Consonants and Vowels
The Description and Classification of Consonants
Introduction
Consonants are described based on their articulation.
To describe articulation, we must answer these questions:1. Is the airstream from the lungs or other organs?
Is air forced out or drawn in?
Do the vocal cords vibrate?
Is the soft palate raised or lowered?
Where does articulation occur?
What is the manner of articulation?
For many languages, questions 1 and 2 are constant: airstream is from the lungs (pulmonic egressive).
This is true for English and all Indian languages except Sindhi.
If vocal cords vibrate, the sound is voiced; otherwise, it is voiceless.
If the soft palate is raised, there is velic closure, producing oral sounds. If lowered, there is no closure, producing nasal or nasalized sounds.
The place of articulation is determined by the passive articulator. For example, the tongue touching the teeth ridge.
Manner of articulation is the type of closure or narrowing. For example, a complete closure for /t/ versus a narrowing for /s/.
Place of Articulation
The place of articulation is determined by the passive articulator.
The sound is named after the passive articulator, such as the /k/ sound in "king" being called a velar sound because it uses the velum.
Examples include:- Bilabial: using both lips.- Examples: /p/, /b/, /m/ in "pen", "bat", “man”.
<!-- -->Labio-dental: lower lip and upper teeth.- Examples: /f/, /v/ in "fine", “vine”.
Dental: tip of the tongue and upper teeth.- Examples: /θ/, /ð/ in "thin", “that”.
Alveolar: blade or tip & blade of the tongue, and the teeth ridge.- Examples: /t/, /d/, /l/, /n/, /s/, /z/ in "tin", “din”, “late”, “no”, “say”, “zoo”.
Post-alveolar: tip of the tongue and rear part of the teeth ridge.- Examples: /r/ in British English.
Retroflex: underside of the tip of the tongue and front of the hard palate, with the tongue curled back.-
American English /r/ in "rain", "rat", “right”.
Palato-alveolar: blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge, and the front of the tongue raised towards the hard palate.- Examples: /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ in "chair", “jail”, “share”.
si in the words division, revision.
Palatal: front of the tongue and hard palate.- Examples: /j/ in "yes".
Velar: back of the tongue and soft palate.- Examples: /k/, /ɡ/, /ŋ/ in "sock", “sag”, “sang”.
Uvular: back of the tongue and uvula.- Examples: Urdu words:. English and Hindi have no uvular sounds.
Glottal: vocal cords.- Produced by obstruction or narrowing, not vibration.
Examples: mild cough [?], initial sound in "hen" or Hindi word.
Some sounds require two simultaneous articulations (primary and secondary), such as the /w/ in "wood" (lips together and back of tongue raised).
Manner of Articulation
Manner of articulation specifies the kind of closure or narrowing involved in producing a sound (stricture or constriction).
No consonant is fully described without it.
Consonants are classified into:- Plosive
Affricate
Nasal
Roll
Tap
Flap
Lateral
Fricative
Frictionless continuants
Semi-vowels
Except for nasals, the nasal passage is shut off by raising the soft palate.
Detailed Descriptions of Manner of Articulation:
Plosive:- Complete closure at some point in the vocal tract.
Air pressure builds up behind the closure.
Sudden release of blocked air with some explosive noise.
Examples: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /ɡ/ in "pit", “bit”, “tell”, “deal”, “kit”, “gain”.
Devanagari script with twenty letters representing this class of consonants such as:-
Affricate:- Complete closure followed by gradual release.
Air pressure builds up behind the closure.
Slow release causes audible friction, not an explosive noise.
Examples: /tʃ/, /dʒ/ in "chair", “jug”.
Hindi are plosives, but their substitution for English affricates doesn't hinder intelligibility.
Nasal:- Complete closure of the oral passage only; nasal passage remains open.
Air passes freely through the nose.
Examples: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/ in "ram", “ran”, “rang”
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Lateral:- Partial closure at some point in the mouth, allowing the airstream to escape on one or both sides of contact.
The sound is a continuant.
Examples: /l/ in "let" or Hindi
Fricative:- Close approximation: no closure, only narrowing.
Active articulator close to the passive articulator, leaving a narrow gap causing audible friction.
The sound is a continuant.
Examples: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /h/ in "fail", “very”, “think”, “that”, “see”, “zoo”, “shine”, “hat”.
Frictionless Continuant: * oral passage of air with a degree of narrowing.- Narrowing of a lesser degree, i.e. the articulators do not come so close together.
no audible friction accompanies the sound produced.
the sound is a frictionless continuant, now more often called an approximant.
