Consonant and Vowel Articulation in English
CONSONANTAL ARTICULATION
Consonants are described along 3 dimensions:
a. state of the glottis – does voicing take place: position of the vocal folds.
b. place of articulation- which organs are involved in production of consonant.
c. manner of articulation – how the sound is articulated, i.e. the actual
configuration of the organs involved.
(A) STATE OF THE GLOTTIS
Vocal folds are folds of muscle within the larynx. Vocal folds are attached to
cartilage at the front of the larynx, but are separated at the back; by bringing the
two free ends together, the vocal folds can be closed or open, allowing air to escape.
When the folds are wide open, the glottis has the shape of a triangle.
The position of the vocal folds determines whether or not voicing occurs.
Voiceless sounds. Vocal folds are relaxed so that air flows freely up from the lungs
through the larynx. Examples of voiceless consonants are: [s], [f], [p].
Voiced sounds. Vocal folds are held close together so that they vibrate as air passes
through. Examples of voiced sounds are vowels, [l], [m], [z], [b].
B.
PLACE OF ARTICULATION
(1)
LABIALS
Sounds in which closure or near closure of the lips are involved.
a. Bilabials: both lips used to make these sounds: b, p, m
b. Labiodentals: lower lip hits upper teeth. f, v
(2)
DENTALS
Teeth involved in articulation.
a. tongue is placed at or near the teeth.
b. tongue is placed between the teeth. this, thing
In most varieties of English, purely dental sounds are absent.
Interdentals are present in English.
(3) ALVEOLAR
Alveolar ridge is in back of the upper front teeth. An alveolar sound is produced with
the tongue tip at or near the ridge. t, d, s, z, l, n
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(4) PALATAL (including alveopalatal)
These are sounds articulated with the tongue beyond the alveolar ridge, close to the
palate. Highest part of the roof of the mouth is the palate. Palatal consonant in
English is /j/. Alveopalatal sounds are produced in the area immediately beyond
alveolar ridge: this area is between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate, and for
this reason, they are referred to as alveopalatals (or palatoaveolars in some texts).
Show, measure, chip, judge.
(5) VELARS
Soft palate or velum is the part of the roof of the mouth which is beyond the hard
palate. Consonants made with the tongue touching this part of the mouth are velar
sounds: g, k, engma Labiovelar: w: tongue is raised near the velum and the lips are
rounded simultaneously.
(6) GLOTTAL
The place of articulation for this sound is the glottis itself. We’ll look at how it’s
made in the next section.
C.
MANNERS OF ARTICULATION
(1)
STOPS: made with complete obstruction of airflow through the vocal tract
because complete closure occurs between the tongue (for example) and another
organ in vocal tract.
a. Distinction needs to be made between oral and nasal stops. Nasal stops are
produced with the velum lowered. Complete closure occurs in the oral tract
(between tongue and lips, for example), and for this reason n, m, engma are called
stops. However, they are different from oral stops because with the velum lowered,
air can exit through the nasal cavity.
nasal stops will be referred to just as “nasals.” By “stops”, we mean oral stops.
b. Glottal stops are classified as called stops because there is a blocking of the
airflow in the glottis, even if there is no real closure in the oral track. Found in
utterance: uh-uh.
(2)
FRICATIVES These are different from stops in that that complete closure
is not achieved even though the articulators (tongue and alveolar ridge, for example)
make very close contact. Therefore, airflow is not completely cut off in the vocal
tract. However, because stoppage of the airflow is almost complete, the opening
through which air escapes is very narrow: therefore, friction is produced, which is
noisy.
(3)
AFFRICATES These are made by briefly stopping the airstream completely
and then releasing the articulators slightly so that friction is produced (think of
affricates as a combination of a stop and a fricative). Example: initial sound of
cheese; initial and final sound of judge.
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(4)
LIQUIDS- in these consonants, there is an obstruction formed by the
articulators, but it is not narrow enough to stop the airflow or to cause friction .
Laterals and retroflexes are subclasses of liquids: tend to be voiced.
a. laterals. /l/ made by resting the tongue on the alveolar ridge with the
aristream escaping around the sides of the tongue. /l/ is dental or alveolar.
b. English /rs/ tend to be retroflex: tongue tip is curled back behind alveolar
ridge.
c. flap: produced when the tongue tip hits the alveolar ridge at a high speed.
Bitter, butter. Generally voiced as well.
SYLLABIC LIQUIDS AND NASALS: liquids and nasals are called syllabic when they
function as syllabic nuclei: bottle, funnel, bird, button, etc. In these words, the
nucleus of the second syllable consists only of a syllabic nasal or liquid; there is no
vowel in the second syllables. Diacritic is used to indicate these.
(5)
GLIDES
These sounds are made only with a very small closure of articulators. Glides in
American English are /w/ and /j/. /j/ is a palatal glide. /w/ is labiovelar: tongue is
raised and pulled back near velum and with the lips protruding or rounded.
Glides tend to be voiced, but some speakers have a voiceless labiovelar glide in
words when, where, and which (but not in witch).
VOWEL ARTICULATION
Vowels are differentiated by the different placement of the tongue (body) and in
addition to position of the lips and the amount of vocal tract constriction applied.
A. VOWEL HEIGHT
Height of tongue in mouth: make [i] then [a]: high to low position.
Mid vowels are those in which the tongue is neither raised nor lowered: [e], [o].
B. BACKNESS: how far front the tongue is positioned in the mouth. [a] (as in
‘father’) is back; [] (as in ‘cat’) is front.
C. ROUNDNESS: round vowels are made with the rounding of your lips during vowel
articulation. Another way to distinguish b/t front and front and back hi/mid vowels in
Eng. Back vowels are rounded, front vowels are not.
D. TENSE/LAXNESS
Tense vowels are characterized by greater vocal tract constriction (muscles are
tenser) than lax vowel counterparts (I v. i). Tense vowels are also intrinsically longer
than lax vowels.
DIPHTHONGS
Diphthongs are vowels in which the position of the tongue changes from the
beginning of the vowel to the end. Examples: the vowels in kite, boy, loud.
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