Phonetics Features of consonants

CONSONANTS

 From the phonetic point of view, consonants are easy to describe in terms of articulation as we can feel the contacts and movements involved in their production. Consonants are produced by interfering in some way with a body of moving air, i.e. by narrowing or closing the oral cavity.

Phonetics Features of consonants

In order to describe consonantas we must provide answer to the following questions:

  1. Do the vocal folds vibrate or not? ( It is the consonant voice or voiceless)
  2. Is it produce with great breath force and muscular energy?( It is forty) Or is it produced with a small degree of breath force and muscular energy? ( It is lenis)
  3. Is the soft palate/ velum raised or is it lowered? Is the consonant oral or nasal?
  4. At what point(s)and between what organs does the closure or narrowing- stricture take place?What is its point/place of articulation? ( It is the consonant bilabial, bilabial-velar, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, palato-alveolar, velar, glottal)
  5. What is the manner of articulation?
 It is produce by a stricture of Complete Oral Closure(plosives, nasals, affricates)                                                                               
 It is produced by a stricte of Close Approximation(fricatives)                                                     It is produced by a stricte of Partial Oral Closure(lateral)
 It is produced by a narrowing which is not quite sufficient to cause friction(approximants)                                                                       
  • AFFRICATES

                                                                  /ʧ//ʤ/

/ʧ/ is a voiceless, fortis, oral, palato-alveolar,affricate
/ʤ/ is a voiced, lenis, oral, palato-alveolar,affricate.

They are oral: the velum is raised and the nasal resonator is shut off.
They are palato- alveolar: the tip and blade of the tongue articulate with the alveolar ridge, accompanied by a raising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate.


  •  FRICATIVES

Fricatives are the most numerous phonemes in English: (9)
                           /f,v ,∫ ,Ʒ ,s, z ,θ ,ð ,h/
/f / voiceless fortis labio-dental fricative
/v/ voiced lenis labio-dental fricative
/θ/ voiceless fortis dental fricative
/ð/voiced lenis dental fricative
/s/ voiceless fortis alveolar fricative
/z/ voiced lenis alveolar fricative
/∫ /voiceless fortis palato-alveolar fricative
/Ʒ/voiced lenis palato-alveolar fricative
/h/ voiceless glottal fricative

/f,v/ are labio dental: The lower lip and upper teeth approximate to produce these sounds.

 /θ,ð/ are dental: the tip of the tongue approximates the upper teeth.

/s, z/ are alveolar: the tip and blade of the tongue articulate with the alveolar ridge

/,Ʒ / palato- alveolar: the tip and blade of the tongue articulate with the alveolar ridge, accompanied by a raising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate.

/h/ glottal: the vocal folds form the stricture, they approximate to such an extent that friction is
produced, and there is no vibration. (It is a narrow glottis).



  • LATERAL

/l/
A lateral consonant is one in which the passage of air through the mouth does not go in the usual way along the centre or the tongue; instead there is complete closure between the centreof the tongue and the part of the roof of the mouth where contact is to be made the alveola ridge. Because of this complete closure along the centre, the only way for the air to escape is along the sides of the tongue.

/l/ voiced,(oral), alveolar, lateral

/l/ is alveolar: the tip and blade of the tongue articulate with the alveolar ridge


  • PLOSIVES

/p, b, t, d, k, g/


They are produced by a stricture of complete oral closure. They are oral: the velum is raised and the nasal resonator is shut off. They are produced in three stages.

1.Closing stage, during which the articulating organs move together to form the obstruction. 
2.Hold or compression stage, during which lung action compresses the air behind the closure. This stage may or may not be accompanied by voice. 
3.Release stage, during which the organs forming the obstruction part rapidly allowing the compressed air to escape abruptly with explosion, hence plosive.

/p/ voicelees fortis oral bilabial plosive
/t/ voicelees fortis oral alveolar plosive
/k/ voicelees fortis oral velar plosive
/b/voiced lenis oral bilabial plosive 
/d/ voiced lenis oral alveolar plosive 
/g/ voiced lenis oral velar plosive

  • NASAL

/m, n, ɳ/
The three English nasal consonant phonemes correspond to the three oral plosive areas of articulation: bilabial /m/- /p,b/; alveolar /n/- /t,d/; velar /ɳ/- /k,g/.

/m/ voiced lenis nasal bilabial 
/n/ voiced lenis nasal alveolar
/ɳ/ voiced lenis nasal velar

/m/ is bilabial: the lips form a closure as for /p,b/; the soft palate is lowered, adding the resonance of the nasal cavity to that of the pharynx and the mouth chamber closed by the lips. 

/n/ is alveolar: the tongue forms a closure with the alveolar ridge as for /t,d/; the soft palate is lowered and adds the resonance of the nasal caity to that of the pharynx and of that part of the mouth chamber behind the alveolar closure.

/ɳ/ is velar: a closure is formed in the mouth between the back of the tongue and the velum as for /k,g/ the soft palate is lowered adding the resonance of the nasal cavity to that of the pharynx and that small part of the mouth chamber behind the velar closure.

  • APPROXIMANTS

/r, w, j/


Approximants are vowel- like, produced by a stricture of open approximation but they function phonologically as consonants as they appear at the edges of syllables. They are marginal elements of the syllable. (They are also referred to as semi vowels, semiconsonants and frictionless continuants)

/j/ voiced palatal approximant
It is produced by raising the front part of the tongue towards the hard palate.

/w/ voiced bilabial-velar approximant 
It is produced by raising the back part of the tongue towards the soft palate/velum while rounding the lips.

/r/ voiced post-alveolar approximant
It is produced by holding the tip of the tongue in a position near to the rear/back part of the alveolar ridge.The tip of the tongue may be slightly curled back.

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Iris Pandolfo
Contenido visto en clase con la profesora Veronica Segura

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