Places and Manner of Articulation in English

| PLACES OF ARTICULATION The active articulator usually moves in order to make the constriction. The passive articulator usually just sits there and gets approached. A sound’s place of articulation is usually named by using the Latin adjective for the active articulator (ending with an “o”) followed by the Latin adjective for the passive articulator. For example, a sound where the tongue tip (the “apex”) approaches or touches the upper teeth is called an “apico-dental”. Most of the common combinations of active and passive articulator have abbreviated names (usually leaving out the active half).
These are the abbreviated names for the places of articulation used in English: Bilabial The articulators are the two lips. (We could say that the lower lip is the active articulator and the upper lip the passive articulator, though the upper lip usually moves too, at least a little. ) English bilabial sounds include [p], [b], and [m]. [pic] Labio-dental The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper teeth are the passive articulator. English labio-dental sounds include [f] and [v]. [pic] Dental Dental sounds involve the upper teeth as the passive articulator.
The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade. Dentals are the initial sounds of words ‘thin’ and ‘that’. [pic] Alveolar Alveolar sounds involve the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue blade or (usually) the tongue tip. English alveolar sounds include [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l]. [pic] Post alveolar Post alveolar sounds involve the area just behind the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade. English postalveolars include [[pic]r ]. pic] Linguists have traditionally used very inconsistent terminology in referring to the post alveolar POA. Some of the terms you may encounter for it include: palato-alveolar, alveo-palatal, alveolo-palatal, and even (especially among English-speakers) palatal. Many insist that palato-alveolar and alveo (lo)-palatal are two different things — though they don’t agree which is which. “Post alveolar”, the official term used by the International Phonetic Association, is unambiguous, not to mention easier to spell. Palato-alveolar These are produced by two simultaneous articulations: ) the blade of tongue articulates against the teeth ridge. b) The front of tongue is raised towards the hard palate. e. g. initial sounds in words ‘ shampoo’, ‘jug’, ‘cheese’ are palato-alveolar sounds. Palatal The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the hard palate. The English glide [j] is a palatal. Velar[pic] The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the soft palate. English velars include [k], [g] and also ‘ing’ sound in word ‘knowing’. [pic] Glottal This isn’t strictly a place of articulation, but they had to put it in the chart somewhere.

Glottal sounds are made in the larynx. For the glottal stop, the vocal cords close momentarily and cut off all airflow through the vocal tract. In [h], the vocal cords are open, but close enough together that air passing between them creates friction noise. [pic] MANNER OF ARTICULATION • Stop, an oral occlusive, where there is occlusion (blocking) of the oral vocal tract, and no nasal air flow, so the air flow stops completely. Examples include English /p t k/ (voiceless) and /b d ? / (voiced). If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a stop is completely silent.
What we hear as a /p/ or /k/ is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, as well as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of the tongue (the place of articulation) determine the resonant cavity that gives different stops their characteristic sounds. All languages have stops. • Nasal, a nasal occlusive, where there is occlusion of the oral tract, but air passes through the nose. The shape and position of the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasals their characteristic sounds. Examples include English /m, n/.
Nearly all languages have nasals, the only exceptions being in the area of Puget Sound and a single language on Bougainville Island. • Fricative, sometimes called spirant, where there is continuous frication (turbulent and noisy airflow) at the place of articulation. Examples include English /f, s/ (voiceless), /v, z/ (voiced), etc. Most languages have fricatives, though many have only an /s/. However, the Indigenous Australian languages are almost completely devoid of fricatives of any kind. • Affricate, which begins like a stop, but this releases into a fricative rather than having a separate release of its own.
The English letters “ch” and “j” represent affricates. Affricates are quite common around the world, though less common than fricatives. • Flap, often called a tap, is a momentary closure of the oral cavity. The “tt” of “utter” and the “dd” of “udder” are pronounced as a flap in North American and Australian English. Many linguists distinguish taps from flaps, but there is no consensus on what the difference might be. No language relies on such a difference. There are also lateral flaps. • Trill, in which the articulator (usually the tip of the tongue) is held in place, and the airstream causes it to vibrate.
The double “r” of Spanish “perro” is a trill. Trills and flaps, where there are one or more brief occlusions, constitute a class of consonant called rhotics. • Approximant, where there is very little obstruction. Examples include English /w/ and /r/. In some languages, such as Spanish, there are sounds that seem to fall between fricative and approximant. • One use of the word semivowel, sometimes called a glide, is a type of approximant, pronounced like a vowel but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, so that there is slight turbulence.
In English, /w/ is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /u/, and /j/ (spelled “y”) is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel /i/ in this usage. Other descriptions use semivowel for vowel-like sounds that are not syllabic, but do not have the increased stricture of approximants. These are found as elements in diphthongs. The word may also be used to cover both concepts. • Lateral approximants, usually shortened to lateral, are a type of approximant pronounced with the side of the tongue. English /l/ is a lateral. Together with the rhotics, which have similar behavior in many languages, these form a class of consonant called liquids. [pic]