Place of articulation

MANNER OF CHART

 

The consonant characters are arranged by place of articulation, voicing, and manner of articulation. It helps to be familiar with the terms for the parts of the tongue and the oral cavity. Here is a labeled diagram. Here is another.

Place of articulation refers to the place in the mouth where the sound is articulated, moving from the lips on the left side, to the glottis (vocal cords) on the right.

Voicing refers to the action of the vocal cords. In voiceless sounds, the vocal cords are held apart. In voiced sounds, the vocal cords are held together so that they vibrate as the air passes between them. You can feel the difference by putting your hand to your throat while saying /s/ (a voiceless sound) and /z/ (a voiced sound). With /z/, you should feel your vocal cords vibrating.

Manner of articulation refers to how the consonant is produced. There are two general categories: obstruent and sonorant. Obstruents have restriction of the airflow in the oral cavity, and sonorants have no restriction.

Obstruents are further categorized into plosives, nasals, and fricatives.

plosive (also called stop): the airflow is completely stopped, for instance /t/
nasal: the airflow is stopped in the oral cavity, but air flows through the nasal cavity: /n/. Nasals are usually voiced.
fricative: the airflow is restricted but not stopped: /s/


Description of some of the plosives, nasals and fricatives, with examples

bilabial: made with both lips
/p/ voiceless biabial plosive: English pip [pɪp]
/b/ voiced bilabial plosive: English ebb [ɛb]
/m/ voiced bilabial nasal: English mum [mʌm]
/ɸ/ voiceless bilabial fricative: Japanese fuji [ɸɯdʑi] "Fuji"
/β/ voiced bilabial fricative: Spanish haba [aβa] "bean"

Listen to bilabial fricatives in Ewe and Venda.


labiodental: the lower lip touches the upper teeth

/f/ voiceless labiodental fricative: English fun [fʌn]
/v/ voiced labiodental fricative: English vim [vɪm]


dental: the tip or blade of the tongue touches the teeth (the blade is the area immediately behind the tip)
/θ/ voiceless dental fricative: English thing [θɪŋ]
/ð/ voiced dental fricative: English that [ðæt]


alveolar: the tip or blade of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge (the area just behind the teeth)
/t/ voiceless alveolar plosive: English tot [tɑt]
/d/ voiced alveolar plosive: English add [æd]
/n/ voiced alveolar nasal: English nun [nʌn]
/s/ voiceless alveolar fricative: English suss [sʌs]
/z/ voiced alveolar fricative: English zoo [zu]


palato-alveolar or postalveolar: the blade of the tongue is close to the alveolar ridge and the forward part of the hard palate
/ʃ/ voiceless palato-alveolar fricative: English shush [ʃʌʃ]
/ʒ/ voiced palato-alveolar fricative: English azure [æʒɚ]

English has 2 palato-alveolar affricates - a plosive followed by a homorganic fricative (that is, a fricative at the same place of articulation).
/tʃ/ voiceless palato-alveolar affricate: English church [tʃɚtʃ]
/dʒ/ voiced palato-alveolar affricate: English judge [dʒʌdʒ]


retroflex: the underside of the tongue touches the border of the alveolar ridge and the hard palate
/ʈ/ voiceless retroflex plosive: Hindi [ʈəmɑʈər] "tomato"
/ɖ/ voiced retroflex plosive: Hindi [ɖal] "branch"
/ɳ/ voiced retroflex nasal: Malayalam [kʌɳɳi] "link in chain"
Listen to retroflex stops in Hindi and retroflex nasals in Malayalam.


palatal: the front of the tonɡue touches the hard palate (note that what is called the "front" of the tongue is really the middle of the tongue)
/c/ voiceless palatal plosive: Hungarian tyúk [cuːk] "hen"
/ɟ/ voiced palatal plosive: Hungarian gyújt [ɟuit] "he ignites"
/ɲ/ voiced palatal nasal: Spanish año [aɲo] "year", French signe [siɲ] "sign"
/ç/ voicless palatal fricative: German ich [ɪç] "I", Greek [çɛɾi] "hand"
/ʝ/ voiced palatal fricative: Greek [ʝɛɾi] "old men"
Listen to palatals in Hungarian.

velar: the back of the tongue touches the velum (the soft palate)
/k/ voiceless velar plosive: English kick [kɪk]
/g/ voiced velar plosive: English egg [ɛɡ]
/ŋ/ voiced velar nasal: English singing [sɪŋɪŋ], Wangurri [ŋamaʔ] "mother"
/x/ voiceless velar fricative: German nach [nax] "towards", Greek [xɔma] "soil"
/ɣ/ voiced velar fricative: Spanish vega [beɣa] "plain, meadow", Greek [ɣɔma] "eraser"
Listen to palatal and velar fricatives in Greek.


uvular: the back of the tonge touches the uvula
/q/ voiceless uvular plosive: Quechua [qan] "you"
/ ɴ/ voiced uvular nasal: Japanese [zeɴ] "zen"
/χ/ voiceless uvular fricative: Hebrew (Oriental dialect) [maχar] "he sold"
/ʁ/ voiced uvular fricative: standard French roue [ʁu] "wheel"
Listen to uvulars and pharyngeals in Hebrew.


pharyngeal: the root of the tongue is pulled back so it approaches the pharyngeal wall
/ħ/ voiceless pharynɡeal fricative: Arabic [ħaːl] "condition", Hebrew (Oriental dialect) [laħ] "humid"
/ʕ/ voiced pharynɡeal approximant: Arabic [ʕaːl] "fine", Hebrew (Oriental dialect) [naʕ] "moved"

Since it seems that complete closure cannot be made at this point of articulation, there are no pharyngeal plosives.

Listen to uvulars and pharyngeals in Hebrew.


glottal: a closure or semi-closure is made by the vocal cords
/ʔ/ voiceless glottal plosive: English uh-uh [ʔʌ̃ʔʌ̃] "no", Tagalog [kaʔoˑn] "fetch"
/h/ voiceless glottal fricative: English hey [hej]

Although the glottal stop is not considered a phoneme of English, it often occurs at the beginning of words that start with a vowel. In Estuary English, /t/ is often replaced by a glottal stop before a consonant or at the end of words.