Consonant Sounds Diferent Classification

Consonant sounds.

In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are[p], pronounced with the lips; [t], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f] and [s], pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting with consonants are vowels. 

Consonant as discussed above are classification in terms of:

  • Voicing: on the basic of Voicing, consonant are divided into voiced Consonants and voiceless consonants.  Voiced are those which are articulated with the vibration of the vocal cords.  Voiceless consonants are articulated without vibration of vocal cords are kept apart.  

 

  • Place of articulation: are divided as:

  1. Bilabial:  is a consonant articulated with both lips. /m/, /p/, /b/, /w/.

  2. Labiodental: labiodentals are consonants articulated with the lower lip and the upper teeth. /f/, /v/.

  3. Interdental: consonants are produced by placing the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower front teeth. This differs from dental consonants, which are articulated with the tongue against the back of the upper incisors. /θ/, /ð/

  4. Alveolar: are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the superior teeth. /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/.

  5. alveolapalatal: consonants are intermediate in articulation between the coronal and dorsal consonants, or which have simultaneous alveolar and palatal articulation.  /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /j/.

  6. Velar:  are consonants articulated with the back part of the tongue (the dorsum) against the soft palate, the back part of the roof of the mouth (known also as the velum).  /ŋ/, /k/, /g/.

  7. Glottal: also called laryngeal consonants, are consonants articulated with the glottis. Many phoneticians consider them, or at least the so-called fricative, to be transitional states of the glottis without a point of articulation as other consonants have; in fact, some do not consider them to be consonants at all. /h/

  • Manner of articulation: describes the different types of obstruction made by the articulators.  These obstructions may be total, intermittent, partial or may merely constitute a narrowing sufficient to cause friction. According to the manner of articulation consonants are divided into 

  1. Plosives: an oral occlusive, where there is occlusion (blocking) of the oral vocal tract, and no nasal air flow, so the air flow stops completely.   /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.

  2. Fricatives: sometimes called spirant, where there is continuous frication (turbulent and noisy airflow) at the place of articulation.  /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /h/, /s/, /z/,  /ʃ/, /ʒ/.

  3. Africatives: which begins like a stop, but this releases into a fricative rather than having a separate release of its own.  /tʃ/, /dʒ/.

  4. Lateral: fricatives are a rare type of fricative, where the frication occurs on one or both sides of the edge of the tongue. /l/, /r/.

  5. Nasal:  a nasal occlusive, where there is occlusion of the oral tract, but air passes through the nose. The shape and position of the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasals their characteristic sounds.  /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.

  6. Approximant: where there is very little obstruction. /w/, /j/.