Consonants Flashcards
Consonants
Consonants:
24 consonant phonemes in American English
stops (plosives): /p, b, t, d, k, g/
fricatives: /f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/
Affricates /tʃ, dʒ/
Nasals: /m, n, ŋ/
Approximant Consonants:
Glides: /j, w/
Liquids: /l, ɹ/
(voiceless phonemes in bold)
Consonants Classification:
Manner:Refers to the way in which the airstream is modified during consonant production: stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, glides, and liquids.
Place: Refers to various places of articulation involved in production of English consonants: labial (lips), labiodental (lips and teeth), dental (teeth), alveolar (alveolar ridge), palatal (hard palate), velar (soft palate),& glottal, (glottis). The tongue is involved in production of dental, alveolar, palatal, and velar consonants.
Voicing: Consonants that are produced with vibrating vocal folds Voiced: /b/, /z/, /l/
consonants that are produced without vocal fold vibration or Voiceless: /p/, /s/, /f/
Stops or Plosives
- *Stops / Plosives**
- */p, b, t, d, k, g, ɾ,ʔ/**
6 consonants that belong to the stop sounds category.
3 Cognate pairs: They are produced in the same manner, with the same place of articulation – just differing in terms of voicing.
- /p, b/
- /t, d/
- /k, g/
/ɾ/ Alveolar Tap, /ʔ/Glotal Stop
Stops are made by completely stopping the airflow. The air release that follows is the “sound” you hear.
Voiced: p, t, k
Voiceless: b, d, g
typical age- 12-18 months
/ʔ/ Glotal Stop
/ɾ/ Aveolar Tap
Stops or Plosives
/p/
Lower-Case p
Voiceless, Bilabial Stop
puff- pʌf
apple - æpl
pop - pɑp
Pronunciation Guide:
Press your lips together to stop the air in your mouth. Next, part your lips and release the air with a strong puff. You hear a burst of air.
*Final Stop Rule: At the end of words and syllables is Not aspirated. The /p/ sound is also unaspirated after the /s/ consonant. ( /sp/ combo)
*It has a voiced counterpart, the consonant sound /b/.
Stops or Plosives
/b/
Lower-Case b
Voiced, Bilabial, Stop
boy - bɔɪ
bob - bɑb (Bob (the first /b/ is aspirated, the second /b/ is not aspirated). ban - bæn
Pronunciation Guide:
Press your lips together to first stop the air in your mouth. Next, part your lips and release the air with a puff. Remember, the /b/ is a voiced sound, so you need to add your voice.
*Final Stop Rule: At the end of words and syllables is Not aspirated. The /p/ sound is also unaspirated after the /s/ consonant. ( /sp/ combo)
*It has a voiceless counterpart, the consonant sound /p/.
Stops or Plosives
/t/
Lower-Case t
Voiceless, Alveolar, Stop
toy - tɔɪ
time -taɪm
tell - tɛl
Pronunciation Guide:
Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth. Now, stop the air in your mouth with the tip of your tongue and then release it with a strong puff.
*Final Stop Rule: At the end of words and syllables is Not aspirated.
The /t/ is aspirated or, in other words, pronounced with a strong puff of air, at the beginning of words and stressed syllables.
As with all voiceless stops, the /t/ is not aspirated after the /s/ sound at the beginning of words.
The /t/ is a voiceless sound. It has a voiced counterpart, the consonant sound /d/.
*If the phoneme preceding “-ed” is voiceless, then the voiceless /t/ will represent the morpheme “-ed.” Example:“beeped” /bipt/, taped, hiked, lacked, raced
Stops or Plosives
/d/
Lower-Case d
Voiced, Alveolar, Stop
dad - dæd
dime -daɪm
buddy - bʌdi
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position. Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth. Now, stop the air with the tip of your tongue and then release it with a small puff.
/d/ is a voiced sound. It has a voiceless counterpart, the consonant sound /t/.
*If phoneme preceding the “-ed” morpheme is voiced, the final phoneme also will be voiced, that is, /d/. Ex: bagged /bægd/, teamed, crowded, hogged, raised
Stops or Plosives
/ ɾ / or / t̬/
Alveolar Tap
allophone of t
Voiceless, Alveolar, Stop
water - wɔt̬ɚ
butter - bʌt̬ɚ
You can also hear this sound in the words: “city,” “auto,” “title”, “beauty”, data, forty, later
The flap ‘T’ is somewhere between the /t/ and the /d/ sounds. It’s basically the /t/ sound which is pronounced in a different way in certain positions in a word.
