Manner of articulation definition

In phonetics, manner of articulation is about how sounds are produced by the

'articulators'. Articulators are the organs in the vocal tract which enable
human beings to make sounds. They include the palate, tongue, lips, teeth etc.
and are shown in the image below. When we speak, we use these articulators
to do so. There are two basic types of speech sound:

Consonants: Speech sounds created by a partial or total closure of the vocal

tract.
Vowels: Speech sounds produced without stricture in the vocal tract.

Manner of articulation diagram

Here's a handy diagram to show us the vocal tract, including all of the
articulators used when creating consonant sounds.
Fig. 1 - The human vocal tract contains all of the articulators which are used
when creating consonant sounds.
Manner of articulation of consonants
We can categorize manner of articulation into two groups: obstruents and
sonorants.
Obstruents are speech sounds created by obstructing the airflow in the vocal
tract. All consonants are obstructed sounds in some way. They include stops
or plosives, fricatives, and affricates.

/ p, t, k, d, b /
Sonorants, or resonants, are speech sounds created by continuous and
unobstructed airflow through the vocal tract. Sonorants can include vowels as
well as consonants. In this group, we also find nasal liquids and
approximants. We categorize manner of articulation into two further
categories: voiced and voiceless.

/ J, w, m, n /
If there is no vibration in the vocal cords during sound production, the sound
is voiceless (like the sound you make when you whisper).

When making the sounds / f / and / s /, you can feel that there is no vibration
in your Adam's apple.
If there is a vibration in the vocal cords during sound production, the sound
is voiced .

While making the sounds / b / and / d /, you can feel the vibration on your
Adam's apple.
When we're talking about consonants and manner of articulation, we also
need to look at the place of articulation (where sounds are produced in the
vocal tract).
Manner of articulation and place of
articulation
There are certain differences between manner of articulation and place of
articulation.
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Places of Articulation
Before we jump into the analysis, here are the various 'places of articulation':
Place of
How it is created
articulation

Bilabial Contact between the lips.

Labio-dental Contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth.

Dental Contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth.

Contact between the tongue and the alveolar ridge (this is the ridged area
Alveolar
between the upper teeth and the hard palate).

Palatal Contact between the tongue and the hard palate or alveolar ridge.

Post-alveolar The tongue makes contact with the back of the alveolar ridge.

Velar The back of the tongue makes contact with the soft palate (velum).

Glottal A restriction of the airflow at the glottis.

Types of Manner of Articulation

Manner of
How it is created
articulation

Plosive A short, quick release of air after closed stricture.

Fricative Close stricture that creates friction when air is released.

Start with producing a plosive and blending immediately into a

Affricate
fricative.

Nasal Air is released through the nasal passages.

Close proximity of the articulators without causing any closure or

Approximant
friction.
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Examples of manners of articulation

Here are some examples of the types of manners of articulation.

1. Plosives or stops
In phonetics, a plosive consonant, also known as a stop, is made when the
vocal tract is closed and the airflow is blocked as it leaves the body. The
blockage can be made with the tongue, lips, teeth or glottis.

When analysing a plosive, we consider the way the articulators are used (lips,
tongue, palate); we check the closure of the airstream and the release of the
airstream when the vocal organs separate.

Manner of articulation: plosives examples:

In English, there are six plosives:

PLOSIVE

BILABIAL p, b

ALVEOLAR t, d

POST ALVEOLAR t, d

VELAR g, k

DENTAL t, d

Thanks to the different ways in which speakers of English pronounce sounds,

the sounds /t/ and /d/ can be alveolar, post-alveolar or dental. This is because
phonemes are merely ideal representations of real-world speech sounds,
which can differ slightly from person to person.
2. Fricatives
Like plosives, fricatives are restricted as they leave the body. We can use
teeth, lips, or tongue to limit the flow of air. Unlike plosives, fricatives are
longer sounds (you can sustain a fricative, like the phoneme / f /, but you
can't sustain a plosive, like the phoneme / p /). Some fricatives have a hiss-
like quality. These are called sibilants. In the English language, there are two
sibilants: / s / and / z /. For example, sick, zip and sun.

In English, there are nine fricatives:

FRICATIVE

DENTAL ð, θ

LABIODENTAL f, v

ALVEOLAR s, z

POSTALVEOLAR ʃ, ʒ

glottal H

The fricative sounds / z, ð, v, ʒ / are voiced, and the sounds / h, s, θ, f, ʃ / are

voiceless.

Manner of articulation: fricatives examples:

Voiced fricatives:
/ v /: vat, van
/ ð /: then, them
/ z /: zip, zoom
/ ʒ /: casual, treasure
Voiceless fricatives:

/ f /: fat, far
/ s /: site, cycle
/ h /: help, high
/ ʃ /: ship, she
/ θ /: think, north

3. Affricates
Affricates are also known as semi-plosives and are created by combining a
plosive and a fricative consonant. There are two affricatives: / t ʃ / and / dʒ /.

Both sounds are post-alveolar, which means we create them with the tongue
behind the alveolar ridge (part of the palate just behind your upper teeth,
before the hard palate). The sound / tʃ / is a voiceless affricate, while the
sound / dʒ / is a voiced affricate.

/ tʃ /: chair, choose
/ dʒ /: jump, jet

4. Nasals
Nasal consonants, also known nasal stops, are made by blocking the airflow
from the mouth, so it comes out of the nose instead. In nasal vowels, by
contrast, the sound is generated by lowering the soft palate to allow the
airflow out of both mouth and nose.
The consonants / m, n, ŋ / are not caused by the nose, but by the tongue or
lips that prevent the airflow. Because of the vibration of the vocal cords, we
consider nasal consonants voiced.

There are three nasal consonants: / m, n, ŋ /.

/ m /: mirror, melody
/ n /: name, nose
/ ŋ /: working, long

NASAL

BILABIAL m

ALVEOLAR n

VELAR ŋ

5. Approximants
Without any contact, approximants are also known as frictionless
continuants, created by air moving between the vocal organs. Approximants,
also known as lateral sounds, are created by allowing the airflow to leave by
the sides of the mouth.

There are four approximant groups, as follows:

Bilabial approximant: the sound is made by the lips almost closing but
without any contact.
With / w / in words like where wind and we.
Palatal approximant: the sound is made by the middle of the tongue almost
touching the palate.
With / j / in words like yell, yes and you.
Bilabial and palatal approximants are semi-vowels, as the sound /w/ is similar
to /u/ and /j/ is similar to /i/. Semi-vowels have a similar sound to vowels, but
they are not vowels because they are non-syllabic. Non-syllabic means they
have no nucleus for a syllable.

Alveolar approximants
Alveolar lateral approximant: the sound is created by the tip tongue
forming a closure with the alveolar ridge allowing the airflow to leave by the
sides.

With / l / in words like mall, hall and like.

Alveolar frictionless approximant: the sound is created by the tongue tip
almost making contact with the alveolar ridge.

With / r / in words like rose, run and red.