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THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM II:
CONSONANTS. PHONETIC SYMBOLS.
CONTRASTIVE ANALYSIS WITH THE SPANISH

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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0. INTRODUCTION

 A language may be said to be a method by which a person expresses

expresses his
thoughts and feelings in such a way that they can be understood by others.
Language is, as we say, a means of communication. When we speak, we produce
a succession of sounds arranged in groups, which we call words, and each word
has a definite meaning in the minds of the people using that language. But to
somebody who does not know that language, the words convey no meaning; every
language on earth has its own particular set of words, most of which are quite
different from those of any other language. Just as each language has its own set
of words, different from those of other languages, so each language has its own
set of sounds, different from the set used in any other language. In fact, if we draw
up a list of all the different sounds used in that language, we shall get what is
called its sound system. It is important to note that the sound system of a language
is peculiar to that language, and that no other language has the same system.
The English phonological system is a rather complex topic since it entails many
different aspects, which differ from the Spanish language to a large extent. For this
reason, this issue will be dealt with from two different scopes, that of theory and
that of didactics. The first part will examine the English phonological system: to
begin with, a distinction between phonetics and phonology will be established;
then, a brief analysis of the speech organs and the mechanisms of speech will be
provided since they are of fundamental importance in the utterance of sounds.
Secondly, a thorough analysis of the English consonants will be carried out.
Finally, our last part will be devoted to a contrastive analysis with the Spanish
language.
In general, this study will be carried out from the perspective of relevant and
influential phoneticians, such as Daniel Jones or O’Connor who have provided a
general but exhaustive framework of the English phonological system, and have
thrown light to the issue at stake.

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1. THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM

1.1. Definition of Phonology and Phonetics

To begin with, a brief distinction between phonetics and phonology should be

set forth in order to determine which area of spoken English corresponds to each
of branch.
Phonology  deals with the study of the phonemes in a language system.
Phonology studies the phonic differences with difference in meaning and the rules
according to which these are combined to form significants. Its minimal unit, the
phoneme, is represented between slashes /…/. This, the phoneme, is an abstract
representation in the speaker’s mind (internal), which is physically realized by one
or more allophones, represented in turn between square brackets [ ].

Example: [l]: clear l: LADY

/l/ !
[!]: dark l: BALLOON

Phonetics  is concerned with how speech sounds are produced in a given

language. They are, in fact, the concrete sounds or speech sounds of a language.
Phonetics do not take into account the relation they have with linguistic meaning,
thus, phonetic differences are phonologically irrelevant, if they have no effect on
meaning.

1.2. The mechanisms of speech

It is important to note that when learning a foreign language, one should be

conscious of the point and manner of articulation of the sounds of that particular
language, since they hardly ever coincide with one’s own language. Take, for
example, the vowels of some different languages. Spanish has five distinct vowel
sounds, whereas English or French have twelve. The learner of a new language

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must, therefore, realize that he is dealing with quite new sounds; he must not be
satisfied to continue to use any of the sounds of his own language unless he is
certain in each case that his own sound is exactly the same as that in the new
language, and he must not rest content until he has completely mastered all the
new sounds. What is more, it should be pointed out that learning a new set of
sounds means forming a number of new habits. In this sense, students will have to
put their speech organs into positions which are not used in speaking their own
language.

1.2.1. Speech Sounds: How are speech sounds made?

We use our tongue and lips, of course, but what is it that gives rise to the
actual sound? However much we may change the position and shape of our
tongue, lips …, that is not in itself sufficient to produce any audible sound. Clearly,
something else is needed. What happens in most cases when we speak is that a
stream of air is breathed out from the lungs, and this stream of air, when passing
through the narrow spaces in the human throat and mouth, makes a sound in the
same way as a strong wind blowing through a house will produce a rushing or
howling noise. Now the noise of the wind is not always the same: the wind sounds
different when blowing through a narrow crack and when blowing through a wider
opening. In the same way, by modifying the shape of the passage through which
the air passes when we speak, we can make a number of different sounds, in fact
a surprising number. We can produce a new and distinct sound merely by varying
the passage slightly at one particular point, for instance, at the teeth or at the lips,
and there are a number of such points at which the course of the air stream may
be varied. Together, the organs situated at these points constitute the speech
organs, which shall be developed in greater detail later on.
This process whereby speech sounds are produced can be divided into
three different physical stages:

- INITIATION: breathe in the air to produce the sound.

