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University of Madras
Syllabus with effect from 2020-2021
BA English Literature
[2nd Year, 4th Semester]
ASPECTS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE – II
Unit 2: English Phonetics and Phonology -I
Articulation of individual Consonant sounds
Three term Label Description
Description
of Consonant sounds:
Consonant
sounds are those sounds in the production of which the obstruction is created
to the air-stream. These sounds are generally made by a definite interference
of the speech organs with the air stream. During the production of consonant
sounds the air released from the lungs escapes through mouth with friction. The
24 consonant sounds in English are - /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/,
/z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, /m/, /n, /ŋ/, /l/,
/r/, /j/, /w/.
The
description of these consonant sounds involves with the following three term labels:
a) The
State of Glottis (voiced or voiceless consonant sounds)
b)
Place of articulation
c) Manner of articulation
i) Plosive:
/p/:
During the articulation of this plosive
sound /p/, the soft palate is raised and shuts off the nasal passage of air.
The two lips come in contact tightly. The lower lip is the active articulator
and the upper lip is the passive articular. The vocal cords are remain wide.
Then there is a sudden separation of lips and the air escapes with an explosive
sound. Thus the sound can be described as “voiceless bilabial plosive”. E.g.
Pin, cap, paper.
/b/:
During the articulation of this plosive
sound /b/, the soft palate is raised and shuts off the nasal passage of air.
The two lips come in contact tightly. The lower lip is the active articulator
and the upper lip is the passive articular. The vocal cords are vibrate. Then
there is a sudden separation of lips and the air escapes with an explosive
sound. Thus the sound can be described as “voiced bilabial plosive”. E.g. Bin,
cab, bubble.
/t/:
During the articulation of this plosive
sound /t/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The
tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and
completely blocks the oral passage of air. The tip of the tongue is the active
articulator. The vocal cords are remain wide. The compressed air escapes with an
explosive sound. Thus the sound is described as “voiceless alveolar plosive”.
E.g. tin, Pot, cutter.
/d/:
During the articulation of this plosive
sound /d/, the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The
tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and
completely blocks the oral passage of air. The tip of the tongue is the active
articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. The compressed air escapes with an
explosive sound. Thus the sound is described as “voiced alveolar plosive”. E.g.
din, mud, modern.
/k/:
During the articulation of this consonant
sound the soft palate is raised and completely closes the nasal passage of air.
The back of the tongue makes a firm contact against the soft palate. The back
of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. Then the
compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. This sound is described as
“voiceless velar plosive”. E.g. cat, Kite, Pack.
/g/:
During the articulation of this consonant
sound the soft palate is raised and completely closes the nasal passage of air.
The back of the tongue makes a firm contact against the soft palate. The back
of the tongue is the active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. Then the
compressed air escapes with an explosive sound. This sound is described as
“voiced velar plosive”. E.g. Gate, bag, beggar.
ii) Affricate:
/tʃ/:
During the articulation of this consonant
sound the soft palate is raised so as to close the nasal air stream. The tip
and blade of the tongue make a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and blocks
the oral passage of air. At the same time the front of the tongue is raised
towards the hard palate for a fricative release of the sound. Then the tip of
the tongue removed slowly and the air released with friction between the front
of the tongue and hard palate. The vocal cords remain wide. This sound is described
as “voiceless palato-alveolar affricate”. E.g. Church, watch, chain.
/dʒ/.
During the articulation of this consonant
sound the soft palate is raised so as to close the nasal air stream. The tip
and blade of the tongue make a firm contact with the alveolar ridge and blocks
the oral passage of air. At the same time the front of the tongue is raised
towards the hard palate for a fricative release of the sound. Then the tip of
the tongue removed slowly and the air released with friction between the front of
the tongue and hard palate. The vocal cords are vibrate. This sound is
described as “voiced palato-alveolar affricate”. E.g. Joy, Stage, juice.
iii) Fricatives:
/f/:
During the articulation of this sound /f/,
the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The lower lip is
brought near the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between them, the air
passes through this narrow gap. The lower lip is the active articulator. The
vocal cords remain wide. Therefore the sound is described as “voiceless
labio-dental fricative”. E.g. Fan, soft, staff.
/v/:
During the articulation of this sound /v/,
the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The lower lip is
brought near the upper front teeth with a narrow gap between them, the air
passes through this narrow gap. The lower lip is the active articulator. The
vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore the sound is described as “voiced
labio-dental fricative”. E.g. Van, Wave, Oval.