When /t/ occurs between voiced sounds, it becomes a “flap ‘T’ sound or sounds more like a /d/.
- When the /t/ is between two vowels, as vowel sounds are always voiced: “Betty,” “dated,” “writer”
- Or between a vowel and a voiced consonant sound: “little,” “metal,” “bottom”.
Compare: “kit” - t “kitten”- /ʔ/ (see glottal t card). “kitty.” - kiri or kit̬i
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position. Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth. Next, release the air and add your voice.
This is where the flap ‘T’ may sound similar to the /d/ sound, but the flap ‘T’ is quicker. The flap ‘T’ is also called a “tap” ‘T’ because it describes how your tongue quickly taps your alveolar ridge, so focus on making a brief voiced sound, much like a fast /d/.
Stops or Plosives
/ʔ/
Glotal ‘T’
Voiced, Alveolar, Stop
kitten - kɪʔn
button - bʌʔn
cotton, satin, accountant bitten flatten eaten, latin, certain
When the /t/ is followed by a weak syllable containing the /n/ sound, it may become a “glottal ‘T.
Pronunciation Guide:
First, stop and hold the air in your throat on the glottal ‘T.’ Then make the /n/ sound Don’t forget to leave a short pause between the glottal ‘T’ and the /n/ sound. Don’t pronounce them too quickly.
Stops or Plosives
/k/
Lower Case k
Voiceless, Velar, Stop
can - kæn
ki_ck_er - kɪkɚ
school - skul
key- ki
Pronunciation Guide:
Raise the back of your tongue toward your throat. Next, stop the air with the back of your tongue and then release it with a strong puff.
The /k/ sound is made with a strong puff of air at the beginning of words and syllables.
- /k/ follows the final stop rule and is not aspirated at end of words.
- The /k/ is also unaspirated after the /s/ consonant.
- voiced counterpart, the consonant sound /g/.
Stops or Plosives
/g/
Lower Case g
Voiced, Velar, Stop
ɛ_gg_ - ɛg
gargle - gаrgle
good - gʊd
Examples Words: “game,” “goal,” “begin” “dog,” “flag,” “gift”
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and leave your lips in a neutral position. Next you have to stop the air in your mouth by raising the back of your tongue toward your throat.
Stop the air with the back of your tongue and then release it with a small puff.
The /g/ sound is made with a strong puff of air at the beginning of words and syllables.
- /g/ follows the final stop rule and is not aspirated at end of words.
- The /g/ is pronounced with a small puff of air at the beginning of words and syllables.
- voiceless counterpart, the consonant sound /k/.
When ‘G’ is followed by the letters ‘a’, ‘o’ or ‘u’, pronounce the /g/ sound. Example, “game,” “got,” “guy”
Nasals:
/m, n, ŋ/
-articulators block flow of air out of the oral cavity and that is what makes airstream flow out nasal cavity and into the nares.
produced similar to stops: with the airstream completely obstructed in oral cavity. Obstruction occurs at same 3 places of articulation:
Sonorants
Nasals
/m/
Lower case m
Voiced, Bilabial Nasal
man - mæn
mo_m_- mɑm
rhyme-raim
Pronunciation Guide:
First, press your lips together. Next, keep your lips closed to stop the air from escaping from your mouth and direct it into your nose.
- American /m/ should be pronounced with your lips pressed together, to direct the air through your nose.
- English ‘m’ is always pronounced. Dropping it, you may produce completely different word
Nasals
/n/
Lower Case n
voiced, alveolar nasal
now- nаʊ
open-opən
animal-ænəml
Pronunciation Guide:
Place the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge behind your upper front teeth. Then stop the air in your mouth with the tip of your tongue and direct it into your nose.
- The /n/ is often confused with the /m/ sound. For example: “then” - “them”
- Also, the /n/ is confused with the /ŋ/ sound. Compare: “sin” - “sing”
- Another typical problem is that the /n/ is reduced or even dropped at the end of words: “then” - “the”
Nasals
/ŋ/
Eng
voiced, velar nasal
thank- ɵæŋk
sing-siŋ
long-lɔŋ
uncle-ʌŋkl
Pronunciation Guide:
Pull the back of your tongue toward your throat. Stop the air in your mouth with the back of your tongue and direct into your nose.
- /ŋ/ is most commonly represented by the combination of letters ‘-ng’ at the end of words.
- ‘ng’ in the middle of a word. For example: “English,” “finger,” “jungle.”
- /ŋ/ as it occurs before the letter ‘k’ or the letter ‘c’ Example: “think,” “thank” or “zinc.”
