Sounds in English
Chapter 3: The Sounds of English. Consonants and Vowels. An Articu-latory Classification and Description. Acoustic Correlates 3.1. Consonants and Vowels. Traditional distinctions. Chomsky and Halle’s SPE definition 3.2. Criteria for consonant classification. Vocal cord vibration. Sonority 3.3. Manner of articulation. Plosives. Fricatives. Affricates 3.4. Sonorants. The Approximants: glides and liquids 3.5. Oral and nasal articulation 3.6. Force of articulation 3.7. Place of articulation 3.8. The Description of English consonants A. The Approximants B. The English Stops C. The English Fricatives D. The English Affricates
3.8. The Description of English Consonants
Having examined the main criteria we can use to classify consonants from an articulatory point of view, we can now briefly describe the consonant phonemes of English. A. The Approximants 1. The Glides. There are two sounds in English, [w] and [j], having vowel-like features as far as their articulation is concerned, but which differ from their vowel counterparts [u] and [i] respectively through their distribution, force of articulation and length. When we articulate a glide the articulatory organs start by producing a vowel-like sound, but then they immediately change their position to produce another sound. It is to the gliding that accompanies their articulation that these sounds owe their name. As we have seen earlier, precisely because of their ambiguous nature they are also called semivowels or semiconsonants. Unlike vowels, they cannot occur in syllable-final position, can never precede a consonant and are always followed by a genuine vocalic sound. a. [w] is a labio-velar, rounded sound. At the beginning, its articulation is similar to that of the vowel [u], but then the speech organs shift to a different position to utter a different vocalic sound. The distribution of the sound includes syllable-initial position before almost any English vowel (e.g. win [w4n], weed [wi:d], wet [wet], wag [wæg],
3.8. The Description of English Consonants
Having examined the main criteria we can use to classify consonants from an articulatory point of view, we can now briefly describe the consonant phonemes of English. A. The Approximants 1. The Glides. There are two sounds in English, [w] and [j], having vowel-like features as far as their articulation is concerned, but which differ from their vowel counterparts [u] and [i] respectively through their distribution, force of articulation and length. When we articulate a glide the articulatory organs start by producing a vowel-like sound, but then they immediately change their position to produce another sound. It is to the gliding that accompanies their articulation that these sounds owe their name. As we have seen earlier, precisely because of their ambiguous nature they are also called semivowels or semiconsonants. Unlike vowels, they cannot occur in syllable-final position, can never precede a consonant and are always followed by a genuine vocalic sound. a. [w] is a labio-velar, rounded sound. At the beginning, its articulation is similar to that of the vowel [u], but then the speech organs shift to a different position to utter a different vocalic sound. The distribution of the sound includes syllable-initial position before almost any English vowel (e.g. win [w4n], weed [wi:d], wet [wet], wag [wæg],