Place of articulation of Consonants

Consonants are speech sounds in which the air from the lungs is seriously obstructed by the different articulators at different places in the vocal tract, and then goes out through the oral passage and, in some cases, through the nostrils. According to their places of articulation, English consonant phonemes can be divided into nine types as discussed below.

Bilabial Consonant: To produce the bilabial consonant, the two lips function as the primary articulators. They first make contract to block the lung air and then go apart to release it. English bilabial consonants includes /p b m w /.

Labio-dental Consonant: To articulate the labio-dental Consonants, the lower lip makes contract with the upper front teeth. English labio-dental consonants are / f v /.

Inter-dental Consonant: To pronounce the inter-dental consonants, the tongue tip is slightly pushed between the lower and upper front teeth. English inter-dental consonant are / ᶿ ᶞ/.

Alveolar Consonant: To produce Alveolar Consonant, the blade, or tip and blade, of the tongue articulates with the upper alveolar ridge. English Alveolar Consonant include / t d I n s z /.

Post-alveolar Consonant: To produce post-alveolar Consonant, the lip of the tongue articulates with the back part of the upper alveolar ridge. The English language has only one post-alveolar consonant / r /.

Palato-alveolar Consonant: To produce the palato-alveolar Consonants, the blade, or tip and blade, of the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge, and there is at the same time a rising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate. The English language possesses four palato-alveolar Consonants / ꭍ ᴣ ʧ ʤ /.

Palatal consonant: The front of the tongue articulates with the hard palate to produce the palatal consonant. The English language has only one palatal consonant / j /.

Velar consonant: To articulate the velar consonants, the back of the tongue makes contract with the soft palate. English velar consonant encompass / k g ɧ /.

Glottal consonant: To produce the glottal consonants, there is an obstruction, or narrowing causing friction but not vibration, between the vocal folds. The English language possesses only one glottal consonant / h /.