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CONSONANTS AND VOWELS

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Mariel J. De Gracia
ELT 505
1. How are speech sounds produced?
Our respiratory system plays a crucial role in the production of speech
sounds. Speech sounds are made with the help of an airstream coming out of our
lungs. The air that we breathe goes to our lungs and as we speak, the air is
released in a certain way. The larynx that contains the vocal cords, when held
close together vibrates when the air coming from the lungs passes through them
and this results to a voiced sound. Moreover, speech sounds are divided into two
types: consonants and vowels.
2. What are consonant sounds; the classifications of consonant sounds; the
consonants of English and their phonetic notation?
Consonant is a speech sound which is articulated with obstruction of
airflow. It is impossible to articulate a consonant sound independently therefore,
it can only be pronounced with the help of a vowel accompanying it. Also,
consonants can be classified its features as voiced or voiceless, nasal or oral, and
also by determining its place of articulation and as well as the manner of
articulation where it can be considered as close or open approximation.
The consonant sounds are spoken between the lips and the larynx and the area of
the mouth where the obstruction of the airflow takes place.
Starting from the front of the mouth, bilabial sounds involve both lips and include /m/,
as in music, and /w/, as in weird. As in all the places of articulation, bilabial consonants constrict
the airflow to a greater or lesser extent. Labiodental articulation involves the top teeth and
bottom lip, and produces sounds such as /f/, as in fine, and /v/, as in vine. The teeth are the site
of a number of speech sounds. The tongue may bulge between them to create ‘interdental’
sounds, which are those spelt as ‘th’ in English: /θ/ as in think and /ð/ as in though. In some
languages, though not usually in English, a number of dental sounds, are produced when the
tongue creates an obstruction against the back of the teeth. Alveolar sounds occur when the
blade of the tongue is placed against the alveolar ridge, a thin platform just behind the teeth.
It is the place of articulation for a number of English sounds: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/, /n/ are all
alveolar. Another one is palatal sound, the ‘y’ sound, which is represented as /j/ phonologically
and is found in yes. Behind the palate is the velum, or soft palate. Velar sounds involve the
back of the tongue moving towards or making contact with the soft palate. There are three velar
sounds in English: /k/ as in kid, /g/ as in goal and /ŋ/, which only occurs at the end of syllables,
is spelt ‘ng’ and occurs twice in dancing. Lastly, English has two glottal sounds: the glottal stop,
which replaces /t/ in some accents, and the voiceless glottal fricative, /h/, which is an ‘h’ sound,
as in horse.
3. What are vowel sounds in English?
It is possible for vowel sounds to be pronounced independently unlike consonant
sounds. When the air comes out freely from our lungs, we can produce vowel sounds. We only
have five vowel letters namely a,e,i,o,u but it is wrong to assume that these are the only vowel
sounds in English.
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