THE IPA SYSTEM

CONSONANTS

INTRODUCTION

The IPA was created by the International Phonetic Association.

The Association was established in 1886 by a group of teachers and scholars
inspired by the idea of using phonetics to improve the teaching of spoken
language to foreign learners.
In fact, the IPA is a system of written symbols devised to help one pronounce
words correctly.
The IPA is used to represent not only the spoken English language, but
indeed all languages. And it is not an ordinary alphabet. It is a set of symbols,
each one representing the distinctive sounds of a language.
We call the distinctive sounds phonemes. The IPA symbols are therefore
phonemic symbols, and are usually enclosed in ‘slant brackets’ (slashes, or
obliques: //).
For example, book is transcribed /bʊk/. The transcription (i. e., the
pronunciation) of phoneme is /ˈfəʊniːm/; phonemic, /fəˈniːmɪk /; obliques,
/əˈbli:ks/; phonemic transcription /fəˈniːmɪk trænˈskrɪpʃn/.

DESCRIBING SPEECH SOUNDS: CONSONANTS

Consonant sounds are described in the following IPA chart.

(N.B.: Stops, in the left column of the chart, is synonymous with plosives)

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 This is a general chart, including sounds from a large number of languages.
We shall concentrate on the English sounds as shown in the table below, which
you already know:

In the IPA chart, consonants are basically described according to two

characteristics:

- The place or articulation (arrow on the right in the chart above);

- The manner of articulation (arrow on the left in the chart above).

PLACES OF ARTICULATION:

Consonants are the result of an obstruction of the flow of air from the lungs
through the vocal tract.
The obstruction is produced by the articulators (“organi articolatori”).
The principal articulators are the tongue, the lips, the lower jaw, the teeth,
the velum or soft palate, the uvula and the vocal folds.
The PLACES OF ARTICULATION used in the IPA chart (arrow on the right) are the
following:
- bilabial /ˌbaɪˈleɪbiəl/ (“bilabiale”): both lips are joined together to produce the
consonant sound. The /p/, /b/and /m/ sounds are bilabials.
- labiodental /ˌleɪbiəʊˈdentl/ (“labiodentale”): the upper front teeth touch the
lower lip. /f/ and /v/ are labiodentals.
- dental /ˈdentl/ (“dentale”): the tongue touches the upper front teeth: /θ/
and /ð/ in English, and /t/ and /d/ in Italian are dental sounds.
Specifically, in /θ/ and /ð/ the tip of the tongue is protruded between the
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 teeth, and the sound is called interdental. (/θ/ and /ð/ are also produced by
placing the tip of the tongue against the inside of the front teeth.)
- alveolar /ælˈviːələ(r)/ (“alveolare”): the tongue touches – or is close to – the
tooth ridge, i.e. the part of the palate where the roots of the upper front teeth
are. The English sounds /t/,/d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, /l/ are alveolars.
- post-alveolar /ˌpəʊst ælˈviːələ(r)/ (“postalveolare”): the front of the tongue
touches – or is close to – a part of the mouth that is a little further back than
the alveolar region. /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/ are post-alveolar sounds.
- palatal /ˈpælətl/ (“palatale”): the tongue is against or near the hard palate.
E.g. /j/ as yes in English; /ʎ/ as egli in Italian.
- velar /ˈvi:lə(r)/ (“velare”): the back of the tongue is in contact with the velum.
/k/, /g/, /ŋ/ are velars.
- uvular /ˈju:vjələ(r)/ (“uvulare”): the back of the tongue is in contact with the
uvula. It is the French sound /ʁ/ in rouge.
- glottal /ˈglɒtl/ (“glottidale”) is a sound produced by the glottis, i.e. the part of
the larynx that contains the vocal folds, and the narrow opening between the
vocal folds. The /h/ sound in hat is glottal, and is produced with open vocal
folds.

The following are other places of articulation shown in the table above.
Retroflex /ˈretrəfleks/ (“articolazione retroflessa”): not really a place of
articulation, but a shape of the tongue. The retroflex sound is produced with the
tip of the tongue curled back against the hard palate. The r sound in English is
considered a retroflex, and is commonly transcribed as /r/, rather than as [ɹ], as
shown in the retroflex column of the table above.
In pharyngeals /ˌfærɪnˈdʒiəlz/ the sound is produced by pressing the back of
the tongue against the pharynx. Pharyngeal consonants are not widespread. They
are found in such languages as Arabic, Kurdish, Somali.
As explained above, the glottis is the part of the larynx that contains the
vocal folds, and the narrow opening between the vocal folds. The glottis is covered
by the epiglottis /ˌepɪˈɡlɒtɪs/ when we eat or drink, to prevent food or drinks enter
the trachea and the lungs. Epiglottals /ˌepɪˈglɒtlz/ sounds are produced by the
epiglottis, and are rare and scarcely known in world languages.

