(QUESTION 4 : PLOSIVES & FRICATIVES)

1.0 Introduction

Sounds are root of a language. In English language sounds are divided into two
which are consonants and vowels.

There are 24 consonant sounds altogether.

The

articulators play a vital role in producing each consonant sound. Contraction between the
various speech organs such as tongue, lips, teeth and so on are involved in producing a
consonant (Curzan and Adams, 2009). The picture below shows the articulators involved in
consonant sounds.

Figure 1 : The articulators (Roach, 2012)

Furthermore, consonants are described in three different ways namely place of articulation,
manner of articulation and force of articulation.

Firstly, the place of articulation is the

articulators and the point of articulation. For instance,

Articulator

Point of Articulation

Place of Articulation

Lower lip

Upper lip

Bilabial

The manner of articulation is the interaction between assorted articulators and the airstream
(Kelly, 2000). The table below shows an example of manner of articulation with its
description.
Manner of Articulation

Description
An absolute closure is made in the vocal

Stops / Plosives

tract and the soft palate is raised. Air

pressure increases behind the closure and
is then released explosively.
(Kelly, 2000)

The vibration of vocal folds denotes the voicing of consonants. There are two types of
vibrations which are voiceless (fortis; strong force of air) and voiced (lenis; wear force of
air).
Example :
/p/

/b/

Voiceless

Voiced

2.0 Plosive/Stops and Fricative

There are a total of 6 manners of articulation. However, this essay only focuses on two
manners of articulation. Table below shows the consonant chart.
Place

Bilabial

Labial

Dental

Alveolar

Manner
Stop

/p/

Nasal

/b/

/t/

/m/

Palata
l

velar

/d/

/k/ /g/

/n/

//

Lateral

glottal

/l/
/t/
/d/

Affricate
Fricative
approximan
t

PalatoAlveolar

/f/
/v/

//
//

//
//

/s/
/z/

/w/

/h/

/r/

/j/

Table 1 : The Consonant Chart (Bogle, 1996)

2.1 Stop/Plosive
Stop is also known as plosive. In stop consonants the breath is completely stopped at some
point in the mouth, by the lips or tongue-tip or tongue back, and then released with an
explosion. There are three pairs of phonemes containing stops (Connor, 1988).

Three

consonants are voiceless and another three are voiced.

Place of Articulation
Stop

Bilabial
/p/

Alveolar
/b/

/t/

Velar
/d/

/k/

/g/

Table 2 : Stop/ Plosive consonants (Bogle, 1996)

2.1.1 Bilabial stop (/p/ and /b/)

The lips are closed firmly and the soft palate is raised. The air pressure increases behind
the closure. The vocal cords are pulled back so that there is no voicing (Connor, 1988).
Thus, /p/ sound is produced whereas the vocal cords vibrate to create a voiced sound which
is /b/. The picture below shows the position of articulators when producing bilabial stop
sounds.

Figure 2 : Bilabial Stop/ Plosive (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

/p/

Voiced

/b/

Example of sentence with /p/ & /b/ sounds and its transcription :

John packs some food and placed it in his bag. He plans to go for a walk in the park before
the sun sets.
Transcription : /dn pks sm fud nd plest t n z bg/ /hi plnz t fr wk n
pk b.f sn sets/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 3 shows the examples of bilabial plosive sounds and its force of articulation.

Plosive/Stop

Transcription

Voiceless

Packs

/pks/

Placed

/plest/

Bag

/bg/

Park

/pk

Before

/b.f/

Voiced

Table 3 : Bilabial plosive sounds and its force of articulation

2.1.2 Alveolar stop (/t/ and /d/)

The tip of tongue is placed on the alveolar ridge and the soft palate is raised. Tongue is
lowered to produce /t/ sound without voicing and /d/ sound which is voiced. The picture
below shows the position of articulators when producing alveolar stop sounds.

