 This unit introduces the phonetic machinery for the classification of consonants. Consonants are speech sounds that involve some sort of abstraction to the airstream in the vocal tract. Using this criterion, we can set up two distinct articulatory parameters for consonants. For example, the place of articulation, that is, where does the abstraction occur? We can use the manner of articulation, that is, what type of abstraction is involved, and the third parameter is binary. It concerns the state of the glottis, that is, do the vocal folds vibrate or not? A further criterion concerns the type of airstream involved. Yet in this unit, we will concentrate on those consonants that are produced with a pulmonic airstream, pulmonic represented over here. We will not look at consonants produced with a glottalic or with a velaric airstream. These types of airstreams will be discussed separately. To understand the main articulatory parameters, we have to deal with some anatomical details about the vocal tract first. Consonants can be articulated at any point along the upper surface of the oral cavity, so along this line here. The point of this upper surface involved in the articulation of the consonant is referred to as the passive articulator. A passive articulator is a position in the vocal tract which is involved in the production of speech sounds but does not move. Starting at the front of the vocal tract, the following passive articulators can be classified. For example, the lower and upper teeth. Now the upper teeth are locations where the tongue makes contact to produce several different consonants such as thar or thar. The lower teeth are positions where the lips make contact to produce consonants such as thar and thar. Another passive articulator is the alveolar ridge over here. Now the alveolar ridge is an area for the articulation of many consonants. It is situated just behind the teeth. Typical consonants are thar, sa or ra. The palate or sometimes called hard palate is an area for a large number of consonants. It is often referred to as the roof of the mouth. A consonant would be something like chaa and then we have the soft palate or velum. Now this is a broad band of muscular tissue in the upper region of the mouth. Typical consonants are kaa or ga. Another area which is not really an articulator, a passive articulator but an area is the pharynx over here. Now the pharynx is used as a contact area for the production of some consonants such as ha. And then we have further areas which are not really articulators. For example the nasal cavity which is the main non-oral resonance chamber. Consonants that involve the nasal cavity are typically consonants like ma or na. In the back of the mouth we find the food pipe or esophageus. The trachea or wind pipe is used for breathing and for the airstream. And finally we have the epiglottis over here which is attached to the anterior part of the thyroid cartilage and it functions as a closure to the entrance to the larynx during swallowing. Let us now look at the active articulators. Now the organ which is moved towards a passive articulator in producing speech sounds is called the active articulator. An active articulator is actively involved in the production of speech sounds. Starting at the front of the vocal tract the first active articulator is of course the lower lip or the lips. Now the lips are actively involved in the production of labial consonants such as ba or pa. And the application of lip rounding or not to vowels. So vowels such as e which involves spread lips and y which involves rounded lips. Further active articulators are of course here the tongue. Now of all mobile organs the tongue is the most versatile. It is capable of adopting more shapes than any other vocal organ. It is involved in the production of all vowels and most consonants. Here we have the uvula another active articulator. Now the most noticeable feature of the velum is the uvula. That is an appendage that hangs down and is easily visible if you open your mouth and look into a mirror. Ha at the very end. And then we have the glottis. Now the glottis is part of the larynx and it is the source of phonation. The position where the contact between an active and a passive articulator is produced is referred to as the place of articulation. I will now produce one consonant. I will choose a fricative consonant that is a consonant which produces a turbulent airflow per place of articulation. And I will do it between two vowels for reasons of better audibility. Let's start with bilabial consonants. Now here we can observe a constriction between the lips and the result would be something like a fa. The next place of articulation is the labiodental place of articulation where we can observe a constriction between the lower lip and the upper teeth. A typical consonant would be a fa. A fa. Dental, the dental Latin dentis, the tooth. Now the dental area involves a constriction between the tongue and the upper teeth. Here is a consonant. A tha. A tha. The next place of articulation is the alveolar place that is the alveolar ridge and it involves of course a constriction between the tongue and the alveolar ridge. Here is a consonant. A sa. A sa. The post alveolar area is just a little bit further back. Now here we have a constriction again between the tongue and this post alveolar area. An example of a consonant is a sha. A sha. The retroflex place of articulation is a little bit different because it is still the same place of articulation