The english nasal consonants

There are three phonemes in English which are represented by nasal consonants /m, n, /. In all nasal consonants the soft palate is lowered and at the same time the mouth passage is blocked at some point, so that all the air is pushed out of the nose.

The consonant /m/ is defined as an occlusive, nasal, bilabial sonorant. It is articulated with the lips slightly pressed together, forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through the mouth cavity. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes out through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate so that voice is produced. When a vowel follows, the position of the tongue during the production of /m/ approximates to the position required for that vowel. The position of the speech organs for this sound is shown in Figure.

Fig. Tongue position of the English /m/

The /n/ may be defined as an occlusive, nasal, forelingual, apical alveolar sonorant. It is articulated with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge (apical articulation), forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through the mouth cavity. The soft palate is lowered. The air passes out through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate so that voice is produced. The position of the speech organs for this sound is shown in Figure.

Fig. Tongue position of the English /n/

Neither /m/, nor /n/ will cause much difficulty to most Ukrainian learners. In many languages /n/ is made with the tongue-tip on the teeth themselves rather than on the alveolar ridge, and this should be avoided if possible, but the use of the dental /n/ in English is hardly noticeable.

The english fricative consonants

/, /

The consonants /s/, /z/ are articulated with the tip and blade of the tongue held close to the alveolar ridge, the front of the tongue being at the same time somewhat raised in the direction of the hard palate. There is a very considerable narrowing at this point, not near the teeth and not near the hard palate. The teeth are very close together. The sides of the blade of the tongue are raised, forming a short and narrow channel. Thus a round narrowing is formed through which the air passes with friction. The soft palate is raised so that all the breath is forced to go through the mouth.

In the production of /s/ the vocal cords are kept apart and do not vibrate, whereas in the articulation of /z/ they are drawn near together and vibrate. The position of the speech organs for these sounds is shown in Figures.

Fig. Tongue position of the English /s/

Fig. Tongue position of the English /z/

Thus, the consonants /s/, /z/ may be defined as constrictive, noise, fricative, forelingual, apical alveolar consonants pronounced with a round narrowing. The consonant /s/ is voiceless fortis, the consonant /z/ is voiced lenis.

Typical mistakes. Ukrainian learners sometimes replace the English apico-alveolar consonants /s/, /z/ by the Ukrainian dorsal /С/, /З/. To overcome this difficulty it is recommended to practise pronouncing /s/, /z/ in words where the sounds /s/, /z/ occur (a) between two alveolar consonants, (b) after an alveolar consonant, (c) before an alveolar consonant. In all these positions care should be taken not to lower the tongue tip while pronouncing /s/, /z/.

/,  /

The consonants //, // are articulated with the tip of the tongue slightly projected out between the upper and lower teeth (in a mirror you will be able to see the tip). In the production of these sounds the soft palate is raised so that all the breath is forced to go through the mouth. The tip of the tongue is placed against the edge of the upper teeth to form a flat narrowing where the friction is made, the main part of the tongue being fairly flat. The air is blown through this position so that some friction occurs. The noise made by the friction for // and // is not very great, much less than for /s/ and /z/. For // the friction is voiceless, whereas for // there is some vocal cord vibration. The lip position will depend upon the adjacent vowel, e.g. being spread for thief, health, these, etc., and somewhat rounded for thought, truth, soothe, etc. Thus, the consonants //, // may be defined as constrictive, noise, fricative, forelingual apical interdental. The consonant // is voiceless fortis, the consonant // is voiced lenis.

The position of the speech organs for these sounds is shown in Figures.

Fig. Tongue position of the English //

Fig. Tongue position of the English //

Typical mistakes. Many Ukrainian learners replace //, // by /s/, /z/ or /f/, /v/. To correct this mistake they may learn to acquire //, // by starting with an exaggerated form of it, placing the tip of the tongue so that it projects out between the upper and lower teeth. When the tongue is in this position they must blow so that a stream of air passes out between the tongue-tip and the edge of the upper teeth. The lower lip must be kept out of the way when practising this exercise. It should be observed that in making //, // the teeth are separated more widely than in the articulation of /s/, /z/.

