Let's talk about the manner of articulation which is the way we make sounds with our speech organs. It's like playing an instrument, but instead of strings or keys, we use our lips, tongue, teeth, and vocal cords to produce different sounds. Each sound we make has its own unique manner of articulation, like plucking, blowing, or tapping.
Manner of articulation definition
In phonetics, manner of articulation is about how sounds are produced by the 'articulators'. Articulators are the organs in the vocal tract which enable human beings to make sounds. They include the palate, tongue, lips, teeth etc. and are shown in the image below. When we speak, we use these articulators to do so. There are two basic types of speech sound:
Consonants: Speech sounds created by a partial or total closure of the vocal tract.
Vowels: Speech sounds produced without stricture in the vocal tract.
Manner of articulation diagram
Here's a handy diagram to show us the vocal tract, including all of the articulators used when creating consonant sounds.
Fig. 1 - The human vocal tract contains all of the articulators which are used when creating consonant sounds.
Manner of articulation of consonants
We can categorize manner of articulation into two groups: obstruents and sonorants.
Obstruents are speech sounds created by obstructing the airflow in the vocal tract. All consonants are obstructed sounds in some way. They include stops or plosives, fricatives, and affricates.
Sonorants, or resonants, are speech sounds created by continuous and unobstructed airflow through the vocal tract. Sonorants can include vowels as well as consonants. In this group, we also find nasal liquids and approximants. We categorize manner of articulation into two further categories: voiced and voiceless.
If there is no vibration in the vocal cords during sound production, the sound is voiceless (like the sound you make when you whisper).
When making the sounds / f / and / s /, you can feel that there is no vibration in your Adam's apple.
If there is a vibration in the vocal cords during sound production, the sound is voiced .
While making the sounds / b / and / d /, you can feel the vibration on your Adam's apple.
When we're talking about consonants and manner of articulation, we also need to look at the place of articulation (where sounds are produced in the vocal tract).
Manner of articulation and place of articulation
There are certain differences between manner of articulation and place of articulation.
Places of Articulation
Before we jump into the analysis, here are the various 'places of articulation':
Place of articulation | How it is created |
Bilabial | Contact between the lips. |
Labio-dental | Contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth. |
Dental | Contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth. |
Alveolar | Contact between the tongue and the alveolar ridge (this is the ridged area between the upper teeth and the hard palate). |
Palatal | Contact between the tongue and the hard palate or alveolar ridge. |
Post-alveolar | The tongue makes contact with the back of the alveolar ridge. |
Velar | The back of the tongue makes contact with the soft palate (velum). |
Glottal | A restriction of the airflow at the glottis. |
Now, let's look more at the specific types of manners of articulation.
Types of Manner of Articulation
Manner of articulation | How it is created |
Plosive | A short, quick release of air after closed stricture. |
Fricative | Close stricture that creates friction when air is released. |
Affricate | Start with producing a plosive and blending immediately into a fricative. |
Nasal | Air is released through the nasal passages. |
Approximant | Close proximity of the articulators without causing any closure or friction. |
Let's have a look in more detail:
Examples of manners of articulation
Here are some examples of the types of manners of articulation.
1. Plosives or stops
In phonetics, a plosive consonant, also known as a stop, is made when the vocal tract is closed and the airflow is blocked as it leaves the body. The blockage can be made with the tongue, lips, teeth or glottis.
When analysing a plosive, we consider the way the articulators are used (lips, tongue, palate); we check the closure of the airstream and the release of the airstream when the vocal organs separate.
Manner of articulation: plosives examples:
In English, there are six plosives:
| BILABIAL | p, b |
| ALVEOLAR | t, d |
| POST ALVEOLAR | t, d |
| VELAR | g, k |
| DENTAL | t, d |
Thanks to the different ways in which speakers of English pronounce sounds, the sounds /t/ and /d/ can be alveolar, post-alveolar or dental. This is because phonemes are merely ideal representations of real-world speech sounds, which can differ slightly from person to person.
2. Fricatives
Like plosives, fricatives are restricted as they leave the body. We can use teeth, lips, or tongue to limit the flow of air. Unlike plosives, fricatives are longer sounds (you can sustain a fricative, like the phoneme / f /, but you can't sustain a plosive, like the phoneme / p /). Some fricatives have a hiss-like quality. These are called sibilants. In the English language, there are two sibilants: / s / and / z /. For example, sick, zip and sun.
In English, there are nine fricatives:
| DENTAL | ð, θ |
| LABIODENTAL | f, v |
| ALVEOLAR | s, z |
| POSTALVEOLAR | ʃ, ʒ |
| glottal | H |
The fricative sounds / z, ð, v, ʒ / are voiced, and the sounds / h, s, θ, f, ʃ / are voiceless.
Manner of articulation: fricatives examples:
Voiced fricatives:
/ v /: vat, van
/ ð /: then, them
/ z /: zip, zoom
/ ʒ /: casual, treasure
Voiceless fricatives:
/ f /: fat, far
/ s /: site, cycle
/ h /: help, high
/ ʃ /: ship, she
/ θ /: think, north
3. Affricates
Affricates are also known as semi-plosives and are created by combining a plosive and a fricative consonant. There are two affricatives: / t ʃ / and / dʒ /.
Both sounds are post-alveolar, which means we create them with the tongue behind the alveolar ridge (part of the palate just behind your upper teeth, before the hard palate). The sound / tʃ / is a voiceless affricate, while the sound / dʒ / is a voiced affricate.
/ tʃ /: chair, choose
/ dʒ /: jump, jet
4. Nasals
Nasal consonants, also known nasal stops, are made by blocking the airflow from the mouth, so it comes out of the nose instead. In nasal vowels, by contrast, the sound is generated by lowering the soft palate to allow the airflow out of both mouth and nose.
The consonants / m, n, ŋ / are not caused by the nose, but by the tongue or lips that prevent the airflow. Because of the vibration of the vocal cords, we consider nasal consonants voiced.
There are three nasal consonants: / m, n, ŋ /.
/ m /: mirror, melody
/ n /: name, nose
/ ŋ /: working, long
5. Approximants
Without any contact, approximants are also known as frictionless continuants, created by air moving between the vocal organs. Approximants, also known as lateral sounds, are created by allowing the airflow to leave by the sides of the mouth.
There are four approximant groups, as follows:
Bilabial approximant: the sound is made by the lips almost closing but without any contact.
With / w / in words like where wind and we.
Palatal approximant: the sound is made by the middle of the tongue almost touching the palate.
With / j / in words like yell, yes and you.
Bilabial and palatal approximants are semi-vowels, as the sound /w/ is similar to /u/ and /j/ is similar to /i/. Semi-vowels have a similar sound to vowels, but they are not vowels because they are non-syllabic. Non-syllabic means they have no nucleus for a syllable.
Alveolar approximants
Alveolar lateral approximant: the sound is created by the tip tongue forming a closure with the alveolar ridge allowing the airflow to leave by the sides.
With / l / in words like mall, hall and like.
Alveolar frictionless approximant: the sound is created by the tongue tip almost making contact with the alveolar ridge.
With / r / in words like rose, run and red.
Manner of Articulation - Key Takeaways
- Manner of articulation is about how the 'articulators produce sounds.
- There are two main sound groups: consonants and vowels.
- There are two other important categories: obstructions and sonorants - the first are produced by obstructing the airflow, the second without obstruction.
- There are five types of consonants: plosives or stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals and approximants.
- Approximants are vowel-like.
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