Phonetics

Voiced Consonants

• /b/ (bat)

• /d/ (dog)

• /ɡ/ (game)

• /v/ (van)

• /ð/ (this / the)

• /z/ (zoo)

• /ʒ/ (beige / treasure)

• /dʒ/ (join / jump)

• /m/ (must / man)

• /n/ (never / neck)

• /ŋ/ (long / sing)

• /l/ (lock / ball)

• /ɹ/ (rock / red)

• /w/ (wet)

• /j/ (yes / yellow)

Voiceless Consonants

• /p/ – as in pot or pen

• /t/ – as in top or ten

• /k/ – as in cat or kite

• /f/ – as in fan or fox

• /θ/ – as in thin or thumb (the unvoiced "th")

• /s/ – as in sun or sit

• /ʃ/ – as in ship or shop (the "sh" sound)

• /tʃ/ – as in chin or chop (the "ch" sound)

• /h/ – as in hat or hot

Consonants place of articulation

Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental, Alveolar, Post-Alveolar, Palato-Alveolar, Palatal, Velar, Glottal, Labia-Velar.

Consonants manner of articulation

Plosive, Affricates, Fricative, Nasal, Approximant.

Bilabial

Two lips in contact.

[p] (voiceless), [b] (voiced), [m] (nasal)

Labiodental

Contact between lower lip and upper front teeth

[f] (voiceless), [v] (voiced)

Dental

Made with tongue-tip against upper front teeth.

[θ] (voiceless "th"), [ð] (voiced "th")

Alveolar

Made with tongue-tip against the alveolar ridge.

[t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l]

Post-Alveolar

Tongue-tip against the rear of alveolar ridge.

/r/

Palato-Alveolar

Made with the tongue-tip, blade, front just behind the alveolar ridge (near hard palate).

[ʃ] ("sh"), [ʒ] ("measure"), [tʃ] ("ch"), [dʒ] ("j")

Palatal

Front of the tongue against hard palate.

[j] (approximant like "y")

Velar

Back of the tongue against soft palate.

[k], [g], [ŋ]

Glottal

Made at the glottis.

[h], [ʔ] (glottal stop)

Labia-Velar

A labial–velar sound is a consonant made using two places in the vocal tract at the same time: the lips and the soft palate. (dual articulation). The obstruction is in both places of articulation. ]U]-like glide has a strong lip-rounding.

w (Voiced labial-velar approximant)

Plosive (also called stops)

Complete closure in a part of the vocal tract (mouth). Airstream is blocked and then released suddenly with a sharp burst.

[p] [d] [b] [t] [k] [g]

Affricates

Complete closure in vocal tract (mouth). Airstream is blocked and then released slowly through a narrow opening that creates friction. (Starts like a plosive and ends like a fricative)

[tʃ] [dʒ]

Fricative

Narrowing in vocal tract (mouth). When two articulators are moved together so the air is forced through a narrow opening causing air turbulence (friction) that becomes audible.

[f] [v] [s] [z] [h] [ʃ] [ʒ] [θ] [ð]

Nasal

Complete closure of oral cavity. The soft palate (velum) is lowered and the airstream is released in the nasal cavity.

[m] [n] [ŋ]

Approximant

Narrowing in the vocal tract (mouth). It’s when two articulators are brought close together, creating a narrow space through which airstream is released. (Not close enough to make the air friction audible like the fricatives)

[r] [l] [j] [w]

Describe: “p”

Voiceless, bilabial, plosive, obstruent. fortis, raised.

Describe: “f”

Voiceless, labiodental, fricative, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “θ”

Voiceless, dental, fricative, obstruent, fortis, rasied.

Describe: “t”

Voiceless, alveolar, plosive, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “r”

Voiced, post-alveolar, approximant, sonorant, raised.

Describe: “ʃ”

Voiceless, palato-alveolar, fricative, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “j”

Voiced, palatal, approximant, sonorant, raised.

Describe: “k”

Voiceless, velar, plosive, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “h”

Voiceless, glottal, fricative, obstruent, fortis (?), raised.

Describe: “w”

Voiced, labia-velar, approximant, sonorant, raised.

Describe: “b”

Voiced, bilabial, plosive, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “v”

Voiced, labiodental, fricative, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “ð”

Voiced, dental, fricative, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “d”

Voiced, alveolar, plosive, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “ʒ”

Voiced, palato-alveolar, fricative, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “g”

Voiced, velar, plosive, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “m”

Voiced, bilabial, nasal, sonorant, lowered.