Note! The consonants //, // are particularly difficult for Ukrainian learners when they occur near the sounds /s/, /z/. Students are recommended to practise carefully such phrases as this is the thing; the sixth street, the eighth zone, is thin, who’s that, etc.

/, /

The sounds //, // are articulated with the tip and blade of the tongue and the front of the tongue simultaneously raised. The space between the blade of the tongue and the back of the alveolar ridge is narrow, though wider than for /s/, /z/. the air passes through the narrowing with friction. The front of the tongue is higher than for /s/ and /z/. The soft palate is raised so that all the breath is forced to go through the mouth. The teeth are close or fairly close together. The lips are slightly rounded and protruded. In pronouncing // the vocal cords are kept apart and do not vibrate, whereas in the production of // they are drawn near together and vibrate.

Thus, the consonants //, // may be defined as constrictive, noise, fricative, palato-alveolar pronounced with a flat narrowing. The consonant // is voiceless fortis, the consonants // is voiced lenis. The position of the speech organs for these sounds is shown in Figures.

Fig. Tongue position of the English //

Fig. Tongue position of the English //

Typical mistakes. In pronouncing the English //, // Ukrainian learners are apt to replace them by the Ukrainian consonants /Ш/, /Ж/. To prevent this mistake it is recommended to palatalize the Ukrainian consonants /Ш/, /Ж/ deliberately. Care should be taken, however, not to palatalize them too much and not to lengthen them. The English //, // may be acquired by keeping the tongue very loose, and by retracting the tip of the tongue and exaggerating the lip-protrusion.

/h/

The consonant /h/ is articulated with a strong air stream passing though the open glottis. The bulk of the tongue and the lips are held in the position necessary for the production of a following vowel. Thus, /h/ may be defined as a constrictive, noise, fricative, glottal, voiceless consonant pronounced with a flat narrowing. The consonant /h/ can only occur in syllable-initial prevocalic position, e.g.: high, behind. The position of the speech organs for this sound is shown in Figure.

Fig. Tongue position of the English /h/

Typical mistakes. In pronouncing the English glottal fricative consonant /h/ Ukrainian learners are apt to replace it by the Ukrainian back-lingual fricative consonant /X/. To prevent or correct this mistake it is necessary to keep the back part of the tongue away from the soft palate and breathe the air out freely without creating any obstruction in the mouth cavity to the flow of air. The learners should bear in mind that the English consonant /h/ is a pure sound of breath, almost noiseless, which is added to the vowel immediately following. The consonant /h/ always occurs before a vowel and consists of the sound of breath passing between the open vocal cords and out of the mouth which is already prepared for the following vowel, e.g., before /i:/ the mouth is in position for /i:/, before /:/ it is ready for /:/ and so on. Thus, in order to make the sound /h/, the mouth is held ready for the vowel and a short gasp of breath is pushed up by the lungs.

Note! In English there exits also a “voiced h”, which is represented in narrow transcription by the symbol //. It has the mouth position of a vowel but is pronounced with such strong exhaling force that the air produces considerable friction in the glottis causing the vocal cords to vibrate. “Voiced h” occurs in between vowels as in ahead, behind and is sometimes qualified as murmured.

/j/

The consonant // is articulated with the front of the tongue held against the hard palate at approximately the same height as in pronouncing the vowel //. The sides of the tongue are raised, leaving the air-passage open along the median line of the tongue. The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate. The air-passage between the front of the tongue and the hard palate is rather wide and the air flows through it without any audible friction. As a result, in the articulation of /j/ tone prevails over noise. The sound is very short and weak. The tongue immediately glides from the position for /j/ to that of the following vowel. The lips are generally neutral or spread, but may anticipate the lip-rounding of the following vowel in such cases as you, yawn, etc. Thus, /j/ may be defined as a constrictive, medial, mediolingual palatal sonorant. The sonorant /j/ can only occur in syllable-initial prevocalic position, e.g.: your //, beyond //, etc. The position of the speech organs for this sound is shown in Figure.

Fig. Tongue position of the English //

Typical mistakes. Ukrainian learners are apt to replace the English // by the Ukrainian /Й/. In order to prevent or correct this mistake, it is recommended to start pronouncing the sonorant as // and then make a quick glide to the position of the vowel immediately following.

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