The english consonant system

Consonant // is the sounds made by a closure or narrowing in the vocal tract as a result of which the airflow is either completely or incompletely blocked (for example, in the production of plosives /, , , , , / which form a complete stoppage of the air-stream, or in the pronunciation of fricatives /, , , , , , , , /, in the production of which the air passes through a passage formed between the main speech organs without blocking it).

The English consonant system consists of 24 consonant phonemes which can be classified as follows:

1) According to the active organ or place of obstruction the English consonants are classified into:

a) labial made either with one (labiodental /, /) or both lips (bilabial /, , , /);

b) forelingual:

- interdental /, / produced with the tongue tip between the teeth;

- alveolar /t, d, s, z, n, l/ made with the tongue tip or blade at the alveolar ridge;

- post-alveolar //;

- palato-alveolar /, , , /;

c) medio-lingual: palatal //;

d) backlingual: velar /, / made with the back of the tongue and the soft palate;

e) pharyngeal: glottal //.

2) According to the manner of noise production, the English consonants are classed as:

a) occlusives /, /, in the production of which the vocal tract is completely closed;

b) constrictives, classified into:

- noise consonants, or fricatives /, , , , , , , , /, produced when the air passage is narrowed to such an extent that the air being forced through it produces the noise of friction; the narrower the passage, the more fricative noise is produced;

-sonorants /, , , /;

c) occlusive-constrictives, or affricates /, /, in the production of which the air-pressure behind a complete closure in the vocal tract is gradually released; the initial release produces a plosive, but the separation which follows is sufficiently slow to produce audible friction, and there is thus a fricative element in the sound.

3) According to the work of the vocal cords, i.e. the mode of vibration of the vocal cords, the English consonants are classified into: voiced, voiceless. According to the force of articulation consonants are divided into relatively strong, or fortis, and relatively weak, or lenis.

For voiced consonants, which are less strongly articulated than voiceless ones, the term lenis consonants is used, meaning weakly articulated sounds. The following English consonants are voiced and lenis: /, , , , , , , , , , /.

English voiceless consonants are fortis as they are pronounced with a relatively strong degree of muscular effort and breath force. The following English consonants are termed as voiceless and fortis: /,  , , , , , /.

4) According to the position of the soft palate the English consonants are classed as:

a) oral, or the non-nasalized consonants. In English all consonants except /, , / are called oral;

b) nasal consonants /, , / which are characterized by the complete stoppage of the oral cavity with the air escaping through the nasal cavity.

5) According to the prevalence of noise over the musical tone the English consonants are classified into:

a) noise consonants, or fricatives. In the pronunciation of fricatives /, , , , , , , , / the closure is so restricted that audible friction is produced, but there is no total closure of the air-stream.

b) sonorants: nasal /, , /, medial /, , /, lateral //. In the production of the lateral sonorant // (both in its “clear” and “dark” allophones) the tongue is pressed against the alveolar ridge or the teeth, and the sides of the tongue are lowered. The air escapes at the sides of the mouth. In the production of medial sonorants the air passes without audible friction over the central part of the tongue, the sides of the tongue being raised. Nasal sonorants /, , / are characterized by the complete stoppage in the oral cavity; the air escapes through the nasal cavity.

The sonorants /, , / are very often termed as semi-consonants, or semi-vowels, or approximants since they are vowel-like in character, i.e. they lack the friction or obstruction in their production.