Figure 3 : Alveolar Stop/Plosive (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

/t/

Voiced

/d/

Example of sentence with /t/ & /d/ sounds and its transcription :

The two young girls are listening to light tunes while drinking coffee whereas their dad is
dancing for a rock song.
Transcription : / tu j lz ls.nn . t lat tjunz wal drk k.fi wer.z e
dd z dns. fr rk s/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 4 shows the examples of alveolar plosive sounds and its force of articulation.
Plosive/Stop

Transcription

Voiceless

Voiced

Two

/tu/

Tunes

/tjunz/

Drinking

/drk/

Dad

/dd/

Dancing

/dns./

Table 4 : Alveolar plosive sounds and its force of articulation

2.1.3 Velar stop (/k/ and /g/)

The back of the tongue is moved to soft palate and the soft palate is raised (Roach, 2012).
When the tongue is lowered voiceless /k/ and voiced /g/ is produced. The picture below
shows the position of articulators when producing velar stop sounds.

Figure 4 : Velar Stop/Plosive (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

/k/

Voiced

/g/

Example of sentence with /p/ & /b/ sounds and its transcription :

The girl with curly hair is my cousin. She looks good with a cap.
Transcription : / l w k.li he z ma kz.nn | i lks d w kp/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 5 shows the examples of velar plosive sounds and its force of articulation.
Plosive/Stop
Girl

Transcription
/l/

Voiceless

Voiced

Curly

/k.li/

Cousin

/kz.nn /

Good

/d/

Cap

/kp/

Table 5 : Velar plosive sounds and its force of articulation

2.2 Fricative

There are nine consonant phonemes whose main sounds all have frictions their most
important feature (Curzan and Adams, 2009). Fricatives occurs when the articulators create
friction as the air passes through the mouth. In fricatives glottal has only one phoneme and
there are four voiceless consonants and three voiced consonants.

Place of

Labio- dental

Dental

Alveolar

Palato-

Articulatio

Glottal

Alveolar

n
Fricative

/f/

/v/

//

//

/s/

/z/

//

//

/h/

Table 6 : Fricative consonants (Bogle, 1996)

2.2.1 Labio-dental fricative (/f/ and /v/)

The lower lip is placed close to the upper teeth and air is pushed out of the mouth (Connor,
1988. This forms a narrowing gap and causes friction when the sounds are produced.
Without voicing, /f/ is produced and /v/ is produced with voicing. The picture below shows
the position of articulators when producing labio-dental fricative sounds.

Figure 5 : Labio-dental fricative (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

/f/

Voiced

/v/

Example of sentence with /p/ & /b/ sounds and its transcription :

Mary speaks very fast and her voice is loud and clear and she always win the first prize in
public speaking competitions.
Transcription : /mer.i spiks ver.i fst nd h vs z lad nd kl nd i l.wez wn
fst praz n p.blk spik km.p.t.nn z /

(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 7 shows the examples of labio-dental sounds and its force of articulation.
Labio-dental

Transcription

Very

/ver.i/

Fast

/fst/

Voice

/vs/

First

/fst/

Voiceless

Voiced

Table 7 : Labio-dental sounds and its force of articulation

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2.2.2 Dental fricative (// and (//)

The soft palate is raised and the tongue is placed between the teeth and air is pushed
through. // is produced without voicing and // is produced with vibration (Curzan and
Adams, 2009). // is used for content words such as nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs
with th at the beginning while // is pronounced for function words such as pronouns,
conjunctions and demonstratives with th at the beginning (Kelly, 2000). The picture below
shows the position of articulators when producing dental fricative sounds.

Figure 6 : Dental fricative (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

//

Voiced

//

Example of sentence with // and // sounds its transcription :

The thin boy thanked his mother for the gift on his birthday.
Transcription : / n b kt z m. f ft n z b.de/

(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

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Table 8 shows the examples of dental fricative sounds and its force of articulation.
Dental fricative

Transcription

Voiceless

The

//

Thin

/n/

Thanked

/kt/

Mother

/m./

Birthday

/b.de/

Voiced

Table 8 : Dental fricative sounds and its force of articulation

2.2.3 Alveolar fricative (/s/ and /z/)

Front of the tongue is moved back toward the hard palate. Air is pushed through. Besides,
the lower teeth and upper teeth are very close to each other. /s/ is voiceless consonant
whereas /z/ is a voiced consonant. The picture below shows the position of articulators
when producing alveolar fricative sounds.