Like a fricative, it can be continued.
Examples: common variety of the r-sound in RP, the sound represented by the Devanagari letter as in the Hindi word .
notice that the English v-sound, as in the word very, is a fricative, whereas the Hindi-sound is a frictionless continuant: audible friction accompanies the former, not the latter.
Semi-vowel:- Essentially very short approximants.
Rapid glides towards or from a vowel of greater steady duration.
Momentary in nature and cannot be prolonged.
Examples: /w/, /j/ in "watch", “yes”.
Description Illustrated
Six points answer the following questions to describe a consonant.1. The airstream is pulmonic.
The air is forced out. Therefore, the airstream is egressive.
The vocal cords do not vibrate. The sound is therefore voiceless.
The soft palate is raised. The sound is therefore oral, not nasal.
The articulation takes place at the soft palate. (The back of the tongue is the active articulator.) The sound is therefore velar.
The sound is produced by (i) a complete closure in the mouth, (ii) the building up of air pressure behind the closure, followed by (iii) a sudden release of the blocked air with some explosive noise. The sound is thus a plosive.
Three-term labels for English consonants:1. /k/ in "school" is voiceless velar plosive.
/n/ in "lane" is voiced alveolar nasal.
/f/ in "phone" is a voiceless labio-dental fricative.
Summary
Consonants are described by the airstream, vocal cord state, soft palate position, place, and manner of articulation.
Vocal cord vibration signifies a voiced sound; no vibration means voiceless.
A raised soft palate produces oral sounds, while a lowered one produces nasal or nasalized sounds.
Consonants are classified by place (bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, etc.) and manner of articulation (plosives, affricates, nasals, etc.).
A brief description for English consonants includes voice, place, and manner of articulation.
Consonants and Vowels
Introduction
The chapter focuses on the sounds of English (RP), specifically vowels, following the classificatory systems explained in previous chapters.
RP vowels will be described in terms of:-
The part of the tongue raised.
The height of that part of the tongue.
The position of the lips.
This leads to a three-term label for each RP monophthong.
For diphthongs, the description will indicate:-
The starting point of the glide.
The direction of its movement.
The position of the lips, which may change during production.
Vowels of RP
In RP, there are twenty vowels (or vowel phonemes).
Examples illustrate their occurrence in initial, medial, and final positions.
A blank space in the table indicates non-occurrence of a vowel in that position.
Monophthongs
i: - Initial: east, Medial: seen, Final: key
I - Initial: it, Medial: hit, Final: duty
e - Initial: end, Medial: lend,
æ - Initial: and, Medial: land,
ɑ: - Initial: arm, Medial: harm, Final: car
D - Initial: on, Medial: cot,
ɔ: - Initial: all, Medial: caught,
ʊ - Initial: , Medial: put,
u: - Initial: ooze, Medial: choose, Final: shoe
Λ - Initial: up, Medial: cup,
3: - Initial: , Medial: , Final:
ǝ - Initial: , Medial: , Final: ago
Diphthongs
el - Initial: eight, Medial: straight, Final: stray
aI - Initial: ice, Medial: mice, Final: my
ɔI - Initial: oil, Medial: boil, Final: boy
aʊ - Initial: out, Medial: shout, Final: show
ǝʊ - Initial: oak, Medial: joke, Final: slow
Iǝ - Initial: ear, Medial: beard, Final: clear
eǝ - Initial: air, Medial: shared, Final: care
ʊǝ - Initial: , Medial: cured, Final: poor
Of the 12 monophthongs, 7 are short: /1, e, æ, D, ʊ, A, ǝ/ and 5 long: /i:, a:, ɔ:, u:, 3:/
Diphthongs are all long vowels.
Long vowels are comparatively longer than the short vowels in identical phonetic environments.
Each vowel has different degrees of length depending on the phonetic environment.
Vowels are longer when followed by a voiced consonant or when they occur finally in a word than when followed by a voiceless consonant.
Length is one dimension along which the variants of a vowel may occur.
Another dimension along which a vowel may vary is the relative height of the tongue.
A vowel is usually lower (or opener) when it occurs finally in a word than otherwise.
All vowels are voiced, and in English, there is no nasalized vowel.
Detailed Description of the Vowels of RP
Monophthongs
Front Vowels: /i:, 1, e, æ/
/i:/ as in seat, /I/ as in sit, /e/ as in set, /æ/ as in sat
/i:/
Description: The front of the tongue is raised to a height just below the close position; the lips are spread; and the tongue is tense. It is a long vowel. It can be labeled as a front close unrounded vowel.
