The 24 Consonant Sounds in English | English Phonology
Summary
TLDRThis educational video script explores the 24 consonant sounds in English, categorized into plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, and approximants. It explains the production of these sounds, noting the differences between voiced and voiceless pairs. The script also touches on the physical positions of the mouth and vocal tract during articulation, providing insights into the logic behind the organization of the consonant chart.
Takeaways
- 🔊 There are 24 consonant sounds in English, not just 24 consonant letters.
- 📊 The consonant chart is organized logically, with sounds on the left typically produced at the front of the mouth and those on the right at the back.
- 💥 Plosive sounds are made by a complete closure in the vocal tract that is suddenly released, creating an 'explosion' of air.
- 🗣️ Plosives come in pairs, with one sound in each pair being voiced (using vocal cords) and the other voiceless.
- 🌬️ Fricatives are produced when the articulators come close enough to create air friction without complete closure.
- 👫 Fricatives also occur in pairs, with one voiceless and one voiced sound, similar to plosives.
- 🔁 Affricates are a combination of plosives and fricatives, where the transition from one sound to the next is made without a break.
- 🌀 Nasal sounds are unique because the air is released through the nose, not the mouth, and all nasals are voiced.
- 🌬️ Approximants are produced with the articulators close but with more freedom for air to pass, similar to vowel sounds but not the core of a syllable.
- 🔢 Out of the 24 consonant sounds, 9 are voiceless and 15 are voiced.
Q & A
How many consonant sounds are there in English according to the script?
-There are 24 consonant sounds in English.
What is the difference between consonant letters and consonant sounds?
-Consonant letters refer to the written symbols in the alphabet, while consonant sounds refer to the actual sounds that are produced when pronouncing words.
How are the sounds organized in the consonant chart mentioned in the script?
-The sounds in the consonant chart are organized logically, with sounds on the left typically produced at the front of the mouth and sounds on the right produced towards the back of the mouth.
What are plosive sounds and how many are there in English?
-Plosive sounds are formed by a complete closure in the vocal tract that is suddenly released, creating a mini explosion of air. There are six plosive sounds in English.
How can you tell if a plosive sound is voiced or voiceless?
-A voiced plosive sound involves the vibration of the vocal cords, while a voiceless plosive sound does not. You can feel this by placing your hand on your throat while pronouncing the sounds.
What is the difference between plosive and fricative sounds?
-Plosive sounds involve a complete closure and release in the vocal tract, while fricative sounds involve the articulators coming close enough to create air friction without full closure.
How many fricative sounds are there in English, and what is a characteristic of these sounds?
-There are nine fricative sounds in English. A characteristic of these sounds is the presence of air friction due to the close proximity of the articulators without full closure.
What are affricate sounds and how do they differ from plosives and fricatives?
-Affricate sounds are a combination of a plosive and a fricative sound produced consecutively. There are two affricate sounds in English, which are pairs of unvoiced and voiced sounds.
What are nasal sounds and how do they produce sound?
-Nasal sounds are produced when the air is released through the nose instead of the mouth, with the vocal cords vibrating. There are three nasal sounds in English.
What are approximants and how do they compare to vowel sounds?
-Approximants are sounds where the articulators come close but not as close as in fricatives, allowing air to flow more freely. They are similar to vowel sounds but are not the core of a syllable, hence they are not full vowel sounds. There are four approximants in English.
How many of the 24 consonant sounds in English are voiceless, and how many are voiced?
-Out of the 24 consonant sounds, nine are voiceless and 15 are voiced.
Outlines
🔤 Introduction to English Consonant Sounds
The video begins by introducing the 24 consonant sounds in English, emphasizing that these are sounds rather than letters. The presenter explains the organization of the phonemic chart, highlighting that sounds on the left side are produced at the front of the mouth, while those on the right are produced towards the back. The first group discussed is the plosive sounds, which are formed by a complete closure in the vocal tract that is suddenly released, creating an 'explosion' of air. There are six plosives, which are divided into three pairs: voiced and voiceless. The presenter demonstrates how to feel the vibration in the throat to distinguish between voiced and voiceless sounds.
🗣️ Exploring Fricatives, Affricates, and Nasals
The second paragraph delves into fricatives, which are produced when the articulators come close enough to create air friction without complete closure. There are nine fricatives in English, and they are all paired with one voiceless and one voiced sound, except for the final sound /h/ which is voiceless and has no voiced counterpart. The discussion then moves to affricates, which are a combination of plosives and fricatives, and there are only two in English. The presenter also covers nasal sounds, which are unique because the air is released through the nose, not the mouth. Three nasal sounds are explained, all of which are voiced.