/θ/:
During the articulation of this sound /θ/,
the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The tip of the
tongue makes a light contact with the upper front teeth with a narrow gap
between these two with the air escaping through the tongue. The tip of the
tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. Thus the sound is
described as “Voiceless dental fricative”. E.g. Think, with, path.
/ð/:
During the articulation of this sound /ð/,
the soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air. The tip of the
tongue makes a light contact with the upper front teeth with a narrow gap
between these two with the air escaping through the tongue. The tip of the
tongue is active articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound is
described as “Voiced dental fricative”. E.g. This, weather, mother.
/s/:
During the articulation of this sound /s/,
the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade
of the tongue are brought near the teeth-ridge with a narrow space between
them. The air passes through this narrow gap. The tip of the tongue is active
articulator. The vocal cords remain wide. The sound is described as “Voiceless alveolar
fricative”. E.g. Sun, Sing.
/z/:
During the articulation of this sound /s/,
the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip or blade
of the tongue are brought near the teeth-ridge with a narrow space between
them. The air passes through this narrow gap.The tip of the tongue is active
articulator. The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound is described as “Voiced
alveolar fricative”. E.g. zoo, zip.
/ʃ/:
During the articulation of this sound /ʃ/, the soft palate is raised
and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue is brought very near
the teeth ridge. But front of the tongue is raised towards hard palate. The air
from lungs escapes through the narrow gap between the teeth ridge and hard
palate. The vocal cords remain wide. Therefore the sound is described as
“Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative”. E.g. Shut, ship, push.
/ʒ/:
During the articulation of this sound /ʒ/, the soft palate is raised
and closes the nasal passage of air. The tip of the tongue is brought very near
the teeth ridge. But front of the tongue is raised towards hard palate. The air
from lungs escapes through the narrow gap between the teeth ridge and hard
palate. The vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore the sound is described as
“Voiceless palato-alveolar fricative”. E.g. Pleasure, measure,
/h/:
During the articulation of this sound /h/,
the air from the lungs escapes through a narrow glottis with audible friction. The
vocal cords are remain wide. This consonant is described as “voiceless glottal
fricative”. E.g. Hut, House.
iv) Nasal:
/m/:
During the articulation of this sound /m/,
the two lips are come in contact tightly and shuts the oral passage of air. The
lower lip is the active articulator. The soft palate is lowered and the air
escapes freely through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are vibrate. Therefore
this sound is described as “voiced bilabial nasal”. E.g. Man, Sum, among.
/n/:
During the articulation of this sound /n/,
the oral closure is affected by the tip or blade of the tongue making a firm
contact against the alveolar ridge. The tip of the tongue is the active
articulator. The soft palate is lowered and the air-stream flows through nose.
The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound is described as “Voiced alveolar nasal”.
E.g. Net, pen, manner.
/ŋ/:
During the articulation of this sound /ŋ/,
the back of the tongue raised towards the soft palate and the air shuts in oral
cavity. The back of the tongue is the active articulator. The soft palate is
lowered so as to allow air through nose. The vocal cords are vibrate. The sound
is described as “Voiced velar nasal”. E.g. Sing, Ring.
v) Lateral:
/l/:
During the articulation of this consonant /l/,
the soft palate is raised and closes the nasal passage of air. The oral passage
of air is blocked when the tip or blade of the tongue makes a firm contact with
the alveolar ridge. The side of the tongue are lowered and the air escaped
through these sides. The Tip of the tongue is the active articulator. This
sound is described as “voiced alveolar lateral consonant. E.g. Line, Pull,
Long.
vi)
Frictionless continuant or Rolled:
/r/:
During the production of the sound /r/,
the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator several times
(the tongue tip taps against the teeth ridge), the air thereby escaping
intermittently. This sounds are called trills
or rolled consonants. E.g. Red, broad, near.
During the production the consonant /r/ in
sometime, the active articulator strikes against the passive articulator once
and then quickly flaps forward. Such consonants are called taps or flaps. E.g. very, carry.
vii) Semi Vowels:
/j/:
During the articulation of this sound /j/,
the front of the tongue takes up a position between front close and front half
close position. The soft palate is raised and shuts the nasal passage of air.
The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound is described as “voiced palatal
approximants”. E.g. Yawn, young.
/w/:
During the articulation of this sound /w/,
the back of the tongue assumes a position required for the articulation of a
vowel between back close and back half close position. The soft palate raised
and shuts the nasal passage of air. The vocal cords are vibrate. Thus the sound
is described as “voiced bilabial approximants”. E.g. wet, water.
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