Question

What is a consonant sound?

• A. A sound produced without airflow obstruction
• B. A sound produced with some degree of airflow obstruction
• C. A sound produced only with the lips
• D. A sound produced in the nasal cavity

Answer 1

Answer:

B. A sound produced with some degree of airflow obstruction

Understanding Consonant Sounds in Phonetics

• A consonant sound is fundamentally characterized by a partial or complete obstruction of the airflow from the lungs through the vocal tract during its production.
• This obstruction is created by the articulators (e.g., lips, tongue, teeth, hard palate, soft palate) coming together or narrowing the vocal passage.
• In contrast to vowels, which are produced with a relatively open and unrestricted vocal tract, consonants involve significant impedance to the airflow.

Classification of Consonants

• Consonants are systematically classified based on three primary phonetic criteria, which are crucial for analysis and competitive exams:
1. Place of Articulation: This refers to the specific point in the vocal tract where the airflow obstruction occurs.
   
   • Bilabial: Both lips come together (e.g., /p/ as in 'pat', /b/ as in 'bat', /m/ as in 'mat').
   • Labiodental: The lower lip makes contact with the upper teeth (e.g., /f/ as in 'fan', /v/ as in 'van').
   • Dental: The tongue tip or blade touches the back of the upper front teeth (e.g., /θ/ as in 'thin', /ð/ as in 'this').
   • Alveolar: The tongue tip or blade touches the alveolar ridge (the ridge behind the upper front teeth) (e.g., /t/ as in 'top', /d/ as in 'dog', /s/ as in 'sit', /z/ as in 'zoo', /n/ as in 'nap', /l/ as in 'lap').
   • Palato-alveolar (or Post-alveolar): The tongue blade touches the area just behind the alveolar ridge (e.g., /ʃ/ as in 'ship', /ʒ/ as in 'measure', /tʃ/ as in 'church', /dʒ/ as in 'judge').
   • Palatal: The front of the tongue approaches or touches the hard palate (e.g., /j/ as in 'yes').
   • Velar: The back of the tongue touches or approaches the soft palate (velum) (e.g., /k/ as in 'cat', /g/ as in 'go', /ŋ/ as in 'sing').
   • Glottal: The obstruction occurs at the glottis (the space between the vocal folds) (e.g., /h/ as in 'hat', /ʔ/ the glottal stop, as in 'uh-oh').
2. Manner of Articulation: This describes how the airflow is obstructed or released.
   
   • Plosive (or Stop): Complete closure of the vocal tract, followed by a sudden release of air (e.g., /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/).
   • Fricative: Air is forced through a narrow channel, creating audible friction or turbulence (e.g., /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/).
   • Affricate: Begins with a complete closure (like a plosive) and is then slowly released, allowing for friction (like a fricative) (e.g., /tʃ/, /dʒ/).
   • Nasal: Complete closure in the oral cavity, but the velum is lowered, allowing air to escape through the nasal cavity (e.g., /m/, /n/, /ŋ/).
   • Lateral Approximant: The tongue blocks the center of the vocal tract, but air flows freely over one or both sides (e.g., /l/).
   • Approximant (or Glide): Articulators come close to each other but do not create significant obstruction or friction; they are vowel-like in quality (e.g., /w/ as in 'wet', /j/ as in 'yes', /r/ as in 'red').
3. Voicing: This indicates whether the vocal cords vibrate during the production of the sound.
   
   • Voiced Consonants: Vocal cords vibrate (e.g., /b/, /d/, /g/, /v/, /z/, /m/, /n/, /l/, /r/, /w/, /j/, /ð/, /ʒ/, /dʒ/).
   • Voiceless Consonants: Vocal cords do not vibrate (e.g., /p/, /t/, /k/, /f/, /s/, /θ/, /ʃ/, /tʃ/, /h/).
• The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) provides a standardized, universal system of symbols to represent all known speech sounds, ensuring precise phonetic transcription of consonant sounds across languages.
• Understanding the articulatory features of consonants is fundamental to the study of Phonetics (the physical properties of speech sounds) and Phonology (the systematic organization of speech sounds in languages).