Spelling: be, these, even, Eden, Peter, beat, each, lead, sea, tea, eel, seed, keep, free, knee, receive, deceive, conceive, seize, people, key, machine, police, prestige, ski, relief, piece, field, siege
Occurrence: The vowel occurs more frequently in accented than in unaccented positions.
/i:/ occurs initially (e.g., eat, east, eve, eel), medially (e.g., sheet, please, thief, relief), and finally (e.g., sea, tree, payee, bee). But it does not occur before the consonant /ŋ/.
/I/
Description: To produce the RP vowel /1/, the rear part of the front of the tongue is raised just above the half-close position; lips are loosely spread, and, unlike in the production of /i:/, the tongue is lax. It can be called a centralized front half-close unrounded vowel. It is a short vowel.
Spelling: village, private, baggage, surface bargain, captain, mountain Sunday, Monday, Tuesday evoke, pretty, heated, ticket, system, harmless, horses, extempore, apostrophe coffee Ley, money foreign monkey, honey cities, dailies, ladies, lobbies, it, hill, fifth, lift women busy, minute (n) build, guilt rhythm, symbol, city, hilly, easy
Occurrence: /1/ occurs in accented as well as unaccented positions.
The vowel occurs initially, medially, and finally.
beat bit
leave live
feel fill
feet fit
heel hills
sleep slip
seat sit
field filled
/e/
Description: In the production of the RP vowel /e/, the front of the tongue is raised to a point about half-way between the half-open and half-close positions; the lips are loosely spread and a little wider apart than for /1/; the tongue is not as lax as for /1/. The vowel can be described as a front unrounded vowel between half-close and half-open. Like /1/, it is a short vowel.
Spelling: any, many, Thames, ate (/et/ or /ext/) said, again (/ǝ'gen/ or /ǝ'gein/) says end, send, let, get dead, spread, health, leant, jealous leisure, Leicester leopard, Leonard, Geoffrey friend bury guess, guest
Occurrence: Essentially, /e/ occurs in syllables carrying the primary accent.
/æ/
Description: The vowel is produced by raising the front of the tongue to a little below the half-open position. The lips are in the neutral position, and the mouth is more open than for /e/. The vowel can be called a front unrounded vowel just below the half-open position. It is a short vowel, but in front of voiced consonants, it becomes as long as the 'long' vowels in similar environments.
Spelling: Spelling: ass, sat, hand, matcher plaid, plait
Back vowels: /a:, d, ɔ, ʊ, u:/
/a:/
Description: To produce this vowel, the jaws are kept considerably separated; the lips are neutrally open; and a part of the tongue between the center and the back is in the fully open position. It is a long vowel and can be called a back open unrounded vowel.
Spelling: ask, dance, bath, after, mama balm. calm, palm, psalm, half park, part, march, car aunt, laugh heart, hearth clerk, Derby, sergeant, Berkeley
Occurrence /a:/ occurs mostly in accented syllables. Its occurrence in unaccented syllables is restricted generally to English words of foreign origin, e.g., 'camouflage, 'espionage', 'garage', 'massage', 'rhubarb, sabotage.
/D/
Description: During the articulation of this vowel, the back of the tongue is raised slightly above the open position; the jaws are widely open, and the lips are slightly rounded. The vowel is, therefore, a back rounded vowel just above the open position. It is a short vowel.
Spelling a (after /w/) was, what, want, watch, wash, quality /'kwoliti/ au because, sausage, Austria, Australia, cauliflower 0 top, pot, dog, lorry, gone ou cough, trough, Gloucester knowledge
Occurrence: Like /a:/, the vowel /p/ tends to occur in accented syllables. Indeed, the tendency is so strong that where it occurs in unaccented syllables, it may often be replaced by /ǝ/
/ɔ:/
Description: The vowel /ɔ:/ is articulated with the back of the tongue raised between the half-open and half-close positions; the lips are considerably more rounded than for /p/. It can thus be described as a back rounded vowel between half-open and half-close. It is a long vowel.
Spelling: all, tall, wall, talk, chalk, salt, water warm, towards, quarter, war cause, daughter, fault, slaughter, caught, caution awkward, law, raw, saw, straw, flaw, yawn, lawn broad oar, board door, floor or, nor, cord, sword, born, morning ore, store, before ought, bought, fought, thought, nought four, court, pour
Occurrence: The vowel occurs more often in accented than in unaccented positions.
