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UNIT 6
CONSONANTS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION
1. WHAT IS A CONSONANT?

A consonant is a speech sound where the air stream from the lungs is either completely
blocked (STOP), partially blocked (LATERAL), or where the opening is so narrow the air
escapes with audible friction (FRICATIVE). With some consonants (NASAL) the air stream is
blocked in the mouth but allowed to escape through the nose.
With the other group of speech sounds, the VOWELS, the air from the lungs is not blocked.
Consonants are classed as VOICED if they are produced with vibration of the vocal cords
and VOICELESS if they are produced without vibration.
II. CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS: Consonants are classified according to these four
standards:
1. Places of articulation: There are many parts of the mouth and throat (the oral cavity) that are
used in the production of speech sounds. According to places of articulation, consonants of
English may be classified as follows:
1.1. Bi-labial: 2 lips are pressed together. Ex: /b/, /p/, /m/, /w/
1.2. Labio-dental: The upper teeth and the lower lip come close together. Ex: /f, /v/
1.3. Dental or interdental: The tip of the tongue is between the upper and lower teeth.
Ex: /θ/, /ð/
1.4. Alveolar: The tip of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge. Ex: /t/, /d/, /1/, /n/, /s/, Izl
1.5. Alveolar - palatal: The front of the tongue touches the part between the alveolar ridge
and the hard palate.
Ex: /r/, /ʃ/, / ʒ /, /tʃ/, /dʒ /

1.6. Velar: The back of the tongue touches the soft palate or velum. Ex: /ŋ/, /k, /g/
1.7. Palatal: The front of the tongue touches the hard palate. Ex: /j/
1.8. Glottal: The sound is produced with a friction noise in the glottis between the vocal
cords. The glottis opens wide and the sound is voiceless.
Ex: /h/
2. Manner of articulation: The way in which a speech sound is produced by the organs of
speech. There are different ways of producing a speech sound. According to manner of
articulation, consonants in English are classified as follows:
2.1. Plosive stop: The air is stopped, and then released with an explosivesound.
Ex: /b/, /p/, /d/, /t/, /g/, /k/
2.2. Fricative: The air is constricted, causing friction when passing through the organs
of speech.
Ex: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /h/, / θ /, / ð /, / ʃ /, / ʒ /
2.3.Affricate: It is the combination of the plosive and fric stream is stopped, and then
released slowly with friction.
Ex: / tʃ/, dʒ/
 2.4. Nasal: The air passes through the nose when the uvula is lowered.
Ex: /m/, /n/, / ŋ/
2.5. Lateral: a speech sound (consonant) which is produced by partially
blocking the air stream from the lungs, usually by the tongue, but letting escape at one
or both sides of the tongue. Ex /l/
2.6. Gliding or semi-vowel consonants or approximants. There is a
gliding from one to another with little or no obstruction of the air stream. The tip of the
tongue approaches the alveolar ridge. Ex. w/, /r/, /j/
3. Voicing: There is presence or absence of the vibration of the vocal cords
Voiced; Speech sounds which are produced with the vocal cords vibrating are called
“voiced. Such vibration can be felt by touching the neck in the region of the larynx. E.g.: the
/d/in /den/ den is a voiced STOP.
Voiceless: Speech sounds which are produced without vibration of the vocal cords are
called “ voiceless”. E.g.: the /t/ in /tin/ tin is a voiceless STOP.
When a speech sound which is normally voiced is pronounced without vibration or only
slight vibration, this is called devoicing. Devoicing of voiced consonants often occurs in
English when they are at the end of a word, e.g. lid is pronounced /lid/ where the mark under
the /d/ means devoicing.
SUMMARY
VOICELESS p t k f s θ ʃ tʃ h
VOICED b d g v z ð ʒ dʒ l m n ŋ r w j

1/ The most important sounds are the ones that can change the meaning of words.
2/ Correct use of strong and weak forms helps to get the speech rhythm right.
3/ Contractions (eg: don’t, it’s, we’ll) improve the fluency
4/ To make your pronunciation more authentic, it’s important to have knowledge of
assimilation and elision.
5/ Sound that can distinguish meaning are called phonemes
6/ A word like apple /ˈæpl̩ / consists of two syllables, but only the first contains a vowel; the
second contains a syllabic consonant
7/ Primary stress is indicated with the usual stress mark and secondary stress with the same
symbol at a lower level, e.g., /ˌæləˈbæmə/, /ɪmˌpɑsəˈbɪlət̬ i/
8/ wait/weight, know/no, sea/see, cite/sight/site are the examples of homophones
9/ Each phoneme is composed of a number of such different variants called allophones
10/ Stressed syllables are pronounced with greater energy and e ffort than unstressed syllables,
which results in greater prominence

BI DENTA AL ALVEO VE PALAT

lABIO- GLOTTAL
LABIA L VEOLA - LA AL
L DENTAL R PALATAL R

PLOSI
VE p t k
STOP b d g
 FRICA f θ s ʃ h
TIVE V ð z ʒ

AFFRI
CATE tʃ
d3

NASAL in n ŋ
LATERA
L 1
GLIDIN
G w r j