post alveolar but the tip of the tongue is slightly curled back and the result would be something like a sha. A sha. If we have a narrowing in the roof of the mouth that is in the palatal region we get something like a sha. A sha. And then the vela place of articulation involves a constriction between the velum and the tongue. A result would be a sha. A sha. And if we move further back and use the vela as a region, as a place of articulation, as a passive articulator with the tongue and the velum creating some sort of constriction we get a sha. A sha. And even further back in the pharynx we have the pharyngeal place of articulation. A result would be a sha. A sha. And finally, if the narrowing occurs in the glottis we get something like a sha. A sha. Let's now look at the manner of articulation. Now there are several ways or manners in which articulation can be accomplished. The articulators may completely close off the oral cavity for an instant or a relatively long period. They may narrow the space considerably. All the articulators may simply modify the shape of the vocal tract by approaching each other. The following manners of articulation can be distinguished and again I will produce one consonant per manner. In fact in each case I will produce an alveolar consonant. Let's start with the plosive manner of articulation. Now plosive consonants involve three phases. A closure, a compression behind it, and then a release. A result would be a ta. A ta. In nasal consonants we have an oral closure too but this time we have a velic opening allowing the airstream to escape through the nose. And the result would be an na. An na. Trills involve rapid closures and openings. Here is the result. Similarly flaps also involve openings and closures however this time we only have one single rapid opening and closure. The result would be a ra. A ra. The fricative manner of articulation involves some sort of constriction or narrowing between two articulators. The result is a turbulent airflow. The result would be something like a sa. A sa. If the airstream escapes at the sides that is laterally we can produce a lateral fricative consonant just like with fricatives it involves a turbulent airflow. A sa. A sa. Now approximants are a little bit problematic. They involve an almost free air passage and are almost like vowels. Some people even call them semi vowels so an approximate would be something like a ra. A ra. And finally if the airstream in an approximate escapes at the sides that is laterally again with an almost free air passage we get something like a la. A la. Having defined the central parameters place and manner of articulation we can now turn our attention to the state of the glottis. Now most speech sounds are produced with a pulmonic airstream that is with an airstream that comes from the lungs so here are the lungs and this is where the pulmonic airstream emerges. The airstream goes up to the trachea here is the trachea and eventually reaches the larynx where it passes two small muscular folds called the vocal cords. Now here are the vocal cords seen from top. If the vocal cords are apart the airstream will have a relatively free passage like this one here into the pharynx and into the mouth. If the vocal cords however are adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage between them and if they are at the same time sufficiently relaxed the pressure of the airstream will cause them to vibrate as we see over here. Now speech sounds or consonants that are produced with the vocal cords vibrating are referred to as voiced and speech sounds that are produced with the vocal folds that are apart are referred to as voiceless. Now with these three parameters we can now classify the consonants of the languages of the world. Now here is the consonant chart and as you can see we have our two main parameters the place of articulation represented horizontally this is the place of articulation and the manner of articulation represented vertically so here we have the manner of articulation. The distinction between voiceless and voiced is drawn on the basis of the position of pairs such as p and b in the cells if you have a black and white printout of the consonant chart the voiceless one is always the one on the left so here represented in blue we have voiceless consonants and so on and the one on the right is the voiced one so here we have voiced consonants well and if there's only one consonant in a cell then it is necessarily voiced by means of its default value. Now I cannot produce all the consonants in this e-lecture I recommend you to use our interactive consonant chart on the virtual linguistics campus it's in the free section you can all use it even without creating your vlc account the big advantage of this consonant chart is that you can not only see the consonants and see a description of the respective articulation you can also listen to them and you can see the animation seen from the side in addition to this we have numerous exercises on the vlc so this time I'm not preparing or presenting you a summary of this e-lecture but I will recommend you to use the numerous tools available on the virtual linguistics campus interactive consonant and vocali charts animations additional exercises such as listening tasks transcription tasks and so on to learn more about the phonetic alphabet that is the symbols by means of which we refer to all these speech sounds I recommend you to take a look at the e-lecture phonetic transcription one and two