Figure 7 : Alveolar fricative (Roach, 2012)

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Voiceless

/s/

Voiced

/z/

Example of sentence with /s/ and /z/ sounds and its transcription :

Teacher said that all the students should get parents permission to go the zoo trip.
Transcription : /ti.t sed t l stjudnts d et pe.rnts p.m.nn t zu
trp/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 9 shows the examples of alveolar fricative sounds and its force of articulation.
Alveolar fricative

Transcription

Voiceless

Said

/sed/

Students

/stjudnts/

Zoo

/zu/

Voiced

Table 9 : Alveolar fricative sounds and its force of articulation

2.2.4 Palato- alveolar fricative (// and //)

Front of tongue is moved back toward the hard palate. The front of the tongue is higher than
for alveolar fricatives. The lips are slightly rounded. This produces voiceless // and
voiced //. The picture below shows the position of articulators when producing palatoalveolar fricative sounds.

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Figure 8 : Palato-alveolar sounds (Roach, 2012)

Voiceless

/ /

Voiced
//
Example of sentence with // and // and its transcription:

1. His mother asked him to wash her car in the garage.

2. The sales girl measures shoe of a little kid.
Transcription : 1. /hz m.r skt m t w h kr n .r/
2. / selz l me.z u v lt.l n kd/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 10 shows the examples of alveolar fricative sounds and its force of articulation.
Palato-alveolar fricative

Transcription

Voiceless

Voiced

Wash

/w/

Garage

/.r/

Measures

/me.z/

Shoe

/u/

Table 10 : Alveolar fricative sounds and its force of articulation

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2.2.5 Glottal fricative (/h/)

Glottal fricative has only one phoneme which is /h/. /h/ sound is describes as a puff of air
(Roach, 2012).
voiceless

/h/

Example of a sentence with /h/ sound and its transcription :

The weather was so hot and dry. All the animals in the jungle were inside the hut.
Transcription : / we. wz s ht nd dra | l i .nm.lzn n d.l n wr n.
sad ht/
(By Lalitha Raj Rajandren)

Table 11 shows the examples of glottal fricative sounds and its force of articulation.
Glottal fricative

Transcription

Voiceless

Hot

/ht/

Hut

/ht/

Voiced

Table 11 : glottal fricative sounds and its force of articulation

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3.0 Differences between plosives and fricatives

plosive
A complete closure is made

Differences

in the vocal tract and the

soft palates also raised. Air

Definition

When

Fricative
two vocal

organs

come

close

enough

together, air is squeezed

pressure increases behind

between them without being

the closure and is then

stop, causing a hissing or

released explosively.

friction sound.

(Kelly, 200)
There are three places of

(Kelly, 2000)
There are five places of

articulation

involved

Place of Articulation

in

articulation

involved

in

plosive which are bilabial,

fricative which are labio-

alveolar and velar.

dental,

There are six phonemes in

plosive.
Explosive sound
There are total

Type of sound
of

voiceless phonemes
/p/, /t/, /k/
There
are

Number of Phonemes

Number of voiceless
phonemes

voiced

phonemes

Number of voiced

/b/, /d/, /g/

phonemes

dental,

palate-

alveolar and glottal.

There are nine phonemes in
fricative.
Friction sound
There are total

of

voiceless phonemes
/f/, //, /s/, //, /h/
There
are
4

voiced

phonemes
/v/, //, /z/, //

There are four major differences between stops/plosives and fricatives. The key words for
definitions of plosive is the air is released explosively whereas in fricatives the air produces
hissing or friction sound. In terms of place of articulation, there are three places of
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articulation while in fricatives there are five places of articulation. Fricative has greater
number of phonemes compared to plosive which is nine and six respectively. Furthermore,
plosive has less number of voiceless ( 3) and voiced (3) phonemes whereas fricative has 5
voiceless and 4 voiced phonemes.

4.0 Conclusion

As a conclusion, different articulators function in its own way to produce different sounds.
This enables human to speak a language and understand it. Consonants are very important
elements of English language because words are mainly consist of consonants. Each and
every consonant sounds are very important in pronunciation. As far as force of articulation is
concerned, the voiceless and voiced consonants also play a significant role in pronouncing
words correctly. Lastly, consonants sounds need to be clearly used so that the phonemes
function in a word.

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