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- PHONATION: the quality of the sound is made.
- ARTICULATION: the shaping of the sound is given.

1.2.2. Speech organs

Speech organs can be classified according to whether they are movable or

flexible. While the vocal cords, the soft palate, the tongue and the lips are
movable, the other organs of speech are fixed. The movable organs of speech can
act independently of each other and their movements can be combined in different
ways. Consequently, it is possible to make a very large number of different speech
sounds. In any one language, however, the number of combinations is not very
large.
Each organ of speech contributes to the formation of speech sounds:

1-nasal cavity
2-lips
3-teeth
4-aveolar ridge
5-hard palate
6-velum (soft palate)
7-uvula
8-apex (tip) of tongue
9-blade (front) of tongue
10-dorsum (back) of tongue
11-oral cavity
12-pharynx
13-epiglottis
14-larynx
15-vocal cords
16-trachea
17-esophagus

• Lungs  are like two bags, which can be enlarged and compressed by the
muscles of the chest. This happens regularly when we breathe: the air is drawn
in and forced out through the tube known as the windpipe. It is this stream of air
used when we speak. Normally, it is only the outgoing stream that is used, and
consequently we have at times to stop and catch our breath.

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• Larynx: the first point where it is possible to modify the air stream is at the top
of the windpipe, which ends in the larynx. Inside the larynx we can find the so-
called vocal cords, which can be brought together and place edge to edge in
the middle of the air passage, or be drawn apart leaving a wide opening
between them. This opening is termed the glottis. Therefore, the vocal cords
can take up several positions, and in this way affect speech sounds: voiceless,
voiced, whisper  and glottal stop.
• Soft palate: the soft palate can take up two positions; when the passage to the
nose is open, the soft palate is raised to touch the back wall of the pharynx.
When the palate is raised, all the air from the windpipe escapes through the
mouth, giving rise to oral sounds; when the palate is lowered and the passage
to the nose is open, the air can escape either entirely through the nose (if the
mouth passage is closed), or through the nose and mouth. The lowering of the
soft palate gives rise to nasal or nasalized sounds. Its function, therefore, is to
close or open the passage to the nose, to close it for the production of those
sounds, which are not nasal, and to open it for the nasal sounds.
• The tongue  is capable of making many movements, and consequently of
modifying the breath stream in numerous ways. It is used in the articulation of
many of the consonants, when it either blocks the air passage through the
mouth at some point or other, or narrows it so that friction is heard.
• The lips  can articulate sounds themselves, and their movement can be
combined with that of other organs of speech in the formation of both
consonants and vowels. They can take up different positions, such as rounded,
unrounded, neutral or spread.

1.3. Classification of speech sounds

Speech sounds are divided into vowels and consonants, the main difference
being one of sonority; vowels are those sounds which have most carrying power.

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Vowel  is a voiced sound in the pronunciation of which the air passes through
the mouth in a continuous stream, there being no obstruction and no narrowing
such as would produce audible friction. All other sounds are consonants.
Consonant  is a sound accompanied or unaccompanied by voice, in which
there is either a complete or a partial obstruction, which prevents the air from
issuing freely from the mouth.

For the purpose of recording speech sounds, without fear of ambiguity, it is

necessary to make use of a phonetic alphabet, that is to say, an alphabet based on
the principle of one letter per phoneme. Without such an alphabet, an accurate
description and record of speech usages would be clumsy and awkward, and liable
to misinterpretation. It should be remembered, however, that a phonetic alphabet is
not phonetics, nor does it teach sounds. It is a most useful, in fact, almost
indispensable accompaniment of phonetics, in that by means of it, a ready way is
found of writing down the pronunciation of individual words, and of showing with
fair accuracy and without ambiguity how sounds are used in connected speech.
Various phonetic alphabetic notations are in use. Yet, the most widely accepted
alphabet is the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. As a matter of fact, over
the course of this unit, this alphabet will be used for the record of consonants.

2. CONSONANTS

2.1. Classification

Consonants are classified according to the organs articulating them and

according to the manner of their articulation 1. This double classification lends itself
to a useful diagrammatic form, the terms along the top of the diagram giving the
organs by which they are articulated, and those down the side the manner in which
they are articulated. These criteria, point and  manner of articulation , help
phoneticians study and classify consonants in an accurate way.