Describe: “n”

Voiced, alveolar, nasal, sonorant, lowered.

Describe: “tʃ”

Voiceless, palato-alveolar, affricate, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “ŋ”

Voiced, velar, nasal, sonorant, lowered.

Describe: “s”

Voiceless, alveolar, fricative, obstruent, fortis, raised.

Describe: “z”

Voiced, alveolar, fricative, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Describe: “l”

Voiced, alveolar, lateral approximant, sonorant, raised.

Describe: “dʒ”

Voiced, palato-alveolar, affricates, obstruent, lenis, raised.

Fortis

[p] [t] [k] [s] [tʃ] [ʃ] [θ]

Lenis

[b] [d] [g] [v] [z] [dʒ] [ð] [ʒ]

Trachea/windpipe

It is a tube like structure made of cartilage connected through ligaments that allows air to travel to and from the lungs. It protects the respiratory system. It has celiated cells or mucus cells that prevent external elements to reach the lungs. It has C-shaped rings around it. It connects the lungs to the larynx.

Larynx

It’s a box-like structure made up cartilage and muscle. It links the trachea with the pharynx. It protects the vocal folds. The main portion is formed by the thyroid cartilage which is positioned above a rig-shaped cricoid cartilage. Both change the vocal folds shape. The vocal folds are attached to the inner side of the thyroid cartilage. The arytenoids are cartilages that open, close and rotate to align and vibrate the vocal folds.

Vocal folds

Two muscular bands of tissue that are attached to the inner side of the thyroid cartilage. When vibrating, they produce sounds.

Glottis

The opening between the vocal folds. There are four states of the glottis: wide apart for voiceless sounds or breathing, loosly touching for voicing, tightly closed for glottal sounds, and narrow for hissing sounds (whispering)

Epiglottis

Elastic band of cartilage that acts as a valve. Raised during speech or breathing and lowered during swallowing

Pharynx

Tube like structure that it’s above the larynx. At its top it is divided into two: back of the oral cavity and the beginning of the nasal cavity.

Velum

Articulator that allows the air to pass through the nose and through the mouth. In speech it is raised so the air cannot escape through the nose.

Hard palate

It is the roof of the mouth. It is a curved surface from which we make the palatal consonant.

Alveolar ridge

It is between the front teeth and the hard palate. Its surface is rougher and covered with little ridges.

Tongue

Articulator that can be moved into different places and shapes. It is divided into: tip, blade, front, back and root

Description of: /iː/

Front, close, unrounded.

Description of: /ɪ/

Front-central, close-mid, unrounded.

Description of: /e/

Front, mid, unrounded.

Description of: /æ/

Front, open, unrounded.

Description of: /ɑː/

Near-back, open, unrounded.

Description of: /ɒ/

Back, open, rounded.

Description of: /ɔː/

Back, mid, rounded.

Description of: /ʊ/

Back-central, close-mid, weakly rounded.

Description of: /uː/

Back-central, close, rounded (protruded)

Description of: ʌ

Central, open-mid, unrounded.

Description of: /ɜː/

Central, mid, unrounded.

Description of: /ə/

Schwa, unrounded

Aspiration

Occurs when fortis plosives are initial in a stressed syllable, and takes the form of a delay in the onset of voicing.

Puff of air before the vocal folds start vibrating

Stop consonant stages

1. Approach stage: the articulators come together and form a closure.

2. Hold stage: the air is compressed behind the closure.

3. Release stage: the articulators part and the compressed air is released with plosion or slowly with friction

Pre-glottalisation

Syllable-final fortis stops are glottalised before another consonan

Gotta replacement

When the glottal stop replaces the /t/ or when /p k/ are followed by a homorganic stop or nasal

Stop sequences

When a plosive consonant is followed by a stop. The plosive has inaudible release and the second stop has inaudible approach

Ex: big cheese, bad guys, back door, stopped, rugby.

Homorganic stops

Stops sharing the same place of articulation

Dark l

Before consonants or pause

Palatalised tongue shape

Clear l

Before vowels and /j/

Velarised tongue shape

Rhotic accents

/r/ is pronounced in all contexts

Non-rhotic accents

/r/ is only before a vowel

British

Yod-dropping

Loss of /j/ after the alveolar consonants /t d n/ in American English

Ex: Tuesday, June

Palatalisation

Preceding /j/, plosives are palatalised.

Ex: pure, beauty, tune, dune, cure, angular, fuse, views