Fricatives: These sounds are made by partially blocking the air moving through your mouth, which creates an audible friction.
/f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, h/
(voiceless phonemes in bold)
Fricatives
/f/
Lowercase f
voiceless, labiodental fricative
fun- fun
four- fɔr
fly- flаɪ
coffee - kɔfi
Pronunciation Guide:
Lightly bite your lower lip, leaving a tiny gap between your lip and your teeth. Release a stream of air through that gap, creating lots of friction. Let the air flow over your lip.
- “f” sound is not always represented by the letter ‘f’ and this can sometimes be a problem.
- similar sounds in many languages and some non-native speakers use their native /f/ consonant when they speak English.
- Americans pronounce their /f/ with lots of friction.
Fricatives
/v/
Lowercase v
voiced, labiodental fricative
very- vɛri
save - seɪv
voice - vɔɪs
Pronunciation Guide:
Llightly bite your lower lip and leave a tiny gap between your lip and your teeth. Now, release a stream of air through that gap, creating lots of friction. The air should flow over your lip.
- Spanish Language: The letter ‘v’ is pronounced as the /b/
- Devoiced /v/ sound, (usually at the end of words) makes the voiceless /f/ instead.
Fricatives
/θ/
Theta
Voiceless, Interdental Fricative
thank - θæŋk
thirteen - θɝtin
bath - bæθ
Examples: thin, thing, think ,third, thorn, three, author, faith, earth, birth
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth.. Now blow air over your tongue making noise with friction, and air flows between your upper teeth and your tongue.
Mispronunciation mistakes:
- Keeping the mouth closed or “biting” the bottom lip. The /θ/ gets distorted and sounds more like the /f/. - Make sure your mouth is slightly open and that your upper teeth don’t touch your lower lip.
- Not pushing the tongue forward enough or pressing the tongue against the upper front teeth and makes sound in between: /s/, /z/ and the /θ/.
- The /θ/ sound gets distorted and sounds more like /t/ or /d/.
Fricatives
/ð/
Eth
voiced, interdental fricative
than - ðæn
there - ðɛr
this - ðɪs
Examples: that, the, their, them, then, there, these, they, this, those, other, rather, smooth, together, weather
‘TH’: Consonant Sound
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and put the tip of your tongue between your front teeth. The tip of your tongue may gently touch the bottom of your upper front teeth. Now blow air over your tongue making a noise, flowing between your upper teeth and the tongue.
Fricatives
/s/
Lowercase s
voiceless, alveolar fricative
stop- stɑp
place- ples
ants- ænts
Examples: dre_ss,_ horse, sleep
Pronunciation Guide:
Raise the tip of your tongue to your alveolar ridge, but don’t touch it. Use the small gap between them to release a stream of air over your tongue and towards your upper teeth,
Fricatives
/z/
Lowercase z
voiced, alveolar fricative
zoo- zu
buzzer-bʌzɚ
rose-roʊz
/z/ consonant, this sound is made by partially blocking the air flowing between the tip of your tongue and your alveolar ridge.
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth. Raise the tip of your tongue to your alveolar ridge, but don’t touch it. Use the small gap between them to release a stream of air over the tip of your tongue.
- /z/ is typically longer than before its voiceless counterpart, the consonant sound /s/. (Vowel Length rule)
- Sometimes z/ is distorted or dropped at the end of words.
- Some pronounce the /z/ sound by putting the tip of the tongue between the teeth. As a result, they make a different fricative consonant, the /ð/ sound.
Fricatives
/ʃ/
Esh
voiceless, palatal (postalveolar) fricative
show- ʃo
trash -træʃ
mission - mɪʃən
cash, ship option, shy chef, special
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and round push out your lips a little. Arch your tongue and raise it to the roof of your mouth, but don’t touch it. Through a small gap between them, release a stream of air over your tongue. Let the air flows between the blade of your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
- confuse the /ʃ/ and the /tʃ/ sounds
- replace the /ʃ/ with the /s/ consonant
- Vowel Length rule with voiceless consonant: vowel sounds before the /ʃ/ are typically shorter than they are before voiced consonants.
Fricatives
/ʒ/
Yogh
voiced, palatal (postalveolar) fricative
Vision -vɪʒən beige - beiʒmesure - mɛʒɚ
Example words: usual, massage, casual, decision
Pronunciation Guide:
Slightly open your mouth and round push out your lips a little. Arch your tongue and raise it to the roof of your mouth, but don’t touch it. Through the small gap between them, release a stream of air over your tongue. Air flows between the blade of your tongue and the roof of your mouth.
- present in less than 1% of English words.
