English

• The production of speech involves 3 processes:

  • Initiation: Setting air in motion through the vocal tract
  • Phonation: The modification of airflow as it passes through the larynx (related to voicing)
  • Articulation: The shaping of airflow to generate particular sound types (related to manner)
• Articulatory phonetics refers to the aspects of phonetics which looks at how the sounds of speech are made with the organs of the vocal tract (Ogden, 2009:173)
• Articulatory phonetics is divided into three areas to describe consonants: voice, place, and manner
• Voice, place, and manner combine together in the production of speech
• Voiced sounds involve vocal fold vibrations when produced
• Examples of voiced sounds in English are /b,d,v,m/
• Voiceless sounds are produced with no vocal fold vibration
• Examples of voiceless sounds in English are /s,t,p,f/
• Active articulator moves towards another articulator in the production of a speech sound
• Active articulator forms a closure of some type in the vocal tract
• Passive articulator remains stationary in the production of a speech sound
• Often, the passive articulator is the destination that the active articulator moves towards
• Bilabial sounds involve upper and lower lips coming into contact
• In English, /p,b,m/ are bilabial sounds
• Labiodental sounds involve lower lip and upper teeth coming into contact
• Labiodental sounds can be endolabial or exolabial
• Examples of labiodental sounds in English are /f,v/
• Dental sounds involve the tongue tip making contact with the upper teeth
• Examples of Dental sounds in English are / θ, ð/
• Alveolar sounds involve the front portion of the tongue making contact with the alveolar ridge
• Examples of alveolar sounds in English are /t,d,n,l,s/
• Postalveolar sounds are made a little further back from the alveolar ridge
• Postalveolar sounds are produced when the blade of the tongue comes into contact with the post-alveolar region of the mouth
• Examples of post-alveolar sounds in English are / ʃ, ʒ /
• Palatal sounds are made with the tongue body raising towards the hard-palate
• An example of a palatal sound in English is /j/
• Velar sounds are made when the back of the tongue raises towards the soft palate
• Examples of velar sounds in English are /k,g ŋ /
• Stop articulations involve a complete closure in the vocal tract
• Stop articulations can be oral (plosives) or nasal (nasals)
• Plosives are sounds made with a complete closure in the oral tract
• Velum is raised during a plosive sound to prevent air from escaping via the nasal cavity
• English plosives are /p,b,t,d,k,g/
• Nasals are sounds made with a complete closure in the oral tract
• Velum is lowered during nasal sounds to allow airflow to escape through the nasal cavity
• Nasal sounds in English are /m,n, ŋ/
• Fricative sounds are produced by narrowing the distance between the active and passive articulators
• This causes turbulent airflow when passing between the two articulators
• English fricatives include sounds like / f,v, θ,ð, s,z, ʃ,ʒ /
• Approximant sounds are created by narrowing the distance between the two articulators