PRAXIS Consonant Sounds

The three features used to classify consonants are place of articulation, manner of articulation, and voicing.

"Place of articulation" refers to the specific location in the vocal tract where the airflow is constricted or obstructed to produce a consonant sound.

"Manner of articulation" describes how the airflow is modified or obstructed at the place of articulation to produce a consonant sound.

"Voicing" refers to whether the vocal cords are vibrating or not vibrating during the production of a consonant sound.

Traditional terminology includes lips, teeth, tongue (tip, blade, front, back), front of the mouth, roof of the mouth, and back of the mouth. These terms are used to describe common errors and suggest techniques and strategies for eliciting correct sound productions.

The articulators involved in producing consonant sounds include the lips, teeth, and tongue.

The articulators can make complete contact to obstruct the airstream, approximate each other, or simply narrow the vocal tract to create different constrictions for producing consonant sounds.

Additional details about the place of articulation can include specific terms such as "lingua (apical) alveolar" or "lingua (laminal) alveolar" to indicate whether the tongue tip or tongue blade is used as the articulator.

Yes, many phonetics texts use terms such as dental, alveolar, palatal, and velar to describe the place of articulation of lingual sounds, without explicitly mentioning "lingua."

Using specific terms helps in accurately describing and understanding the precise point of constriction in the vocal tract during the production of consonant sounds. It aids in clinical assessment and intervention for individuals with speech sound disorders.

There are six manners of articulation:

Stops

Fricatives

Affricates

Nasals

Glides

Liquids

Stops: /p, b, t, d, k, g/

Fricatives: /s, z, ʃ, ʒ, θ, ð, f, v, h/

Affricates: /ts, dʒ/

Nasals: /m, n, ŋ/

Glides: /w, j/

Liquids: /l/ (lateral sounds) and /r/ (rhotic sounds)

Glides involve the articulators moving from one position to another with a relatively wide opening of the vocal tract, while liquids also have considerable resonance but involve an approximation between articulators without complete closure. Liquids include lateral sounds (/l/) and rhotic sounds (/r/).

Fricatives are produced when the articulators approximate to form a narrowed channel in the vocal tract, resulting in a noisier sound that gives an auditory impression of friction.

Voicing is an important distinction in consonant classification because it distinguishes between sounds that involve vocal fold vibration (voiced) and those that do not (voiceless). It plays a role in differentiating sounds that are phonetically similar but differ in voicing, such as /z/ and /s/.

In American English, the voiceless/voiced distinction is often realized as an aspirated/unaspirated distinction, particularly in syllable-initial positions. Voiced stops (/b/, /d/, /g/) are phonetically unvoiced during the stop closure phase but have a short voice onset time without aspiration after the stop closure release.

Producing voiced stops that are both voiced and unaspirated, and voiceless stops that are both voiceless and unaspirated allows for clear and distinct production of these sounds. This approach focuses on achieving precise articulation to help clients develop accurate speech patterns and improve overall speech intelligibility.

Cognates are pairs of consonants that have the same place and manner of articulation but differ in voicing. They are consonants produced with the same articulatory features but with one being voiced and the other voiceless.

The consonant /hʍ/ (also transcribed as /hw/) is omitted because it is rarely used in current dialects of American speech, except in Appalachian English. Therefore, it is not included in the discussion of eliciting techniques.

The use of a mirror is recommended for many of the techniques presented in eliciting correct consonant sounds. Using a mirror allows clinicians to visually observe and provide feedback on the client's articulatory movements during speech production.