Study how to pronounce English consonants.

The main terms of the unit: articulation, speech organs, air stream, lungs, place of articulation, manner of articulation, bilabials, labiodentals, dentals, alveolars, post-alveolars, palato-alveolars, palatal, velar, labial-velar, glottal, plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, semivowels.

ARTICULATION OF CONSONANTS

1. Articulation is the production of speech sounds by using the speech organs to modify the air stream set in motion by the lungs. Consonants are classified according to their place and manner of articulation. Consonants are the “bones” of words. Their wrong articulation can lead to misunderstanding.
2. English consonant sounds have the following places of articulation:

/p/, /b/, /m/	are bilabials,	articulated by the lower lip against the upper lip
/f/, /v/	are labiodentals,	articulated by the lower lip against the upper teeth
/θ/, /Ә/	are dentals,	articulated by the tongue tip against the upper teeth
/t/, /d/, /n/, /l/, /s/, /z/	are alveolars,	articulated by the tongue tip or blade against the alveolar ridge
/r/, /tr/, /dr/	are post-alveolars,	articulated by raising the tongue tip towards the rear of the alveolar ridge
	are palato-alveolars,	articulated by the retracted blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge and hard palate (usually accom­panied by some lip-rounding)
/j/	is a palatal,	articulated by raising the front of the body of the tongue towards the hard palate
/k/, /g/, /ŋ/	are velars,	articulated by the back of the tongue against the soft palate
/w/	is a labial-velar,	articulated by raising the back of the tongue towards the soft palate and rounding the lips
/h/	is a glottal

1. English consonants have the following typical manners of articulation:

/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/	are plosives,	articulated with a complete obstruction of the mouth passage, entirely blocking the air-flow for a moment
/f/, /v/, /θ/, /Ә/, /s/, /z/, / /, / /	are fricatives,	articulated by narrowing the mouth passage so as to make the air-flow turbulent, while allowing it to pass through continuously
/ /, / /(and also are usually /tr/, /dr/)	are affricates,	articulated with first a complete obstruction and then a narrowing of the mouth passage
/m/, /n/, /ŋ/	are nasals,	articulated by completely obstructing the mouth passage but -allowing the air to pass out through the nose
/r/, /l/	are liquids,	articulated by diverting or modifying the air-flow through the mouth
/j/, /w/	are semivowels,	articulatorily like vowels, but functioning as consonants because they are not syllabic

Study how to pronounce English aspirated consonants.

ASPIRATION

An aspirated consonant is one that is accompanied by a brief [ h ] - sound.

In certain environments the English plosives / p, t, k / are aspirated. That is to say, there is a delay between the release of the primary closure of the articulators and the beginning of voicing for the sound that follows. In the word pan [pæn], for example, the voicing for [æ] does not begin immediately after the lips separate for the end of the p. There is a moment’s delay, during which the air escapes freely through the mouth, impeded neither by the lips nor by the vocal folds. This constitutes the aspiration of the p. It is one of the ways we recognize the plosive as being a p rather than a b.

Aspiration of / p, t, k / can be lost or lessen in the following phonetic environments:

- before a short vowel: pity, ton, cut;

- before an unstressed vowel: prospect, shorter;

- in final position: stop, mute, look;

- when these stops are preceded by / s /: stand, skills, speak.

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