/ʊ/
Description: The vowel /u/ is articulated by raising a part of the tongue nearer to the center than to the back just above the half-close position; the lips are closely but loosely rounded, and the tongue is lax. The vowel can be described as a centralized back rounded vowel just above half-close.
Spelling: o wolf, woman, bosom oo foot, good, book, look, wood, wool ou could, should, would, courier u put, bull, sugar, push, butcher
Occurrence: The vowel occurs in both accented and unaccented syllables.
/u:/
Description: To produce this vowel, the back of the tongue is raised very near the close position; the lips are closely rounded, and the tongue is tense. It is thus a back close rounded vowel. It is a long vowel.
Spelling: eau (pronounced /ju:/) beauty, beautiful eu (pronounced /ju:/) eulogy, eunuch, euphony ew crew, blew, chew, grew o do, to (strong form), who, tomb, womb, prove shoe, canoe oo moon, room, food, soon, brood, troop ou group, through, route, you u flute, rude, June ue blue, true ui juice, fruit two
Central vowels: /^, 31, ǝ/
/^/
Description: The vowel /^/is articulated with the center of the tongue raised to a point nearly halfway between open and half-open positions, with the lips neutrally open and with a considerable separation of the jaws. The vowel can thus be described as a central unrounded vowel between open and half-open. It is a short vowel.
Occurrence: The vowel /^/ occurs essentially in accented syllables.
/3/
Description: To produce the vowel /3:/, the center of the tongue is raised between half-close and half-open; the lips are in the neutral position. The vowel can, therefore, be called a central unrounded vowel between half-close and half-open. It is a long vowel.
/ǝ/
Description: The vowel /ǝ/ has at least two positions—the non-final and the final. The non-final /ǝ/ is articulated exactly the same way and at more or less the same place as the vowel /3:/. In that position, it differs from /3/ mainly in respect of length, /a/ being a short vowel. The final /ǝ/, however, is produced with the center of the tongue raised just below the half-open position. In both cases, the lips are in the neutral position. ǝ/ can therefore be described as a central unrounded short vowel.
Diphthongs
Closing diphthongs gliding to [1]:/ei, ai, ɔɩ/
/ei/
Description: The glide starts from a point just below the half-close front position and moves in the direction of RP /1/. The movement of the tongue is accompanied by a slight closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips are spread.
Spelling: ace, race, take, bass (in music), aim, brain, slain, straight, day, may, pray, say, stay, break, great, veil, eight, weigh, neighbor, they, grey
/ai/
Description: The glide for /a1/ begins at a point slightly behind the front open position and moves in the direction of RP /1/. The movement of the tongue is accompanied by an appreciable closing movement of the lower jaw. The lips have a neutral position at the beginning, but they gradually change to a loosely spread position.
Spelling: aisle, either, Einstein, Eiffel, height, neither, eye, lime, site, silence, tidy, nice, fight, might, die, lie, cried, tried, buy, guy, try, my, shy, fry, type
/1/
Description: Beginning at a point between the back half-open and open positions, the glide for this vowel moves in the direction of RP /1/. The jaw movement is not as considerable as for the diphthong /ai/. The lips are open rounded at the beginning, changing to neutral towards the end.
Spelling: oil, boil, toil, voice, noise, join toy, boy, annoy, employ
Closing diphthongs gliding to [0]:/ʊ,ǝʊ/
/aʊ/
Description: The glide for the /aʊ/ begins at a point between the back and front open and moves towards RP /ʊ/. The jaw has the same relationship as /ai/.
Spelling: out, round, doubt, sound, mouth how, cow, town, allow, now
/ǝʊ/
Description: Central position almost midway between half-close and half-open and moves in the direction of RP /ʊ/.
Spelling: old, open, bold, home, go, no, don't, won't, oak, oaf, boat, road, goal, boast, toe, doe, foe, hoe, though, mold, soul, smolder own, bowl, blow, slow
Centring diphthongs gliding to [ǝ]:/1ǝ, eɔ, ʊɔ/
/1ǝ/
Description: The glide for /10/ begins at approximately the half-close centralized front RP vowel /1/ and moves in the direction of the opener variety of RP /ǝ/. The lips are neutral throughout.
/eǝ/
Description: The glide for RP /eǝ/ begins in the front above the half-open position and moves in the direction of RP /ǝ/. The lips are neutrally open throughout.