In this picture you can see all the places of articulation. The main ones,
described above, have been highlighted

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 Places of articulation:
1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9.
Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16.
Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical

MANNER OF ARTICULATION:

While the place of articulation is the place in the vocal tract where the
articulators (mainly the tongue) obstruct the flow of air from the lungs, the
manner of articulation is the type of obstruction of the flow of air.
In fact, the obstruction can be a complete closure of the vocal tract (as in the
production of the /p/ sound), or a partial closure (as in the /ʃ/ sound).
Manners of articulation are classified as follows.

- plosive /ˈpləʊsɪv/ (“occlusiva”): a speech sound made by stopping the flow of

air at some point in the vocal tract, and then suddenly releasing it. The air is
compressed inside the mouth, and when it is released, there is a very short
explosive noise, called plosion /ˈpləuʒən/.
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/ in pie, buy, tie, die, come, gum are plosives.
- nasal /ˈneizl/ (“nasale”): in this manner of articulation the velum is lowered
and closes the oral cavity; the air from the lungs goes out through the nasal
cavity. /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/ , as in map, nap, sung, are nasals.
- fricative /ˈfrɪkətɪv/ (“fricativa”): a speech sound made by forcing breath out
through a narrow space in the mouth, with the lips, teeth or tongue in a
particular position, so that a hissing sound is produced. / f /, / ʃ /, /θ/,
/ð/, /s/, /z/, /v/, /ʒ/, as in fee, she, thin, that, sin, zip, vat, ship, pleasure
are fricatives.
- affricate /ˈæfrɪkət/ (“affricata”): a speech sound that starts as a plosive (i.e.
by totally stopping the flow of air at some point in the vocal tract), but instead

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 of ending with a plosion, ends with a fricative sound. / tʃ / and / dʒ / in chair
and jar are affricates.
- approximant /əˈprɒksɪmənt / (“approssimante”): a consonant which makes
very little obstruction to the air flow. This class of sounds includes lateral
approximants like /l/ (as in less), post-alveolar approximants like [ɹ] (as in
rest), and semivowels like [j] and [w] (as in yes and west, respectively).
N.B.: the approximant sound [ɹ] in the transcription of English words is
commonly trascribed as /r/. (See the second table above.)
Other manners of articulation are not common in English.
A tap is produced when the tongue tip hits lightly and quickly the upper teeth
or the alveolar ridge. It is often heard in American English, when the /t/ sound
occurs after a stressed vowel and before an unstressed one; e.g.: daughter,
computer, settle. Here the /t/ sounds like a quick /d/. (Hear the pronunciation at
http://www.pronuncian.com/Lessons/default.aspx?Lesson=43.)
The term flap is used as synonymous with tap. But some authorities make a
distinction between them: in flaps the tip of the tongue is raised up and back and
then strikes the alveolar ridge as it returns to a position behind the lower front
teeth. Some languages—e.g., Hausa, the principal language of Northern Nigeria—
distinguish between words containing a flap and words containing a tap.
A trill is a speech sound produced by the rapid vibration of one of the vocal
organs. Typical trills are the tongue-tip trill, which is produced in the Italian /r/,
as in carro, and the uvular trill, as found in French (/ʁ/, rouge), in German and in
other European languages.

A further distinction to be made in the manner of articulation is between

voiced and voiceless consonants.
In voiced /vɔɪst/ consonants there is a vibration of the vocal folds. /b/ as in
bin, /d/ day, /ð/ those, /m/ may, /l/ low, /v/ van, /z/ zoo, /ʒ/ measure, /dʒ/
just are voiced consonants.
Voiceless /ˈvɔɪsləs/ (or unvoiced) consonants have no vibration of the vocal
folds. /t/ as in tram, /θ/ thanks, /s/ soup, /tʃ/ chair, /ʃ/ shop, /k/ key are
voiceless consonants.