What do we mean by place of articulation?

We refer to the place of articulation where the articulators in the vocal tract make contact (or not) to create the sound of the consonant.

How many categories of the place of articulation do we have? What are they?

We have eight categories in the places of articulation: bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, velar, post-alveolar, glottal, and palatal.

What is a bilabial consonant?

A bilabial consonant sound is created by the lips making contact with each other.

What is a glottis consonant?

The glottis consonant is the sound created by the airflow cutting in the vocal cords.

What do we call a velar consonant?

A velar consonant sound is created by the tongue making contact with the soft palate.

Place of Articulation: Definition, Chart & Example

In phonetics and phonology, we refer to the place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing when describing consonant production.

In this article, we'll look at:

The definition of 'place of articulation'
The different places of articulation
A chart of the different places of articulation
Different types of consonants

Voicing refers to if a consonant sound is voiced or voiceless (like whispering).

Manner of articulation refers to the way in which articulators release the airflow to create a consonant sound.

Place of articulation: definition

The place of articulation refers to where the articulators (tongue, teeth, lips or glottis) make contact in the vocal tract to create consonant sounds. Let's look at the process of consonant production to see where the place of articulation fits in.

The process of consonant production is:

Air builds up in the lungs;
Air then moves toward the trachea, larynx and pharynx;
The diaphragm and chest muscles control airflow;
The vocal cords in the larynx, start a vibration cycle which builds up air pressure and generates acoustic waves;
The airflow can go either through the oral cavity or the nasal cavity, depending on the sound.
Finally, the air is modified by the articulators (lips, tongue, teeth and palate).

The gap between the vocal cords is called the glottis and can be either closed (so no air passes through), partially open (making the vocal folds vibrate to make “voiced sounds”) or open (the airflow passes through with no vibration to make “Voiceless sounds”).

Places of articulation

Speech sounds are separated according to their place of articulation and manner of articulation. There are eight places of articulation:

Bilabial: contact between the lips;
Labio-dental: contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth;
Dental: contact between the tip of the tongue and the area just behind 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: contact between the tongue and the back of the Alveolar ridge;
Velar: contact between the tongue and the soft palate;
Glottal: restriction of the airflow at the glottis.

Place of articulation: chart

Take a look at the chart below for the eight different places of articulation.

Place of Articulation, Place of articulation diagram, StudySmarter Fig. 1 - There are eight different places of articulation.

Place of articulation: coronal, dorsal and labial consonants

Let's now look in more detail at how we group these consonants in places of articulation:

1. Coronal

Coronal consonants are speech sounds made with the most flexible part of the mouth: the tongue. Coronal consonants can be bilabial, dental, labiodental, alveolar and post-alveolar.

There are four further sub-categories:

Apical: made by the tip of the tongue;
Laminal: made by the blade of the tongue;
Domed: made when the tongue bends upwards;
Sub-apical: made at the bottom of the tongue.

In English, the coronal consonants are / l, s, z, n, d, t /. It is good to be aware of coronal consonants, especially if you are learning a new language because it helps to know which part of the tongue to use.

2. Dorsal

Dorsal consonants are speech sounds created with the tongue, but they use the body of the tongue rather than the tip or the blade. Dorsal consonants include palatal and velar consonants.

Because of the flexibility of the tongue's dorsum (its back), we can reach a wide area in the roof of the mouth: from the hard palate (where we form the palatal consonants) to the velum (where we form the velar consonants).

In we have four types of dorsal consonants in English:

Voice palatal approximant: made with the middle or back of the tongue touching the hard palate.
Voiced velar nasal: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate, with airflow escaping from the nose.
Voiced velar plosive: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate and the vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiceless velar plosive: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate with no vibration of the vocal cords.

3. Labial

Labial consonants are speech sounds created when one or both lips interact as active articulators. As we have seen before, labial consonant divide in bilabial and labio-dental.

There are five ways of making labials in English:

Voiceless bilabial plosive: articulated with both lips and with no vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiced bilabial plosive: articulated with both lips and with the vibration of the vocal cords.
Labiodental nasal: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with the airflow escaping through the nose.
Voiceless labiodental fricative: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with no vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiced labiodental fricative: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with the vibration of the vocal cords.

Place of Articulation - Key takeaways

Place of articulation, or point of articulation, is about the points of contact between the articulators and the vocal tract.
There are eight places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, glottal, and velar.
Coronal consonants are speech sounds made with the most flexible part of the mouth: the tongue. They include bilabial, dental, labiodental, alveolar and post-alveolar.
Dorsal consonants are speech sounds created with the tongue, but they use the body of the tongue rather than the tip or the blade. Dorsal consonants include palatal and velar consonants.
Labial consonants are speech sounds created when one or both lips interact as active articulators. As we have seen before, labial consonant divide in bilabial and labio-dental.

Find Study Materials for

Create Study Materials

Place of Articulation

Place of articulation: definition

Places of articulation

Place of articulation: chart