Lecture 6 - Consonants

What is a minimal pair?

A pair of words that differ in only one phoneme, such as pin/bin/din/tin/chin.

How many different consonant choices are in English?

There are approximately 24 different consonant choices in English.

What is a pulmonic consonant?

A consonant produced with air flowing from the lungs.

What are bilabial sounds?

Consonants produced by the closure of both lips.

What characterizes labio-dental consonants?

They are produced by the closure of the lower lip and upper teeth.

How are inter-dental consonants articulated?

They are produced between the teeth.

Where is the constriction for alveolar consonants?

The constriction is made by the tip of the tongue moving along the alveolar ridge.

What sounds do palatal consonants include?

Palatal consonants are produced with the tongue against the hard palate, e.g., /j/.

What is a velar consonant?

A consonant produced with the back of the tongue against the velum.

How are fricatives produced?

By restricting airflow enough to cause turbulence along the phonetic path.

What is the difference between nasals and nasal stops?

Nasals allow airflow through the nasal cavity while maintaining closure of the oral cavity.

What defines approximants?

They are vowel-like consonants that can appear in places where consonants are found.

What is the significance of voice onset timing (VOT)?

VOT is the delay between the release of a plosive and the start of phonation of the following sound.

What happens during the closing phase of plosives?

The vocal tract is closed and air pressure builds.

What occurs during the release phase of plosives?

The built-up air pressure is released.

How does aspiration relate to plosives?

Aspiration is the short burst of turbulent airflow that can occur after releasing a plosive.

What defines voiced fricatives?

Voiced fricatives are produced with airflow from vibration and constriction.

What is anti-resonance in nasals?

Anti-resonance refers to sound reflections that cancel certain frequencies in nasal sounds.

What do plosives require for voicing to occur?

A pressure difference in the glottis.

How do the VOT characteristics differ between languages such as English and Spanish?

English uses 0 VOT for voiced consonants while Spanish uses it for voiceless consonants.