3.2 Consonants

An indispensable constituent of a consonant is noise. The source of noise is an obstruction. There are the following types of obstruction in the production of consonants:

1) complete occlusion (closure);

2) constriction (narrowing);

3) occlusion – constriction (closure immediately followed by a constriction).

The noise produced by the removal of a closure is that of a plosion, the noise resulting from the movement of the air stream in the narrowing is that of friction. The two effects are combined when closure is followed by a narrowing.

1 According to the type of obstruction and the manner of the production of noise, English consonants are classified in the following way:

• Occlusive (plosives and nasal sonants)

• Constrictives (fricatives and oral sonants)

• Occlusive–constrictives (affricates)

2 According to the active speech organ which forms an obstruction, English consonants are classed into:

• Labial

• Lingual

3 According to the place of obstruction, consonants are classified into

• Bilabial

• Labiodental

• Dental (Interdental)

• Alveolar

• Palatal

• Velar

• Glottal (Pharyngeal)

4 According to the presence or absence of voice, English consonants are

subdivided into

• Voiced

• Voiceless

Table 2 – English Consonants

Manner of articulation Place of articulation			Occlusive				Constrictive			Occlusive-constrictive (affricates)
			noise plosive		sonorant		noise fricative		sonorant
			voiceless	voiced	nasal	lateral	voiceless	voiced	aproxi-mant	voiceless	voiced
Bilabial			p	b	m				w
Labiodental							f	v
Forelingual	Apical	Interdental					θ	ð
		Alveo- lar	t	d	n	l	s	z
		Palato-alvealar					ʃ	ʒ		ʧ	ʤ
		Cacuminal							r
Mediolingual palatal									j
Backlingual velar			k	g	ŋ
Pharyngeal							h

5 According to the force of articulation, English consonants are classified as

• Lenis

• Fогtis

In the articulation of English voiced consonants the muscular tension is weak - lenis articulation. In the articulation of English voiceless consonants the muscular tension is strong - fortis articulation.

6 According to the position of the soft palate, English consonants are

subdivided into

• Oral

• Nasal

In this description of the sounds of the English language we have considered the articulatory characteristics of the sounds, pronounced in isolation. But in connected speech isolated sounds are rather unusual. Sounds are grouped together to form larger units and in the process of grouping they influence one another (the stages of their articulation merge and interpenetrate), and their articulatory features are modified in various ways. Nevertheless, those characteristics of a sound, which are significant for differentiating meaningful units, are preserved in all positions and combinations.

Unit 4 English sounds. Practice section