CONSONANT PHONEMES by BUSUNGU JOSEPH

 CONSONANT PHONEMES

Consonant is a sound produced with a total or partial restriction/obstruction of air in the vocal tract. Consonant sounds are not letters. There are 24 English consonant phonemes namely; /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /f/, /v/, /k/, /g/, /n/, /ŋ/, /m/, /s/, /z/, /w/, /j/, /h/, /l/, /r/, /ϴ/, /ծ/, /ʤ/, /ʧ/, /ʃ/, /Ӡ/.

Factors for consonants description

There are three factors for consonants description namely;

i.                   Place of articulation

ii.                 Manner of articulation

iii.              State of the glottis or voicing

Place of articulation

v This is the place of where consonants are produced.

v Consonants are produced by different organs like lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate or velum, etc

v According to the place of articulation, consonants are categorized into several types namely;

a.     Bilabial sounds: these are sounds produced when the upper lip and the lower lip come together. The sounds produced include; /p/, /b/, /m/ and /w/.

b.     Labiodental sounds: these are sounds produced when the upper teeth and the lower lip come into contact. The sounds produced include; /f/ and /v/.

c.     Dental sounds: these are sounds produced when the tip of the tongue is between the upper and the lower teeth. The sounds produced include; /ϴ/ and /ծ/.

d.     Alveolar sounds: these are sounds produced when the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge. The sounds produced include; /t/, /d/, /z/, /n/, /s/and /l/.

e.     Retroflex: this is a sound produced when the tip of the tongue is rolled against the alveolar ridge. The retroflex sound is /r/.

f.       Palatal sounds: these are sounds produced when the blade of the tongue touches the hard palate. The sounds produced include; /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /ʃ/, /j/ and /Ӡ/.

g.     Velar sounds: these are sounds produced when the back part of the tongue touches the soft palate. The sounds produced include; /k/, /g/, /ŋ/.

h.    Glottal sound: this is a sound produced in the glottis. The glottal sound is /h/.

Manner of articulation

v This refers to the way how sounds are produced. Some consonants are produced with total restriction of air while others are produced with partial restriction of air.

v According to the manner of articulation, consonants are categorized into five major types namely;

a.     Explosives/stops: these are sounds produced when the air is blocked and suddenly released causing a sudden burst.  The sounds produced include; /p/, /b/, /d/, /t/, /k/ and /g/.

b.     Fricatives: these are sound produced when the air is released through narrow channels causing hissing sound. The consonants produced include; /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, /ϴ/, /ծ /, /Ӡ/and /ʃ/.

c.     Affricatives: these are sounds produced when the air is first blocked and then released through narrow channels. Hence, production of affricatives involves both the first and the second processes i.e stopping/ explosion and frication. There are two affricatives namely; /ʤ/ and /ʧ/.

d.     Nasals: these are sound produced when the air is forced to pass through the nose. The nasal sounds are; /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/

e.     Approximants: these are sounds produced when articulators come into closer contact or approximation. These sounds are divided into glides and liquids.

Ø Glides are sounds that have qualities of vowels. These are /j/and /w/.

Ø Liquids are sounds produced when the air passes lateral or aside to the two sides of the tongue. These are /r/ and /l/. they are sometimes called laterals

State of the glottis/voicing

v In articulatory phonetics, the air pushed out by the lungs up through the trachea to the larynx.

v Inside the larynx there are vocal folds or vocal cords which take two basic positions namely;

i.       When the vocal folds are spread apart or open, there is no much obstruction of air and the sound produced is voiceless. i.e there is no vibration of the vocal cord.

                                           ii.            When the vocal folds are drawn together or closed, the air forces to pass making the vibration in the vocal cord and the sounds produced are voiced.

v Hence, some sounds are voiced while others are voiceless depending on the state of vocal folds in the larynx (glottis).

The following is the table of consonant sounds showing all the three factors.

Manner of articulation	Voicing	Place of articulation
		Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Palatal	Velar	Alveolar	glottal	Retroflex
Stops	Voiced	/b/	-	-	-	/g/	/d/	-
	voiceless	/p/	-	-	-	/k/	/t/	-
Fricatives	Voiced	-	/v/	/ծ/	/Ӡ/	-	/z/	-
	voiceless	-	/f/	/ϴ/	/ʃ/	-	/s/	/h/
Affricative	Voiced	-	-	-	/ʤ/	-	-	-
s	voiceless	-	-	-	/ʧ/	-	-	-
Nasals	voiced	/m/	-	-	-	/ŋ/	/n/	-
	voiceless	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Glides	Voiced	/w/	-	-	/j/	-	-	-
	voiceless	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Liquids	Voiced	-	-	-	-	-	/l/	-	/r/
	voiceless	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

 

NOTABENE:

Ø All nasals are voiced

Ø All glides are voiced

Ø All liquids are voiced