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.