Consonant Sounds and Minimal Pairs

Vocabulary flashcards defining consonant sounds, voicing distinctions, minimal pairs, and specific consonant contrasts covered in the lecture.

Consonant sound

A speech sound produced when the flow of air from the lungs is partly or completely blocked by the tongue, lips, teeth, or palate, resulting in full or partial stoppage of breath.

Voiced consonant sound

A speech sound produced with vibration of the vocal cords (e.g., /b/).

Voiceless consonant sound

A speech sound produced without vibration of the vocal cords (e.g., /p/).

Number of English consonant sounds

There are 24 consonant sounds in English.

Minimal pair

A pair of words that differ by only one sound but have different meanings (e.g., pat /p/ vs. bat /b/).

/p/ vs /b/ minimal pair contrast

A sound contrast between voiceless /p/ and voiced /b/, illustrated by pairs such as pat – bat, pin – bin, pack – back, and pill – bill.

/t/ vs /d/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as two – do, ten – den, tip – dip, and tie – die.

/k/ vs /g/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as coat – goat, cap – gap, cold – gold, and cart – guard.

/f/ vs /v/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as fan – van, fine – vine, ferry – very, and few – view.

/θ/ vs /ð/ minimal pair contrast

A contrast between the sound in thin (/θ/) and this (/ð/), demonstrated in pairs like thin – then, thank – that, and bath – bathe.

/s/ vs /z/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as sip – zip, sue – zoo, bus – buzz, and loose – lose.

/ʃ/ vs /ʒ/ minimal pair contrast

A contrast between the sound in ship (/ʃ/) and measure (/ʒ/), shown in pairs such as sure – azure, bash – beige, and wish – vision.

/tʃ/ vs /dʒ/ minimal pair contrast

A contrast between the sound in church (/tʃ/) and judge (/dʒ/), shown in pairs such as choke – joke, cheap – jeep, and chin – gin.

/m/ vs /n/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as me – knee, mat – gnat, mine – nine, and met – net.

/ŋ/ vs /n/ minimal pair contrast

A contrast between the sound in sing (/ŋ/) and sin (/n/), illustrated by pairs such as sin – sing, pin – ping, and ran – rang.

/l/ vs /r/ minimal pair contrast

A consonant contrast exemplified by word pairs such as led – red, long – wrong, lock – rock, and light – right.

/h/ vs Ø minimal pair contrast

A contrast between the presence of the /h/ sound and its complete absence (Ø), exemplified by word pairs such as heat – eat, hat – at, and hill – ill.