Bilabial Plosives /p,b/

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary obstacle to the
stream is provided by the closure of the lips. Lung air is compressed behind this closure,
during which stage the vocal cords are held wide apart for /p/, but may vibrate for all or
part of the compression stage for /b/ according to its situation in the utterance. The air
escapes with force when the lip closure is released.
cub
cab
lab
robe
rib
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

cup
cap
lap
rope
rip

pig
pear
pull
post
pound

big
bear
bull
boast
bound

Miss Brown is a timid person, but she is exceptionally patient with her pupils.
Pasty poured the pudding into the pot and put some sugar in it.
I hope the postman will give me a parcel.
Dont put the cups in the soapy water.
Before the baby is put to bed, the mother sings him a lullaby.

Alveolar Plosives /t/ & /d/

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary obstacle to the
aim stream is formed by a closure made between the tip and rims of the tongue and the
upper alveolar ridge and side teeth.
Lung air is compressed behind the closure during which stage the vocal cords are wide
apart for /t/ but vibrate for /d/. the lip position for /t/ and /d/ will be conditioned by that
of the adjacent sounds, especially that of a following vowel or semi vowel, e.g. Spread lip
for /t/ in teeth, anticipatory lip rounding for /t/ in tooth.
time
tale
town
tie
tame

dime
dale
down
die
dame

send
lend
spend
wed
wide

sent
lent
spent
wet
white

1. What time did you feed the dog this morning?

I dont remember, but I think I fed it at ten past ten.
2. Did Tom tell you and Ted about my sister?
a. No, he only told us a wonderful tale about a white cat that ate a dozen
pounds of mutton.
3. How many desks does your daddy need?
He said he needed a dozen desks
Velar Plosives /k/ & /g/

The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off, the primary obstacle to the
aim stream is formed by a closure made between the back of the tongue and the soft
palate. Lung air is compressed behind the closure during which stage the vocal cords are
wide apart for /k/ but vibrate for /g/
Palato Alveolar Affricates The soft palate being raised and the nasal resonator shut off,
the primary obstacle to the aim stream is formed by a closure made between the tip,
blade, and rims of the tongue and the upper alveolar ridge and side teeth. At the same
time, the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate in readiness for the fricative
release. The closure is released slowly, the air escaping in a diffuse manner over the
whole of the central surface of the tongue with friction occurring between the blade /
front region of the tongue and the alveolar/ front palatal section of the roof of the mouth.
During both stop and fricative stages, the vocal cords are wide apart for /t/ but vibrate for
/d/

DESCRIBING ENGLISH CONSONANTS

I. Consonant Classification
Voiced or voiceless
If you put your fingers on your Adams apple or voice box (larynx) and
produce a very long [zzzzzzzz], you should feel vibration; this shows that
[z] is a voiced sound.
If you make a very long [ssssssss] you will not feel the same sort of
activity: [s] is a voiceless sound
Oral or nasal
For most sounds, air passes from the lungs, up through a long tube
composed of the trachea, or windpipe; the larynx; and the pharynx, which
opens out into the back of the oral cavity. The air passes the various
articulators in the mouth, and exits at the lip.
If the air passes through the nasal cavity , it will produce nasal sounds.
There are three English nasal consonants [m], [n], [ ]
Manner of articulations
A. Complete Closure
a. Plosive: a complete closure at some point in the vocal tract,
behind which the air pressure builds up and can be released
explosively
/p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/
b. Affricate: a complete closure at some point in the mouth,
behind which the air pressure builds up; the separation of
the organs is slow compared with that of a plosive, so that
friction is characteristic second element of the sound
/t/ , /d/

c. Nasal: a complete closure at some point in the mouth but

the soft palate being lowered the air escapes through the
nose.
/m/, /n/, //.
B. Intermittent Closure
Roll : a series of rapid intermittent closures taps made by a
flexible organ on a firmer surface.
/r/ ( the tongue tip taps against the alveolar ridge)
C. Partial Closure
Lateral: a partial closure is made at some point in the mouth, the
air stream being allowed to escape on one or both sides of the
contact
/l/
D. Narrowing
Fricative : two organs approximate to such an extent that the air
stream passes through them with friction
/f/,/v/, /./, //, /s/, /z/, ///, /./, / h/
E. Glides
Semi vowels: they are usually included in the consonantal category on functional
grounds, but from the point of view of phonetic description they are more properly
treated as vowel glides.
/w/, /j/