American English Vowels
The manner of articulation means how the sound is made using the different places of articulation, tongue placement, whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced and the amount of air needed.
Stops - Air coming from the lungs is stopped at some point during the formation of the sound. Some of these sounds are unvoiced, such as "pin," "tin" and "kin." Some of these are voiced, such as "bust," "dust" and "gust."
Fricatives - Restricted airflow causes friction, but the air flow isn't completely stopped. Unvoiced examples include "fin," "thin," "sin," "shin" and "hit." Voiced examples include "van," "zoo," "the" and "treasure."
Affricates - These are combinations of stops and fricatives. "Cheap" is an example of an unvoiced affricate and "jeep" is an example of a voiced affricate.
Nasals - As expected, the air is stopped from going through the mouth and is redirected into the nose. Voiced examples include "seem," "seen," "scene" and "sing."
Liquids - Almost no air is stopped here. Voiced examples include "late" and "rate."
Glides - Sometimes referred to as "semi-vowels," the air passes through the articulators to create vowel-like sounds even though the letters are known as consonants. Examples include "well" and "yell."
Consonants of American English Speech
The consonants of AmericanEnglish are usually described and classified according to the 1) manner in which they are produced (stops, fricative, affricates, nasals, liquids, and glides), 2) place of production in the mouth (lips, teeth, gums, and palate or roof of the mouth), and 3) presence or absence of voicing.
Voiced and Unvoiced Consonants
All consonants are either: voiced or unvoiced. Voiced consonants are produced by the vibration of the vocal cords, and unvoiced consonants are produced by the lack of such vibration. Consider the /p/ and /b/, for example, and say the words "pack" and "back.". Notice that your lips come together and explode the air in exactly the same way for the /p/ and /b/. The only difference between these two sounds is that the /p/ is produced without voice and /b/ is made with voice.
Similarly, the /s/ and /z/ in the words "Sue" and "zoo" are produced alike, except that the /s/ is voiceless and the /z/ is voiced. This difference is easy to feel if you put your hand on your throat and make the sounds /s/ and /z/. Be sure that you do not pronounce the letter S and Z, but actually make the sound, like this: "ssss" and "zzzz". Notice that you feel the same sort of vibration for the /z/ as you did for the vowel sounds "ah" and "ee", but there is no vibration for the /s/.
Stop Consonants
Stop Consonants /p,b/, /t,d/, /k,g/, are called "Stops" because to produce each one, you must stop the air stream completely, then release it into a little explosion. This group of sounds is divided into three sub-groupings according to the place of production. The /p,b/ are made by stopping the air with the lips and then releasing them suddenly. The /t,d/ are made by stopping the air with the tip of the tongue in contact with the upper gum behind the teeth, then releasing the tongue. The /k,g/ are produced by placing the back of the tongue in contact with the back portion of the roof of the mouth (velum), and then releasing the tongue to let the air escape.
Friction Consonants
The next group of sounds, /f,v/, /θ,ð/, /s,z/ /ʃ,ʒ/ is called "Frictions" because the air stream is forced through a narrow passage in the mouth which creates a friction or hissing sound. Sometimes these sounds are also called "Continuants" because they can be continued or prolonged. Compare this feature with the "Stops" which cannot be prolonged or continued.
