labiodental: phones that are made by obstructing the air with a combination of the lips and teeth
dental: phones that are made by obstructing the air with the tongue against the teeth
alveolar: phones that are made by obstructing the air with the tongue against the alveolar ridge
palatal: phones that are made by obstructing the air with the tongue against the hard palate
velar: phones that are made by obstructing the air with the tongue against the soft palate or velum
glottal: phones that are made by obstructing the air with the glottis

These features can be referred to with notation such as [+alveolar], signifying an alveolar sound, or [-velar], signifying that the sound is not velar.

Manner of Articulation

The manners of articulation are given in the left-hand column of the chart. They are

Plosive (also called stops): phones that are made by stopping the air flow completely (and then releasing it)
Fricative: phones that are made by restricting but not stopping the air flow
Affricate: phones that are made by stopping the air flow and then restricting it when released (i.e., a combination of a stop and a fricative)
Nasal: phones that are made by opening the nasal cavity so that the air flow by resonate inside it
Approximant: phones that are made when the articulators approach each other, but not as close as in the fricatives
Semivowel: a subset of approximants, phones that act as consonants or vowels depending on the environment they are in.

As with the places of articulation, the manner of a particular sound can also be specified with feature notation such as [+stop]. In order to refer to a phoneme that is made by stopping the air with both lips, we can use the features: [+stop][+bilabial]. One more feature is the term continuant, which can be referred to in feature notation as [+continuant] or [-continuant]. Continuants are the sounds in which the air is not stopped from going through the oral cavity. Thus, plosives are [-continuant] because they stop the air entirely. Nasals are also [-continuant] because in them the air resonates in the nasal not the oral cavity. Affricates begin by being [-continuant] but end as [+continuant]. All other consonants are [+continuant].

Voicing

The final distinctive feature of consonants is voicing, that is, whether the vocal cords vibrate. You can test whether or not a sound is voiced by placing your hand on the front of your throat while you speak. If you feel a vibration, as when you say [b] or [d], then the sound is voiced, or [+voice]. If you do not feel a vibration, as in /p/ or /t/ or /f/, then the sound is voiceless, or [-voice].

English Consonant Phoneme Symbols

I will now discuss each of these 24 consonant symbols given above, listing them according to their Manner of Articulation. Make sure to learn each one according to its three features (place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing) and its IPA symbol.

Plosives, or Stops: /p/ /b/ ~ /t/ /d/ ~ /k/ /g/ (The first of each pair is voiceless, the second voiced).

Bilabial: /p/ and /b/. The first of these symbols represents the voiceless bilabial plosive. Bilabial plosives are made by stopping the air with both lips (bi-labial) and then releasing it. Examples: pin, spin, apt, stop. The second symbol, /b/, is made in the same way, except it is voiced by the vibration of the vocal cords. Examples: bin, tab, table.
Alveolar: /t/ and /d/. These two plosives are made by stopping the air flow by placing the apex (tip) of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and then releasing it. The first is voiceless and the second is voiced. Examples: top, stop, bat and dot, bad, ladder.
Velar: /k/ and /g/. These sounds are made by stopping the air flow by placing the dorsum (back) of the tongue against the velum and then releasing it. The first is voiceless, and the second is voiced. Examples: kick, making; gall, ogre, hog. (Note, the symbol /g/ never represents the so-called “soft” g-sound as in gel).

Fricative: /f/ /v/ ~ /θ/ /ð/ ~ /s/ /z/ ~ /ʃ/ /ʒ/ ~ /h/ (The first of each pair is voiceless, the second voiced). Fricatives are made by creating a restriction in the oral cavity through which air must pass. The friction of the air passing creates the specific sound.

