CONSONANTS:

MANNER OF Syifa Fadhilah Hamid, M.Pd.

ARTICULATION
 LET’S REVIEW THE PREVIOUS
TOPIC
Place of articulation tells us where the sound is produced.
Other languages and varieties of English may have additional places of articulation. For
instance, French /r/ is uvular, made with the back of the tongue against the uvula; it is
symbolized phonetically as [R] and can also be heard in traditional Geordie (Tyneside)
accents
Indian languages (and most Indian English) have retroflex sounds made with the tip of the
tongue curled back against the rear of the alveolar ridge
one consonants have two places of articulation resulting in what is termed a double
articulation. An example is English /w/ which is articulated at the lips (bilabial) and at the
velum (velar) and hence is termed labial-velar
 SAY THESE WORDS AND RELATE THE
CONSONANTS IN BOLD TO THEIR
PLACES OF ARTICULATION:
pub (Bilabial)five (Labio-Dental)
this bath (Dental)
side rarer
(Alveolar) change
(Palato-
you
(Post-Alveolar) king Alveolar) how . (Palatal) (Velar) (Glottal)
MANNER OF ARTICULATION
OF CONSONANTS
Manner of articulation tells us how the sound is produced.
All articulations involve a stricture, i.e. a narrowing of the vocal
tract which affects the airstream.
The three possible types of stricture: complete closure, close
approximation and open approximation.
ACTIVE AND PASSIVE
ARTICULATORS
The active articulator is the organ that moves; the passive
articulator is the target of the articulation – i.e. the point towards
which the active articulator is directed. Sometimes there’s actual
contact, as in [t] and [k]. In other cases, the active articulator is
positioned close to the passive articulator, as in [s] or [0]. With
other articulations again, like English /r/, we find only a slight
gesture by the active articulator towards the passive articulator.
MANNER OF ARTICULATION –
STRICTURE TYPES
Nature of stricture Effect of stricture
Complete closure Forms obstruction which blocks
airstream
Close approximation Forms narrowing giving rise to
friction
Open approximation Forms no obstruction but changes
shape of vocal tract, thus altering
nature of resonance
COMPLETE CLOSURE: STOPS
Stop consonants have a stricture of complete closure in the vocal tract which
blocks (i.e. stops) the airstream, hence the term stop. The soft palate is raised so
that there’s no escape of air through the nose. The compressed air can then be
released in one of two ways:
 The articulators part quickly, releasing the air with explosive force (termed
plosion). Sounds made in this way are termed plosives, e.g. English /p t k b d g/.
 The articulators part relatively slowly, producing homorganic friction, i.e.
friction at the same point of articulation. Sounds made in this way are termed
affricates (Affricative), e.g. English /tʃ , ʤ /
COMPLETE STRICTURE:
NASALS
Like stops, nasals have a stricture of complete closure in the oral
cavity, but the soft palate is lowered allowing the airstream to escape
through the nose, e.g. English /m n ŋ/. In English, as in most
languages, nasal consonants are normally voiced. However, a few
languages, e.g. Burmese, Welsh and Icelandic, have voiceless nasals
functioning. Note that we employ here the diacritic for voiceless [ŋ]
CLOSE APPROXIMATION:
FRICATIVES
The articulators are close to each other but don’t make a complete
closure. The airstream passes through a narrowing, producing audible
hiss-like friction, as in English /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ , ʒ , h/

Compared with most varieties of English, Scottish accents have two extra
fricatives [x w]. The voiceless velar fricative [x] is found mostly in local
usages, e.g. och! ‘oh’, loch ‘lake’ ([x] also occurs in many European
languages; see Section A2). The voiceless labial-velar fricative [w]
occurs in words spelt wh, such as which, what, whether, wheel. It is used
not only by Scots but also by many Irish and some American speakers.
OPEN APPROXIMATION:
CENTRAL
Approximants have a stricture of open approximation. The space
between the articulators is wide enough to allow the airstream
through with no audible friction, as in English /w j r/. English /j/
and /w/ are like very short vowels – similar to brief versions of /i:/
and /u:/ (an old term for these sounds was in fact ‘semi-vowels’).
OPEN APPROXIMATION:
LATERAL
Lateral consonants are made with the center of the tongue forming a closure with the
roof of the mouth but the sides lowered. Typically, the airstream escapes without
friction and consequently this sound is termed a lateral approximant. The sound is [l]
EXERCISES (PAGE 34)
Do the exercises from the Book An Introduction to Phonology (2002)
Retype the questions and give a circle or highlight for number (1) and (2), for
number (3) give the explanation related to the questions
REFERENCES
Collins, Beverley and Mess, Inger M Practical Phonetics and Phonology : A
Resource Book for Students – Routledge English Language Introductions – Third
Edition (2013)
McMahon, April An Introduction to English Phonology – Edinburgh University Press
(2002)