🎶 Approximants and Summary of Consonant Groups
The final paragraph focuses on approximants, which are formed when the articulators come close but not as close as in fricatives, allowing air to flow more freely. There are four approximants in English, all of which are voiced. The presenter also clarifies that approximants, despite their vowel-like qualities, are not full vowel sounds because they cannot form the core of a syllable. The video concludes with a summary of the consonant groups: six plosives, nine fricatives, two affricates, three nasals, and four approximants. The presenter notes that out of the 24 consonants, nine are voiceless and 15 are voiced, and encourages viewers to explore additional videos for more details on each group.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Consonant Sounds
💡Phonemic Chart
💡Plosive Sounds
💡Voiced and Voiceless
💡Fricatives
💡Affricates
💡Nasal Sounds
💡Approximants
💡Articulators
💡Vocal Tract
💡Syllable
Highlights
Introduction to the 24 consonant sounds in English, distinct from consonant letters.
Consonant sounds are organized logically on the phonemic chart, with left-side sounds produced at the front of the mouth.
Right-side sounds on the chart are produced towards the back of the mouth, such as the 'g' sound.
Plosive sounds are the first group, with six sounds in the first row, characterized by a complete closure and sudden release in the vocal tract.
Plosives come in voiced and voiceless pairs, such as 'p' and 'b', differing only in the use of vocal cords.
Fricatives are the second group, with nine sounds, formed by close approximation of articulators without full closure, creating air friction.
Fricatives also have voiced and voiceless pairs, with 'f' and 'v' as examples, and are found in the second and third rows of the chart.
The 'th' sounds are unique fricatives with one voiced and one voiceless variant.
Affricates are a combination of plosives and fricatives, with only two sounds in English, represented by 'ch' and 'j'.
Nasal sounds are the fourth group, with air released through the nose rather than the mouth, and all are voiced.
Approximants are the final group, with four sounds that allow more free airflow and are sometimes called semi-vowels.
Approximants are voiced and are not the core of a syllable, unlike vowel sounds.
Summary of the consonant groups: six plosives, nine fricatives, two affricates, three nasals, and four approximants.
Out of 24 consonants, nine are voiceless and 15 are voiced.
Encouragement to explore additional videos for detailed information on each consonant group.
Transcripts
hi everybody
in this video we are going to have a
look at
all of the consonant sounds in english
so not the consonant letters but the
consonant
sounds and there are 24
consonant sounds in total in english
let's have a look at them here they are
all in the consonant chart
this is half of the phonemic chart
and we want to have a quick look at the
organization of the chart because this
is not just a random
collection of sounds there is
some logic behind the chart and so the
first thing to remember is
that sounds that are on the left of the
chart
are usually also produced at the front
of the mouth for example
all three sounds are produced at the
front of the mouth
and then if we have a look at the sounds
on the very
right hand side like g
they are produced more towards the back
of the mouth now let's have a look at
all of the sounds in their specific
groups
the first group are the plosive sounds
and we have
six in total and all of them are in the
first
row minus two sounds and you can see
them highlighted here
we have
and remember plosives are formed
because there is a closure somewhere in
your vocal tract
um formed by your articulators that
could be your lips
or your tongue there's complete closure
and that closure is
suddenly released and the air comes out
and we can hear that
mini explosion of air and that is what
forms the sound
plus the articulator's position of
course and so all six of those are
plosives
now but there is something special about
all of those sounds
in that for example if we have a look at
the first two
p and b one of them is
voiced that means we use our vocal
chords to form the sound
and the other one is voiceless without
the use of vocal chords
let's just check quickly we can put our
hand very lightly here on our throat
there's no vibration here the vocal
cords are not vibrating this is a
voiceless sound
and very clear vibration
here from the vocal chords that this is
a voiced
sound so in total you can see that they
actually go in pairs
we have three pairs of plosive sounds
and for each one one is voiced and the
other one is voiceless
but the way the articulators move and
the closure
the point of closure in your mouth is
actually the same with p
and b the only difference is the use of
your voice
or your vocal chords so in total
you have six plosives three are
voiceless
and the other three are voiced
let's have a look at the next group of
sounds
next up we have a very big group of
bounds you can see they fill up the
entire second row
plus another sound in the third row and
these
are our fricatives and in total
we have nine fricative sounds
in english and fricatives are formed
because our articulators they come close
and indeed they come so close that we
can hear
the air friction but there is no full
closure
so for example here
my if you have a look again my top teeth