Labiodental: /f/ and /v/. These sounds are made by placing the upper teeth against the lower lip and breathing through the restricted space. The first is voiceless and the second is voiced. Examples: fall, after, awful, off, and vine, over, leave.
Dental (sometimes called interdental): /θ/ /ð/ (the first of these symbols is the Greek letter theta; the second is an Icelandic letter called “eth”). These sounds are made by placing the tongue between the teeth and breathing through the restricted space. The first is voiceless and the second is voiced. Examples of /θ/: thin, breath, wealth. Examples of /ð/: then, breathe, weather.
Alveolar : /s/ /z/. These sounds are made by air passing between either the apex of the tongue and the alveolar ridge. Examples of /s/: sit, cell, lessen, ice, hiss. Examples of /z/: zoo, wisdom, is.
Post-alveolar: /ʃ/ /ʒ/ (the first of these is called an “esh” or a “long s”; the second is an “ezh”). These sounds are made by air passing rapidly between the tongue and the area just behind the alveolar ridge. Examples of /ʃ/: shoe, ocean, nation, ash. Examples of /ʒ/: measure, azure, decision.
Glottal: /h/. Examples of /h/: hello, high. There is no voiced counterpart to this glottal fricative in Modern English. It is more historically accurate to consider /h/ a velar sound, since it is generally a reduced sound of the velar fricative /x/ which English used to have, and still does in some dialects (as in Scottish loch), or which you will hear in foreign words like German Bach. There was at one time a voiced velar fricative /ɣ/, which will come up in discussions of Old English. To make this sound, make the sound in Scottish loch, and then vibrate your vocal cords.

Affricate: /tʃ/ /dʒ/ (The first is voiceless, the second voiced). As you can tell from the symbols, these sounds are really a combination of two others, but in English we still consider them distinct phonemes.

Alveo-palatal affricate /tʃ/ /dʒ/. The onset of the sound is made by stopping the airflow with the tongue against the alveolar ridge, as in /t/ and /d/, but instead of a full release, the airflow is released into the restricted flow of the fricatives /ʃ/ or /ʒ/. Examples of /tʃ/: church, chin, hatch, nature. Examples of /dʒ/: judge, jelly, edge.

Nasal: /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ (All three are voiced). Nasals are made by stopping the air in the same way as in plosives, but rather than releasing the air, the air is allowed to vibrate in the nasal cavity.

Bilabial: /m/. This sound is made by stopping the air flow by closing both lips and then allowing the air to resonate within the nasal cavity. It is voiced. Examples: man, ham, hammer.
Alveolar: /n/. This sound is made by stopping the airflow by placing the apex of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and then allowing the air to resonate within the nasal cavity. It is voiced. Examples: no, man, manner.
Velar: /ŋ/ (the symbol is called an “eng” or an “engma”). This sound is made by stopping the airflow with the dorsum of the tongue against the velum and then allowing the air to resonate within the nasal cavity. It is voiced. Examples: sing, singer, finger. (Note: although we spell this sound with two letters, it is a single phoneme).

Approximant: /l/ / r/ (both voiced) An approximant is a consonant sound in which the restriction of airflow is not enough to cause any turbulence as described in the previous sounds.

Lateral alveolar: /l/. The /l/ is made by placing the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge, and allowing the air to escape around the sides of the tongue (i.e., laterally). Examples of /l/: lamp, fall.
Central alveolar: /r/. This sound is produced by placing the tip or blade of the tongue near the alveolar ridge and allowing air to flow centrally through the gap. Some people make it by curling the tip of the tongue backwards, so that it is called a retroflex approximant. Examples of /r/: red, very, near. (Note: in the chart above I use the symbol /ɹ/, which is technically a more accurate symbol for the type of “r” we make in American English, but for ease of typing it will be fine to use /r/.)

Semivowel: /j/ /w/ (both voiced) These sounds are made in the same way as an approximant, allowing barely restricted air to flow through, in a manner very similar to vowels but in environments in which a consonant is needed, i.e., they are usually followed by vowels rather than consonants..

Palatal: /j/ This sound is made by placing the tongue near the hard palate and allowing air to flow through. It is called a semivowel because it is produced in the same way as the vowel /i/. Examples of /j/: year, yellow, yes, you. (Do not confuse the symbol /j/ with the letter <j> in words like “judge”).
Labiovelar: /w/. This sound is made with the back of the tongue near the velum and with rounded lips, in the same way as the vowel /u/. Examples of /w/: west, wall.

These 24 phonemes represent the consonant phonemes of General American English. You must learn each symbol and the sound it represents, and be able to describe each phoneme according to its three features: voicing, place of articulation, manner of articulation. I advise you to say these sounds out loud over and over (whispering will not do) until you understand each of them.