Chapter 5. Articulation of English consonants.

5.1. The six English plosive consonants [p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g] are pronounced as follows.
[p], [b] –production of articulation.
The plosive consonants [p],[b] are articulated with the lips pressed together. A complete obstruction is formed and the air in mouth cavity is blocked for a shot time. Then the lips are quickly opened and air is passing with plosion.
[p] – the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[b] – the vocal cords vibrate.
[p] is voiceless-fortis, [b] is voiced-lenis.
[p], [b] - occlusive noise plosive bilabial consonants.
The English [p] in a stressed syllable, when followed by a vowel and not preceded by [s], is pronounced with aspiration.
ASPIRATION is a short puff of breath we hear it after the plosion of a voiceless plosive consonant [p],[t],[k] before the beginning of the vowel.
There is no aspiration in Russian.
[t], [d] –production of articulation.
[t],[d] are articulated with the tip of the tongue pressed against the alveolar ridge. The air-passage through the mouth is blocked for a shot time. Then the tip of the tongue is quickly removed from the alveolar ridge and the air passes with plosion.
[t] – the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[d] – the vocal cords vibrate.
[t] is voiceless-fortis,[d] is voiced-lenis.
[t], [d] – occlusive noise plosive forelingual apical alveolar consonants.
The English [t] in a stressed syllable, when followed by a vowel and not preceded by [s], is pronounced with aspiration.
[k],[g] – production of articulation.
[k], [g] are articulated with the back of the tongue pressed against the soft palate. Thus contact is formed so that the air-passage through the mouth is blocked for a shot time. Then the back of the tongue is quickly removed from the soft palate and the air passes with plosion.
[k] – the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[g] – the vocal cords vibrate.
[k] is voiceless-fortis, [d] is voiced-lenis.
[k], [g] – occlusive noise plosive backlingual velar consonants.
The English [k] in a stressed syllable, when followed by a vowel and not preceded by [s], is pronounced with aspiration.

Degree of aspiration

You remember, the English voiceless plosive consonants [p],[t],[k] are pronounced with aspiration in the position before a stressed vowel. The degree of their aspiration may vary.
A) It’s strongest when [p],[t],[k] are in the position before a long vowel or a diphthong,
E.g.: pass [pά:s] tall [tɔ:l] cause [kɔ:z].
B) Aspiration becomes weaker when [p],[t],[k] are followed by short vowel,
E.g.: pull [pύ:l] took [tύ:k] cut [kΛt]
C) When [p],[t],[k] are preceded by the consonant [s] they are pronounced with no aspiration(stop aspiration):
E.g.: park - spark tie - sty cool – school.
And the same occasion is when [p][,t],[k] are followed by an unstressed vowel.
Compare [p],[t],[k] in the stressed and unstressed syllable of the following words:
paper [´peipə] tighter [´taitə] cocoa [´coucou].

Coarticulation.