go to my bottom lip i breathe out
and you can hear the air friction and
that is actually what produces the sound
and of course the same for the and then
we have
the two funny symbols those are the th
sounds that we have in english one is
again voice the other one is unvoiced
then we have zum
and the very last one doesn't really
have a partner it's in the last final
row in the third row in the middle
that is and as i said already
these go in the same pairing
as the plosives we have pairs of
fricatives
in the entire second row and the first
one is always
voiceless for example and again you can
do your little check here
no vibration it's a voiceless sound and
then the partner is
the but again the way they are formed
these two sounds is the same
so and the you can actually see
that my top teeth go to my bottom lip
and that is how we produce the sound but
one of them is
without the use of the vocal cords um so
they go in pairs
the you can always do the check here the
two th sounds
so for the last two this is very clear
no vibration but then clear vibration
and then doesn't have a partner and
as in hello voiceless
um so we have five voiceless sounds and
four voiced sounds in the group of nine
fricatives
so we had a look at the plosives and at
the fricatives
and there are some sounds that are
actually a combination
of the two and they form their own group
and we skipped over them in the first
row and
those two sounds are affricates
affricates are sounds they're extra
sounds
on their own but they're really a
combination of
plosives and fricatives together so we
have for example
the plosive and the fricative
and together they form
so really move from one sound directly
to the next
and in the second one it's
and together they form the sound
that can be quite a difficult sound to
pronounce for some
speakers especially if you don't have
the sound
in your own language you need a little
bit more effort here because your vocal
chords
are again vibrating in the second one so
just as before this is a pair
unvoiced it's voiceless no vocal chords
vibrate
but together forming
clear vibration from the vocal chords
this is a voiced
sound so those are our only two
affricate sounds in english
good so we've covered already three
groups let's have a look at the next
group this group is in our bottom row
the third row
and it's the first three sounds together
and those are all nasal sounds
now nasal sounds are special
because here the air
is not released through the mouth for
example we had before
or very clearly if you actually if you
had a piece of paper if you just put
your hand in front of you
you can feel the air coming out of your
mouth that's not the case obviously with
um because you can see
my lips are closed and they stay closed
so the air is not coming out through my
mouth
the air is indeed released through my
nose and you could check this
by pinching your nose when you say the
sound
this sound stops because the ear is no
longer released
so those three are nasal sounds if
you're a little bit confused about that
third nasal with the little tail you
think what's the difference between the
first
and the second watch my special video on
nasal sounds where i'll
explain this in detail okay so we've
covered
plosives fricatives affricates
and nasals let's have a look at the last
group
and of course sorry i forgot to say all
our nasals are voiced
clear vibration all of them are voiced
and
the last group are the approximants
and we have four of those in english
so we have
and approximants are formed again by the
articulators they come close but
not as close as in fricatives so we
cannot really hear air friction
um instead the air is released through
the mouth
and it flows a little bit more freely
so in a way we could say they're a
little bit similar in their production
to consonant and not to consonants to
vowel sounds
and in fact sometimes people think well
why are they not vowel sounds then
and indeed sometimes people call the and
ye
semivowels but they're not full vowel
sounds and that is because they cannot
be the core of a syllable and again i
have a special video on approximants
where i explain that
in detail because we call these
non-zylabic sounds it's very technical
have a look at that video if you want to
find out more so we've got
yeah and all of them
vibration all of them are voiced sounds
and like i said and yeah are also called
semi vowels or glides because they do
sound
behave a little bit like vowel sounds
okay so let's do a very quick summary
just so that you remember all of the
groups within these 24 consonant sounds
remember first we had six plosive sounds
all off the top row minus the two in the
middle
we had nine fricatives the entire second
row
plus in the third row
then we had two affricate
the fourth group was our nasals we had
three
nasal sounds and the last group
are the four approximants in the final
row
the four last sounds in total
there are 24 consonants nine consonants
are voiceless or unvoiced and the other
15
are voiced
i hope this has been helpful and
explained the consonant chart to you and
i hope that you can remember the names
of the different groups of consonants
and if you want to find out more about
each group and how they exactly
formed and see some example words and
the typical spellings
make sure you check out all my other
videos on each of these groups
you
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