The Classification of Speech-Sounds

Speech-sounds are divided into vowels and consonants.

A vowel is a voiced sound produced in the mouth cavity with no obstruction to the air stream. The air stream is weak. The tongue and the vocal cords are tense, the muscular tension is distributed more or less evenly throughout the mouth cavity and the pharynx. Vowels are sounds of pure musical tone.

A consonant is a sound produced with an obstruction to the air stream. The organs of speech are tense at the place of obstruction. In the articulation of voiceless consonants the air stream is strong, while in voiced consonants it is weaker. Consonants may be either sounds in which noise prevails over tone (noise consonants) or sounds in which tone prevails over noise (sonorants). In the articulation of sonorants an obstruction is formed too, but the air-passage is wider than in the formation of noise consonants.

The Classification of English Consonant Phonemes

The particular quality of a consonant depends on the work of the vocal cords, the position of the soft palate and the kind of noise that results when the tongue or the lips obstruct the air-passage.

According to the degree to which the air passage is obstructed and the manner in which it is obstructed, the following kinds/types of articulatory obstruction may be distinguished: complete, incomplete and intermittent.

• A complete obstruction is formed when two organs of speech come in contact with each other and the air-passage through the mouth is blocked.

• An incomplete obstruction is formed when the articulating organ is held so close to a point of articulation as to narrow, or constrict, the air-passage without blocking it.

• An intermittently complete obstruction is formed when a series of rapid intermittent taps are made by a flexible organ on a firmer surface (e.g. by the tongue-tip against the teeth-ridge, as in the production of the Russian or Scottish rolled [r]).

English consonants are usually classified according to the following principles:

1. According to the type of articulatory obstruction and the manner of the production of noise.

Soviet phoneticians (A.L. Trakhterov, G. P. Torsuyev, and V.A. Vassilyev) suggest a classification of consonants according to the type of obstruction from the viewpoint of closure, which is formed in their articulation.

According to the type of obstruction English consonants are divided into occlusive and constrictive.

If the closure is complete, then occlusive consonants are produced.

Occlusive consonants may be: a) noise consonants and b) sonorants.

According to the manner of the production of noise occlusive noise consonants are divided into plosive consonants (or stops) and affricates. In the production of plosive consonants the speech organs form a complete obstruction which is then quickly released with plosion (the English [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]. Voiceless plosives are pure noises. Voiced plosives have an admixture of tone provided by the fundamental frequency of the vocal cord vibrations.

In the production of affricates the speech organs form a complete obstruction which is then released so slowly that considerable friction occurs at the point of articulation (the English [t∫], [dʒ]).

In the production of occlusive sonorants the speech organs form a complete obstruction in the mouth cavity which is not released, the soft palate is lowered and the air escapes through the nasal cavity (the English [m], [n], [η]).

Some consonants are produced not with a single articulatory obstruction, but with a double obstruction (their primary articulation is accompanied by a secondary one). In Soviet phonetic literature the former are known as unicentral (pronounced with one centre of obstruction (all the English consonants with the exception of [w, l, ∫, ʒ, t∫, dʒ]) and the latter are known as bicentral (produced with two centres of obstruction).

When the second obstruction is formed by raising the back part of the tongue towards the soft palate (velum) a back secondary focus is formed (e.g.: [w], and dark [ł]; it gives a consonant an [u]-like, “dark” colouring; in linguistics this process is known as velarization; all Russian “hard” consonants are velarized).

When the front (= middle) of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, a front secondary focus is formed (e.g.: [∫, ʒ, t∫, dʒ] and the clear [l]; it gives a consonant an [i]-like, “clear” colouring; this process is known as palatalization; the Russian “soft” consonants are palatalized).

This subdivision is not included into the classification suggested by foreign phoneticians.

Constrictive consonants are produced with an incomplete obstruction, that is by narrowing of the air-passage. They may be: a) noise consonants (or fricatives) and b) sonorants/sonorous constrictives.

In the production of noise constrictives the speech organs form an incomplete obstruction ([f], [v], [Ө], [ð], [s], [z], [∫], [ʒ], [h]).

In the production of constrictive sonorants the air-passage is fairly wide so that the air passing through the mouth does not produce audible friction and tone prevails over noise.

Constrictive sonorants may be median and lateral.

In the production of median sonorants the air escapes without audible friction over the central part of the tongue, the sides of the tongue being raised ([w], [r], [j]).

In the production of lateral sonorants the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge or the teeth, and the sides of the tongue are lowered, leaving, the air-passage open along them ([l]).

In the case of constrictive consonants it is important to distinguish the shapes into which the air passage is narrowed:

1. a flat narrowing ([f, v, θ, ð, h]);

2. a round narrowing ([s, z]).

Authorities differ as to the shape of the narrowing in the articulation of the consonants of the [∫, ʒ] – type. G.P. Torsuyev defines both English [∫, ʒ] as flat-slit fricatives, whereas H.A. Gleason describes the English [∫, ʒ] as grooved fricatives, placing them in the same class as [s, z].