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  Another way of classifying consonants is taking into account the vocal cords, thus, voiced  and voiceless
consonants.

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a.  According to POINT OF ARTICULATION , consonants can be:

Labial: labial sounds can be bilabial, when the lips are put together,
or labio-dental, when the upper teeth rest on the lower lip.
Dental: sounds, which are articulated by the tip of the tongue against
the teeth ridge.
Alveolar: sounds uttered with the tip of the tongue against the teeth
ridge.
Post-alveolar : the tip of the tongue touches against the back part of
the teeth ridge.
Palato-alveolar : these consonants are articulated by the blade of the
tongue against the teeth ridge with a simultaneous rising of the main
body of the tongue towards the roof of the mouth.
Palatal: the front of the tongue touches the hard palate
Velar : the back of the tongue touches against the central and forward
part of the soft palate.
Glottal: sound articulated with the glottis.

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b.  According to MANNER OF ARTICULATION , consonants can be:
Plosive: These consonants are made by the stoppage of the air
passage at some point. The air compressed behind the stop rushes
out with a slight explosion when the stop is released. Thus, a plosive
consists of: a stop, a hold, and some sound, which follows the
release.
Affricate: a plosive consonant can be pronounced with either quick
or slow separation of the articulating organs. If a slow separation is
made, there is no noticeable explosion, but on the release of the

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 This is a rather long classification of consonants taking into account the manner of articulation. Yet, this
could be reduced to a much simpler classification which only includes: PLOSIVE, AFFRICATE,
FRICATIVE, NASAL, LATERAL, APPROXIMANT or SEMIVOWEL.  Approximants include semivowels
and liquids –produced in the alveolar and post-alveolar area and include several variants of the lateral /l/ and
of the rhotic /r/. The rhotic /r/ includes several variants: frictionless, flapped and rolled, as pointed out above.

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stop, a fricative consonant is heard. Such a method of articulating
plosives gives rise to what are called affricative consonants.
Fricative: they are formed by narrowing the mouth passage at some
point, so that the air, forcing its way through, makes a rubbing sound.
It is possible to make fricative consonants with the same articulating
organs as the plosives.
Nasal: nasal consonants are formed by closing the mouth passage at
some point, and at the same time lowering the soft palate, so that the
air can escape through the nose. In English there are normally three
nasal consonants : /m, n, ! /.
Lateral: the English /l/ is termed a lateral consonant because the air
passage is stopped in the centre by the tip of the tongue against the
teeth-ridge, the air escaping along one or both sides of the tongue.
Semi-vowel: they may be defined as a gliding sound, which the
tongue starts in the position of a close or half-close vowel and
immediately leaves that position to take up one belonging to a more
open vowel. There are two semi-vowels in English, / w/ and /j/.
Rolled: the rolled r is made by a rapid succession of taps of the
tongue-tip against the teeth—ridge. It is common in northern dialects
and in Scotland.
Flapped: the tongue rapidly touches the alveolar ridge with a single
tap, which resemble a rolled /r/. Normally used at the beginning of
unstressed syllables.
Frictionless continuant: articulated very much like a fricative, but
friction does not accompany the production of the sound. The tip of
the tongue slightly touches the back of the alveolar ridge, while the
body of the tongue is low in the mouth. It is referred to the principal
English /r/.

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It is possible to combine the movements of the vocal cords with the articulation
of any consonant: i.e. consonants can be voiced, or they can be voiceless. In most
languages, there occur numbers of pairs of consonants, articulated by lips, tongue,
teeth, etc., in exactly the same way, and differing in the presence or absence of
voice (p, b, f v, " #, s z, etc.)
Many consonants (such as m, n, !, r, l ) have only their voiced form as usual
speech sounds of English. These can be pronounced, however, without voice, and
the student is advised to practise this as a good phonetic exercise. It should also
be noticed that voiceless consonants require more force of exhalation than voiced
consonants and are articulated with greater vigour; there is a tighter closure for the
plosives and a sharper release, and for the fricatives a smaller opening. To test the
difference in breath force hold the hand before the mouth while / "/ and /#/ (or /f/
and /v/ or /p/ and /b/) are pronounced alternative.
The voiced consonants in English in initial and final positions are not fully
voiced; i.e. in initial position the vibration of the vocal cords do not begin
immediately the consonant is formed, but some way through the articulation; in
final positions, the vibrations cease before the consonant is finished.

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