Understanding English Consonants: Articulation and Phonetics

Definition of Consonants

A consonant is a speech sound produced when the airstream from the lungs is obstructed (completely or partially) or when the mouth passage is so narrow that the air is expelled with audible friction.

1. State of the Glottis

This refers to whether or not the vocal cords vibrate during sound production:

• Voiced: The vocal cords vibrate.
• Voiceless: The vocal cords do not vibrate.

2. Place of Articulation

1. Bilabial: Both lips.
2. Labiodental: Lower lip and upper teeth.
3. Dental: Tongue tip just behind the upper front teeth.
4. Alveolar: Blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
5. Post-alveolar/Pre-palatal: Blade or tip of the tongue on the rear part of the alveolar ridge.
6. Palatal: Raising the front of the tongue towards the hard palate.
7. Velar: Back of the tongue towards the soft palate.
8. Glottal: At the glottis, where the vocal cords approximate to cause closure or friction.

3. Manner of Articulation

This describes how the sound is articulated and the type of obstruction:

• Plosive: Complete closure of the articulators; air pressure builds up behind the closure and is released abruptly.
• Fricative: Air is forced through a narrow passage to create friction.
• Affricative: Blocking the airstream from the lungs and releasing it with friction.
• Nasal: Similar to plosives, involving complete closure of the articulators.
• Approximant: Articulators are close to one another but not close enough to cause friction.
• Liquids: Includes lateral consonants and lateral approximants.

English Fricatives and Affricatives

Characteristics of English fricatives and affricatives often arise from the confusion of the yod (/j/) with alveolar fricatives or plosives (e.g., /sj/, /zj/, /tj/, /dj/). Historically, this is seen in the pronunciation of words like delicious, measure, picture, and soldier. Coalesced variants are more common in Received Pronunciation (RP) and are favored by younger speakers and in informal styles.

Connected Speech and Phonetic Processes

Phonemes have no physical reality in isolation; speech segments always occur in context. Their pronunciation is conditioned by their phonetic environment and the tempo of speech. Many changes in speech segments result from the speaker's need for ease of articulation, stemming from the principle of least effort.

Elision and Assimilation

The most important process affecting the pronunciation of words is connected speech elision. Additionally, regressive or articulatory assimilation occurs when a sound influences one that precedes it, affecting place of articulation, manner, or voicing (e.g., changing 'n' to 'm' or 'ng' when followed by 'k' or 'g').

Rhoticity

• Rhotic accents: /r/ is pronounced wherever it appears in the spelling.
• Non-rhotic accents: /r/ is pronounced before a vowel but never before a consonant or a pause.

A vowel-like sound occurring in consonantal positions in the same syllable with a true vowel is characterized by brief duration and rapid change from one position of articulation to another.