Consonant phonemes are a class of speech sounds that are not vowels and that are formed with the mouth partially closed and the airflow obstructed by the lips, teeth, and tongue. Consonants are categorized by the distinguishing features in the English Consonant Phoneme Chart and discussed below.
...how the sounds are made with the vocal cords:
- Voiced: Voiced consonants engage the vocal cords and cause them to vibrate or buzz. You know a consonant is voiced if you can feel your vocal chords buzzing. Try it! Place your fingers on the bottom of your throat and say and hold the sound for the letter “v.” Can you feel your vocal cords buzzing? That’s how you know the consonant is voiced.
- Unvoiced or Voiceless: Unvoiced consonants do not engage the vocal cords and your vocal cords stay quiet. Try it! Place your fingers on the bottom of your throat and say and hold the sound for the letter “f.” What do you feel? You shouldn’t feel anything!—and that’s how you know the consonant is unvoiced.
...where each sound is made, or place of articulation: Where the sound is made or the position of the lips, teeth, and tongue in the front, middle, or back of the mouth.
- Bilabial: Bilabial sounds are produced using both lips. Try it! Say these sounds: /p/, /b/, /m/, and /w/.
- Labiodental: Labiodental sounds are produced using the teeth and lips. Try it! Say these sounds: /f/ and /v/.
- Interdental: Interdental sounds are produced with the tongue between the teeth. Try it! Say this sound: /th/.
- Alveolar: Alveolar sounds are produced with the tongue at the ridge behind the teeth. Try it! Say these sounds: /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/, /n/, and /l.
- Alveo-palatal: Alveo-palatal sounds are produced with the tongue in the middle of the mouth. Try it! Say these sounds: /sh/, /zh/, /ch/, /j/, and /r/.
- Palatal: Palatal sounds are produced with the tongue at the back of the mouth. Try it! Say this sound: /y/.
- Velar: Velar sounds are produced at the top of the throat. Try it! Say these sounds: /k/, /g/, /ng/, and /w/.
- Glottal: Glottal sounds are produced in the throat. Try it! Say this sound: /h/.
...how each sound is made, or manner of articulation: How the sound is made, or the production of airflow through the nose or mouth:
- Stops: Consonants that we cannot hold are called stops. These consonants are often referred to as an explosion of sound. Affricatives are stop sounds. Try it! Say the sound for the “k.” You can’t hold it. It explodes from your mouth and is done.
- Fricatives: Fricative consonants are produced by blocking the passage of air through the mouth, generating audible friction.
- Affricates: Affricate consonants begin as stop sounds (with complete obstruction breath moving through the mouth) and end as fricative sounds. The sounds /ch/ and /j/ are the only English language affricate sounds.
- Nasals: Nasal consonants send the air through the nose. All other consonants send air through the oral cavity, or mouth. The phoneme /m/ is an example of a nasal consonant.
- Liquids: Liquids are vowel-like consonants, produced when the tongue blocks airflow through the mouth. The sounds /l/ and /r/ are both liquid speech sounds.
- Glides: To produce glides, airflow is unobstructed and therefore frictionless. Because of this, glide consonants (/w/ and /y/) are considered semivowels.
