Consonants and their phonetic phenomena

Speech organs

 

Speech chain

Production

  1. psycholinguistic - formulation of a concept in the brain
  2. articulatory - the message form our brain is sent to the speech organs
  3. acoustic - the sound of speech itself

Reception

  1. sound is received by the ear
  2. information is transmitted to the brain
  3. interpretation of the message in the brain

Types of consonants by features

Place of articulation

bilabial :: m, p, ​​b, ^^Made with the two lips.^^

labiodental :: f​​, v ^^Lower lip and upper front teeth^^

dental :: θ​​, ð ^^Tongue tip or blade and upper front teeth.^^

alveolar :: n, t​​, d, s​​, z, l ^^Tongue tip or blade and the alveolar^^ ^^ridge^^

post-alveolar/palato-alveolar :: tʃ​​, dʒ, ʃ, ​​ʒ, r ^^Tongue blade^^ ^^and the back of the alveolar ridge^^

palatal :: j ^^Front of the tongue and hard palate^^

velar :: ŋ, k, ​​ɡ, w ^^Back of the tongue and soft palate^^

glottal :: h

Manner of articulation

obstruents :: there are obstructions between the speech organs, the sound is shorter, if you try to stretch the pronunciation, you will get different sound (dyyyyyyy)

sonorants :: the airflow is not obstructed by anything, the sound are longer and continuous - all vowels, nasals and approximants

plosive/stop :: p​​, b, t, ​​d, k​​, ɡ ^^a complete closure of the speech organs with an explosive release of air^^

affricative :: tʃ​​, dʒ ^^first part of the sound is plosive, second part is fricative^^

nasal :: m, n, ŋ ^^soft palate lowers and allows air to go through the nose, otherwise there are closures in the mouth^^

fricative :: f​​, v, θ, ​​ð, s​​, z, ʃ​​, ʒ, h ^^speech organs move so close that the outcoming air causes friction between them^^

approximant :: l, r, j, w ^^narrowing between speech organs, but not narrow enough to cause friction^^

phenomena

aspiration::

short puff of air after pronoucing:

  • voiceless stops p, t, k
  • at the beginning of words
  • at the beginning of stressed syllables
no audible release/unreleased sound*::*

a plosive with no release burst:

  • first stop of a cluster of plosives - apt, doctor, baptism
  • if the first word ends with a stop and next word begins with a nasal sound or a stop
nasal plosion*::*

air pressure built up behind the stop closure is released through the nose by the lowering of the soft palate for the nasal consonant

  • t, d + n

  hidden, wooden, bitten

  • most often in the -den, -ten ending
lateral plosion*::*

air pressure built up during the stop is released by lowering the sides of the tongue;

  • t, d, + l

ladle, little, middle

tap*::*

the tongue makes a single tap against the alveolar ridge

  • t, d, n when there is 2 of them

ladder, tanner, letted

flap*::*
  • r-colored vowel in the stressed syllable

dirty, sorting

voicing

are voiced::

  • voiced sounds at the end of words
  • voiced sounds in consonant clusters
  • voiced sound + s = z (at the ends of words)
  • verbs with noun homonyms when they are verbs - use - /juz/

are not voiced::

  • nouns with verb homonyms when they are nouns use - /jus/
  • certain words with voiced sound + s basis, analysis
silent letters*::*

ŋg

  • in words that are derivates
  • comparative and superlative forms
  • ends of words
  • verbs with -ing