DIFFERENCES BETWEEN VOWELS AND CONSONANTS

CONSONANTS AND VOWELS ARE TWO DIFFERENT QUALITIES OF SOUNDS THAT ARE FOUND ALMOST IN ALL LANGUAGES OF THE WORLD.

 CONSONANTS ARE DEFINED AS THE SOUNDS ARTICULATED BY TEMPORARY OBSTRUCTION IN THE AIR STREAM WHICH PASSES THROUGH THE MOUTH. THE OBSTRUCTION MADE BY THE ARTICULATORS MAY BE TOTAL, INTERMITTENT, PARTIAL, OR MAY MERELY CONSTITUTE A NARROWING SUFFICIENT TO CAUSE FRICTION.

Almost all articulators are involved in the production of consonants. Especially the position of the soft palate causes the division of consonants into oral consonants and nasal consonants. When the soft palate is raised, oral consonants are produced; when the soft palate is lowered, nasal consonants are produced.

But vowels are the sounds that are produced with an approximation without any obstruction in the air passage. Among all articulators, only the tongue is prominent in their production. All vowel sounds are voiced, and all of them are oral as during the production of them the soft palate is raised and hence the nasal cavity is completely blocked.

 Even in their manner of classification, consonants and vowels show apparent distinction. Consonants are identified or classified in terms of voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation, breath effort, source of energy and noise component; whereas vowels in terms of the height of the tongue, part of the tongue which is raised or lowered, lip rounding and opening between the jaws.

 Consonants are 25 in number, whereas vowels are only 12 in number.

To sum up:
Consonants Articulated by temporary obstruction Position of the soft palate(lowered/raised): nasal/oral Voicing: voiceless and voiced Classification according to: place and manner of articulation, voicing, breath effort, source of energy and noise component Auditory impressions ----------------------------------------Vowels Without any obstruction All of them: oral

All of them: voiced Height of tongue, part of tongue raised highest, lip rounding, opening between jaws Articulatory impressions
Relative sonority (more prominent, carry better, heard at a greater distance )

25 in number

12 in number

BIBLIOGRAPHY

CRUTTENDEN, ALAN. Gimsons Pronunciation of English. 5th Ed. London: Arnold, 1994. FINCH, D. & Hctor ORTIZ LIRA, A Course in English Phonetics for Spanish Speakers, London: Heinemann, 1982. GIEGERICH, Heinz, English Phonology, Cambridge, 1995. ROACH, Peter, English Phonetics and Phonology, Cambridge: CUP, 1991.