# Classifying Consonants

Languages I · English Phonetics and Phonology · https://tryals.app/learn/languages-i/classifying-consonants

## Voice, Place, Manner

Any consonant can be identified by answering three questions in order:

**1. Voicing.** Are the vocal folds vibrating? The /s/ in *sue* is voiceless. The /z/ in *zoo* is voiced.

**2. Place of articulation.** Where is the constriction? English uses eight places:

| Place | Articulators | English examples |
|---|---|---|
| Bilabial | Both lips | /p/ /b/ /m/ |
| Labiodental | Lower lip and upper teeth | /f/ /v/ |
| Dental | Tongue tip and upper teeth | the two th sounds |
| Alveolar | Tongue tip and alveolar ridge | /t/ /d/ /s/ /z/ /n/ /l/ |
| Postalveolar | Tongue blade behind ridge | sh and zh sounds |
| Palatal | Tongue body and hard palate | /j/ as in *yes* |
| Velar | Tongue body and soft palate | /k/ /g/ and ng |
| Glottal | Vocal folds | /h/ |

**3. Manner of articulation.** What kind of obstruction is formed?

### Manner Categories

- **Plosive (stop)**: complete closure, then release (/p b t d k g/).
- **Fricative**: a narrow gap creating turbulent friction (/f v s z h/).
- **Affricate**: a stop released into a fricative (ch, j).
- **Nasal**: oral closure with a lowered velum (/m n/, ng).
- **Approximant**: a wider narrowing without turbulence (/w j r/), including the **lateral** /l/.

So, *voiceless alveolar plosive* uniquely identifies /t/.

### Cross-Linguistic Rarity

The two **th** sounds appear in under 10% of languages. They are often the last acquired by children and first substituted by learners.

> **Common pitfall:** treating the three-term label as a name to memorise. It is a physical recipe. Follow each instruction to produce the correct sound.

## Practice questions

8 of this lesson's 13 practice questions, with answers. The full set is in the app.

### 1. Why is the label "voiceless alveolar plosive" a set of instructions rather than a name?

A. It lists the standard acoustic properties a listener relies on to perceive the sound
B. Each term specifies one articulatory setting, so following all three produces the sound
C. It classifies the consonant by tracing its historical development from earlier Latin roots
D. It specifies the orthographic rules required to transcribe the consonant accurately

**Answer:** B. Each term specifies one articulatory setting, so following all three produces the sound

**Why:** Because the three terms are three settings: leave the folds apart, put the tongue tip on the alveolar ridge, make and release a complete closure. Carry them out and /t/ comes out whether or not you knew that was its name, which is what makes the system work for languages you have never heard.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/why-is-the-label-voiceless-alveolar-plosive-a-set-of-instructions

### 2. Arrange these manners of articulation from the most complete obstruction of the airstream to the least.

**Answer:**

1. Plosive: complete closure
2. Affricate: closure released into friction
3. Fricative: a gap narrow enough for turbulence
4. Approximant: a narrowing too wide for turbulence

**Why:** Manner is a scale of obstruction, and setting it out in order makes that explicit. The nasals sit outside the scale, since they combine a complete **oral** closure with entirely free nasal airflow, which is why they pattern with the sonorants rather than with the stops.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/arrange-these-manners-of-articulation-from-the-most-complete

### 3. How many places of articulation does English use for its consonants?

**Answer:** 8

**Why:** **Eight.** The inventory is unremarkable cross-linguistically, many languages use fewer, and some use retroflex and uvular places that English lacks entirely. What is unusual about English is not its places but its two dental fricatives.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/how-many-places-of-articulation-does-english-use-for-its-consonants

### 4. Roughly what percentage of the world's languages have dental fricatives like the two th sounds of English?

**Answer:** 8 (within ±5)

**Why:** Under **ten per cent**. The rarity has consequences: they are among the last sounds English-speaking children acquire, among the first that learners substitute, and the reason Jenkins concludes they can be replaced without harming international intelligibility.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/roughly-what-percentage-of-the-worlds-languages-have-dental

### 5. Which are true of approximants?

A. /w/ and /j/ are among them
B. They involve complete closure of the oral tract
C. The constriction is too wide to produce turbulence
D. English /l/ is one, with airflow passing at the sides of the tongue

**Answer:** A. /w/ and /j/ are among them; C. The constriction is too wide to produce turbulence; D. English /l/ is one, with airflow passing at the sides of the tongue

**Why:** Approximants sit between vowels and fricatives: narrower than a vowel, wider than the gap needed for turbulence. The lateral /l/ is the special case, with the tongue tip closed against the ridge and the air escaping at the sides, a complete closure in the middle and an open channel at the edges.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/which-are-true-of-approximants

### 6. Complete the classification.

**Answer:** A consonant is identified by its **voicing**, its place and its **manner**. A complete closure released abruptly is a **plosive**, while a constriction narrow enough to generate turbulent noise is a **fricative**.

**Why:** The order of the terms is conventional and worth following, because it makes descriptions comparable at a glance, every three-term label answers the same three questions in the same sequence.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/complete-the-classification

### 7. A student assumes that because /m/ and /p/ are both bilabial consonants, the vocal tract is closed entirely while articulating both. Why does this inference fail?

A. The velum lowers for /m/, allowing airstream escape through the nose
B. The tongue body makes contact with the hard palate during nasal stops
C. The vocal folds remain open for /p/, which prevents complete closure
D. The lips produce turbulent friction rather than full closure for /m/

**Answer:** A. The velum lowers for /m/, allowing airstream escape through the nose

**Why:** Sharing a place of articulation specifies where articulators meet, not the entire acoustic pathway. Nasals sustain complete oral closure whilst venting air nasally via the velum; plosives seal all escape routes entirely. Voicing differences alter fold vibration rather than oral containment.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/a-student-assumes-that-because-m-and-p-are-both-bilabial

### 8. Match each place of articulation to the articulators involved.

**Answer:**

- Labiodental → Lower lip against the upper teeth
- Alveolar → Tongue tip against the ridge behind the teeth
- Postalveolar → Tongue blade just behind that ridge
- Velar → Tongue body against the soft palate
- Glottal → The vocal folds themselves

**Why:** Learning them in front-to-back order is worth the effort, because consonant charts are laid out that way universally, once the order is automatic, an unfamiliar chart in an unfamiliar language becomes readable at a glance.

Page: https://tryals.app/practice/languages-i/classifying-consonants/match-each-place-of-articulation-to-the-articulators-involved