1.3. Consonants ✅

1.3.1. What Is a Consonant?

A consonant is a speech sound that is produced by partially or completely blocking airflow in the vocal tract, such as with the tongue, lips or throat.

Three elements, or more specifically, articulatory features, define a consonant:

1. Place of Articulation

The place of articulation is the location in the vocal tract where a consonant sound is produced. It is determined by the interaction between an active articulator (such as the tongue or lips) and the passive articulator (such as the hard palate or alveolar ridge). As the names suggest, active articulators are the organs capable of voluntary movement, whereas passive articulators are stationary, which means that they do not move during speech production.

2. Manner of Articulation

The manner of articulation is how airflow is restricted or modified as it passes through the vocal tract during the production of a sound.

3. Voicing

Voicing refers to the vibration of the vocal cords during the production of the sound. Consonants can be voiced (with vibration) or voiceless (without vibration).

1.3.2. Consonantal Inventory

General View

CONSONANTS	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar / Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	/m/			/n/		/ɲ/
Occlusive	/p/ /b/		/t/ /d/				/k/ /g/
Affricate				/ʦ/ /ʣ/	/ʧ/ /ʤ/
Fricative		/f/ /v/	/θ/	/s/ /z/	/ʃ/ [ʒ]		[x] [ʁ]	[h]
Approximant	[β]		[ð]			/j/ [ɥ]1	[ɣ] /w/2
Simple rhotic				/ɾ/
Multiple rhotic				/r/			[R]
Lateral				/l/		/ʎ/

Allophones Only

The table below shows phonemes with associated allophones (regional variants and assimilations).

CONSONANTS	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Velar / Uvular	Glottal
Nasal	/m/	/ɱ/	/n̪/	/n/	/n̠/	/ɲ/	/ŋ/
Occlusive	/b/		/d/				/g/
Affricate
Fricative				/s/ /z/
Approximant	[β]		[ð]				[ɣ]
Simple rhotic				/ɾ/
Multiple rhotic				/r/
Lateral			/l̪/	/l/	/l̠ʲ/	/ʎ/

1.3.3. Places of Articulation

Place of Articulation	Active Articulator	Passive Articulator
Bilabial	Lower lip	Upper lip (usually moves also)
Labiodental	Lower lip	Upper teeth
Dental	Tongue blade or tongue tip	Upper teeth
Alveolar	Tongue blade or tongue tip	Alveolar ridge
Post-alveolar	Tongue blade or tongue tip	Just behind the alveolar ridge
Palatal	Tongue body	Hard palate
Velar	Tongue body	Soft palate (also known as the “velum”)

1.3.4. Manners of Articulation

Manner of Articulation	Description
Nasal	The oral tract is blocked while the velum is lowered to allow air to escape through the nose.
Occlusive	The active articulator touches the passive articulator, completely blocking airflow in the vocal tract.
Affricate	The oral tract is completely blocked, but the velum is lowered to allow air to escape through the nose.
Fricative	The active articulator gets close enough to the passive articulator while not completely touching. The airstream is obstructed to some degree and friction remains audible (turbulent airflow). The air is forced through a narrow constriction in the vocal tract.
Approximant	The active articulator approaches the passive articulator, but not close enough to produce turbulent airflow (audible friction). They are intermediate sounds between vowels and obstruent consonants (occlusives, fricatives and affricates). This manner of articulation includes semi-consonants, but not exclusively.
Vibrant (Tap and trill)	The airstream meets with the rapid movement of the tongue. For taps, the tongue tip gives a single light tap to the roof of the mouth. For trills, the tongue tip vibrates against the roof of the mouth in a current of air.
Lateral	The center of the tongue blocks airflow such that air must flow along the sides of the tongue.

Footnotes

1. Labiopalatal ↩

2. Labiovelar ↩