CONSONANTS Vowels - a (relatively) unimpeded air stream. Consonants - air stream impeded, constricted, diverted, or obstructed. As before: Vowels are open-ish, consonants are closed- ish. Classification system for vowels: tongue height, advancement, and lip rounding Classification system for consonants: place, manner, and voicing

A. Place (also called place of articulation): Where is the breath stream impeded, constricted, diverted, or obstructed? For example: lips, teeth, alveolar ridge, palate, velum, … B. Manner: How is the breath stream impeded, constricted, diverted, or obstructed? For example: 1. stop or plosive: complete obstruction of air stream  (glottal stop, as in “uh-oh”) 2. fricative: air passed thru a narrow channel, creating turbulence.  (as in “shoe”),  ( as in “theory”) [h],  (as in “Zsa Zsa”),  ( as in “this”). 3. nasal: air stream redirected through the nasal cavity.  (as in “sing”)

Manner categories (continued) 4. affricate: complete obstruction of air stream followed by fricative release. [t ʃ ]  (as in “choke”), [d ʒ ] (as in “joke”) 5. approximants: consonants that are almost like vowels [r] [l] [w] [j]  (as in “yellow”) These are the “open-est” of the closed-ish sounds – breath stream is fairly unimpeded. Speakers treat them like consonants not vowels. a rat or an rat? a lake or an lake ? a walk or an walk? a yak or an yak ? So, these are consonants

Manner categories (continued) Two Types of Approximants Liquids Glides (also called semivowels) [r] [l] [w] [j] There are other manner classes, but the 6 I listed are the ones needed for English.

C. Voicing Are the vocal folds vibrating? Yes No Voiced Unvoiced/Voiceless English has many pairs of consonants that are identical in all other ways except for voicing. Some examples: [b]-[p], [d]-[t], [g]-[k], [z]-[s], [ ʒ ]-[ ʃ ], [v]-[f], [ð]-[θ] These are called voiced-voiceless cognates (minimal pairs).

1. Stops in English (Plosives) Voiced: [b] [d] [g] Unvoiced: [p] [t] [k] [ ʔ ] Notes on Stop Consonants (Plosives) [p] is Voiceless (Voice) Bilabial (Place) Plosive (Manner) ! Can be Aspirated (in initial positions) [p+h]

1. Stops in English (Plosives) Voiced: [b] [d] [g] Unvoiced: [p] [t] [k] [ ʔ ] Notes on Stop Consonants (Plosives) [t] is Voiceless (Voice) [ ʔ ] glottal stop Alveolar (Place) neither voiceless nor voiced Plosive (Manner) substitutes voiceless ones ! Can be Aspirated (in initial positions) [t+h]

1. Stops in English (Plosives) Voiced: [b] [d] [g] Unvoiced: [p] [t] [k] [ ʔ ] Notes on Stop Consonants (Plosives) [b] is Voiced (Voice) Labial (Place) Plosive (Manner) [g] Voiced (Voice) Velar (Place) [d]Voiced (Voice)Plosive (Manner) Alveolar (Place) Plosive (Manner)

Summary of IPA Consonant Symbols (excluding the obvious ones – b,d,g,p,t,k,l,w,r, etc.) [θ]thin  [ð]then  [j]yellow   [ ʃ ] shoe   [ ʒ ] / measure   [ ʔ ]button   [t ʃ ] church   [d ʒ ] judge   [ŋ]singing

Glottal stops often appear as an allophone of /t/: button[  kitten[  cotton    sentence  Try to read the following poem, applying the glottal stop: Betty bought a bit of butter But the bit of butter Betty bought was bitter So Betty bought another bit of butter

d. Aspiration Voiced stops (in English) are never aspirated. Voiceless stops are sometimes aspirated and sometimes not. These voiceless stops will be aspirated: a. Word-initial, regardless of stress: tap, cat, command [t h æp] [k h æt] [k h əmænd] b. Intervocalic (between 2 vowels) but only when preceding a stressed vowel. meticulous, repair, return

These voiceless stops will be unaspirated: a. Following /s/ stop, skate, stick, stare, spike b. Intervocalic, preceding an unstressed vowel napping, camper, sicken, supper, thirsty (Note: Sometimes these are unaspirated, sometimes they are lightly aspirated.)