Consonants
FA-11-20
Ryspaeva Symbat
Consonants
Consonants are speech sounds, when
we pronounce consonants the air
stream which coming from lungs meet
some barriers.
There are 24 consonants in English
language.
Consonants can be
classified on
• The degree of noise
• The manner of articulations
• The place of articulations
Class A. Noise consonants
(1) In the work of vocal cords
Voiced – [ b, d, g, v, th, z ]
Voiceless – [ p, t, k, f, th, s, sh, ch ]
The degree
of noise
(2) In the degree of force of articulation
Strong noise – [ p, t, k, f, th, s, sh, h, ch]
Weak noise – [ b, d, g, v, th, z ]
Class B. Sonorants
Sonorants are made with tone prevailing
over noise because of a rather wide air
passage. They are [ m, n, l, r, w ]
• Occlusive
The manner
of
articulations
• Constrictive
• Occlusive-constrictive (
affricates)
• Rolled
Occlusive
Occlusive consonants are sound production
which the air stream meet a complete
obstruction in mouth. Occlusive noise
consonants are called stops.
According to the work of vocal cords stops
may be voiced and voiceless.
Occlusive voiced consonants are: [ b, d, g ]
Occlusive voiceless consonants are : [ p, t, k ]
Constrictive
Constrictive consonants are those in the
production of which the air stream meets an
incomplete obstruction in the resonator, so the air
passage is constricted.
Constrictive consonants are called fricatives.
According to the work of vocal cords they may be
voiced and voiceless.
The voiced fricatives are [ v, th, z, g ]
The voiceless fricatives are [ f, th, s, sh, h ]
According to the force of articulation voiced
consonants are weak, voiceless consonants are
strong
Occlusive-constrictive
Occlusive-constrictive consonants
are noise consonant sound produced
with a complete obstruction which is
slowly released and the air escapes
from the mouth with some friction.
There are only two occlusiveconstrictive consonant in English [ ch,
g]
Rolled
Rolled consonants are sound
pronounced with periodical
momentary obstruction when the
tip of the tongue taps quickly
several times against the teeth
ridge and vibrates in the air
stream. They are the Russian [
p, p’ ]
The place of articulations
Place of Articulation is the where of pronunciation. It is the location of where
sounds are produced.
Bilabials
Formed with two (bi-) lips (labials)
/p/ – pop
/b/ – Bob
/m/ – mom
Labiodentals
Formed with the bottom lip (labio-) and top teeth (dentals)
/f/ – fish
/v/ – very
Interdentals
Palatals
Formed by putting the tongue
between (inter-) the teeth (dentals)
Formed by touching the sides of the
tongue to the roof of the mouth
/θ/ – thick
/ʃ/ – ship
/ð/ – though
/ʒ/ – pleasure
Alveolars
Formed by putting the tongue on the
alveolar ridge, which is the gum line
above the top teeth
/t/ – Tom
/d/ – dad
/n/ – none
/s/ – sit
/z/ – zoo
/tʃ/ – cheap
/dʒ/ – jump
/j/ – yogurt
Velars
Formed by putting the back part of the
tongue against the soft palate
/k/ – curl
/l/ – lamp
/g/ – girl
/ɹ/ – run
/ŋ/ – song