Most consonants are pronounced with a single obstruction. But some consonants are pronounced with two obstructions, the second obstruction being called Coarticulation. It may be:
front (front of the tongue raised), e.g.: “girl”
back (with the back of the tongue raised), e.g.: “dark “
See the table.1.
5.2. The two English affricative consonants [t∫], [dʒ] are pronounced as follows.
[t∫], [dʒ] - production of articulation.
The English affricative consonants [t∫], [dʒ] are articulated with the tip and blade of the tongue raised to touch the back part of the alveolar ridge. The contact is made as to block the air-passage for a short time. Then the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate and the tip of the tongue is slowly removed from the alveolar ridge forming a flat narrowing through which the air passes with the friction.
[t∫] - the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[dʒ] - the vocal cords vibrate.
[t∫] is voiceless-fortis, [dʒ] is voiced-lenis.
[t∫], [dʒ] may be define as occlusive noise affricative with tongue-front coarticulation fore and mediolingual apical palato-alveolar consonants.
5.3. The three English occlusive nasal sonorants ([m],[n],[ŋ]) are produced as follows.
[n], [m], [ŋ] - production of articulation.
The consonant [m] is articulated with the lips slightly pressed together, forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through the mouth cavity. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes out through the nasal cavity.
The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate.
[m] may be defined as an occlusive nasal bilabial sonorant.
The consonant [n] is articulated with the tongue tip touching the alveolar ridge (apical articulation), forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through the mouth cavity. The soft palate is lowered. The air passes out through the nasal cavity.
The vocal cords are drawn and vibrate.
[n] may be concerned as occlusive nasal forelingual apical alveolar sonorant.
The consonant [ŋ] is articulated with the back of the tongue raised and touching the soft palate, forming a complete obstruction to the air flow through the mouth cavity. The soft palate is lowered and the air passes out through the nasal cavity. The vocal cords are drawn tear together and vibrate.
[ ŋ ] may be define as an occlusive nasal backlingual velar sonorant. There is no similar sound [ŋ] in Russian.
5.4. The nine English constrictive noise (fricatives) consonants ([f],[v],[θ],[ð],[s],[z],[∫],[ʒ],[h]) are pronounced as follows.
[f], [v] - production of articulation.
The consonants [f], [v] are articulated with the lower lip raised to the edge of the upper teeth, forming a flat narrowing (плоская щель) The air passes through it with friction.
[f] - the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[v] - the vocal cords are drawn and vibrate.
[f] is voiceless-fortis, [v] is voiced-lenis
[f],[v] may be defined as constrictive noise fricative labio-dental consonants pronounced with the flat narrowing.
[θ], [ð] - production of articulation.
The EC [θ], [ð] are articulated with the tip of the tongue slightly projected out between the upper and lower teeth. The tip of the tongue is placed against the edge of the upper teeth to form a flat narrowing with friction.
[θ] - the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[ð] - the vocal cords vibrate.
[θ] is voiceless-fortis, [ð] is voiced-lenis.
[ θ ], [ð] may be defined as constrictive noise fricative forelingual apical dental consonants pronounced with a flat narrowing
In Russian there are no consonants similar to the English [θ], [ð].
The Russian students replaced [θ] by the sounds [f], [s], [t], [ts];
[ð] - by the sounds[v], [z], [d], [dz].
To prevent this mistake we should keep the tongue tip between the teeth.
[s], [z] – the production of articulation.
The consonants [s], [z] are articulated with the tip and blade of the tongue held close to the alveolar ridge. The sides of the blade of the tongue are raised forming narrow channel through which the air passes with friction.
[s] - the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[z] - the vocal cords vibrate.
[s] is voiceless-fortis, [z] is voiced-lenis.
The [s],[z] may be defined as constrictive noise fricative forelingual apical alveolar consonants pronounced with a round narrowing.
[∫], [ʒ] – the production of articulation.
The consonants [∫], [ʒ] are articulated with the tip and blade of the tongue and the front of the tongue simultaneously raised. A flat narrowing is formed by the tip and blade of the tongue held close to the back of the alveolar ridge and by the front of the tongue raised in the direction of the hard palate for tongue-front Coarticulation which slightly palatalizes the consonants. The air passes through the narrowing with friction. The lips are rounded and slightly protruded.
[∫] - the vocal cords do not vibrate,
[ʒ] - the vocal cords vibrate.
[∫] is voiceless-fortis, [ʒ] is voiced-lenis.
[∫], [ʒ] may be defined as constrictive noise fricative with tongue-front Coarticulation forelingual apical palato-alveolar consonants with a flat narrowing.
[h] - production of articulation.
The consonant [h] is articulated with the strong air stream passing through the open glottis. The bulk of the tongue and the lips are held in the position necessary for the production of the following vowel.
[h] may be defined as a constrictive noise fricative glottal voiceless consonant pronounced with a flat narrowing.
In Russian there is no consonant similar to the English [h].
Compare words like the following:
[х]- хилый, хата, хутор
[h] – hill -[hil] hut -[hΛt] hooter- [hu:tə]
5.5. The four English constrictive sonorants ([w], [r], [j], [l]) fall into two groups: median [w], [r], [j] and lateral [l].
[r] - production of articulation.
The consonant [r] is articulated with the tongue tip raised towards the back part of the alveolar ridge forming a rather wide air passage. The sides of the tongue are raised and the air passes along the median line of the tongue without any audible friction. As a result tone prevails over the noise. The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate.
[r] may be defined as a constrictive median forelingual cacuminal post-alveolar sonorant.
[l] - production of articulation.
The consonant [l] has two variants in English.
One is called the “clear” [l]. It’s used before vowels and [j].
E.g lesson [lesn], live [liv], value [vælju:]
The second is called the “dark” [ł]. It’s used before consonants and in word-final position. E.g: children [tşiłdrən], bell [beł].
In pronunciation both variants of the consonant [l] the tongue tip is slightly pressed against the alveolar ridge while the sides of the tongue are lowered forming rather wide passages. The air passes along these channels without audible friction. As a result, in the articulation of the [l] tone prevails over noise.
In the articulation of the clear variant of the phoneme [l] the front of the tongue is raised in the direction of the hard palate (tongue-front Coarticulation). This slightly palatalizes the sound.
In the articulation of the dark variant the back of the tongue is raised in the direction of the soft palate (tongue-back Coarticulation). This gives a dark coloring to the sound.
In the articulation of the both variants of [l] the vocal cords are brought close together, drawn tight and vibrate.
[l] - may be defined as a constrictive lateral forelingual apical alveolar sonorant pronounced with tongue-front coarticulation in the ‘clear’ variant and tongue-back coarticulation in the dark variant.
[w] - production of articulation.
The consonant [w] is articulated with the lips forming a round narrowing. The back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate. The sides of the tongue are raised and the air-passage is open along the median line of the tongue. The air passes through the round narrowing between the lips without any audible friction.
The vocal cords are drawn near and vibrate. The sound is very short and weak. The tongue and the lips immediately glide from the position for [w] to that of the following vowel.
[w] - may be defined as constrictive median with tongue-back coarticulation bilabial sonorant pronounced with a round narrowing.
In Russian there is no phoneme similar to the English [w].
[j] - production of articulation.
The consonant [j] is articulated with the front of the tongue held against the hard palate at approximately at the same position as in pronouncing the vowel [i]. The sides of the tongue are raised leaving the air-passage open along the median line of the tongue.
The vocal cords are drawn near together and vibrate.
The sound is very short and weak.
[j] - may be defined as a constrictive median mediolingual palatal sonorant.