IPA INITIAL INTERNAL FINAL

p Please Purple Help

b Book Noble Web
f Five Fifty Golf
v Vanilla Seven Five
Thirty Nothing Path
They Father Breathe
t Ten Autumn Hit
d Dsh Widow Red
s Sir Thesis Books
z Zero Freezing Jazz
She Mushroom Radish
t Cheers Picture March
d Jump Major Cage
k King Baker Pink
g Good August Drag
m May Humid Lamb
n No Raining Green
- Singer Spring
w Winter Snowing -
j Yellow Mayor -
h Hot Mishap -
l Look Eleven Cool
r or Red Orange Or

Articulatory phonetics American English1

1 Almost every information here was extracted from

http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html
Manner of articulation refers to how the sound is produced and the way in which the
airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract.

STOP / PLOSIVE - a stop is a consonant characterized by: 1. Complete obstruction of the

outgoing airstream by the articulator; 2. A build up of intraoral air pressure; 3. A release
Voiceless Voiced
Bilabial /p/ /b/
Lingua-alveolar /t/ /d/
Lingua-velar /k/ /g/

FRICATIVE a fricative is a consonant produced by forcing the breath stream through a

constriction formed by articulators in the vocal tract.
Voiceless Voiced
Labiodental /f/ /v/
Lingua-dental / / / /
Lingua-alveolar /s/ /z/
Lingua-palatal / / / /
Glottal /h/

AFFRICATE an affricate is a consonant characterized as having both a fricative and a

stop manner of production.
Voiceless Voiced
Labio-alveolar /t/ /d/
NASAL nasal refers to a consonant produced with complete closure in the oral cavity
along with a lowered velum to allow airflow through the nasal cavity.
Voiceless Voiced
bilabial /m/
Lingua-alveolar /n/
Lingua-velar //

LIQUID liquid is a generic label used to classify two English approximant consonants,
the rhotic /r/ ou // (as in REST) and the lateral /l/ (as in LESS).
Voiceless Voiced
Lingua-alveolar /l/
Lingua-palatal /r/

GLIDE a glide is a consonant characterized by a continued, gliding motion of the

articulators into the following vowel, also referred to as a semi-vowel, e.g., /j/ and /w/.
Voiceless Voiced
bilabial /w/
Lingua-palatal /j/

FLAP / TAP a type of consonant sound produced with a single contraction of the muscles
so that one articulator (such as the tongue) is thrown against another.
Voiceless Voiced
Alveolar // (water)

___________________________________________________________________
Place of articulation refers to which articulators are involved in the production of a
particular sound.

BILABIAL refers to a speech sound, such as /b/, produced by contact of the upper and
lower lips.
Voiceless Voiced
Stop /p/ /b/
Nasal /m/
Glide /w/

LABIO-DENTAL a labiodental consonant is one that is produced by the lower lip

contacting the upper front teeth.
Voiceless Voiced
Fricative /f/ /v/
LINGUA-DENTAL a linguadental consonant is produced with the tongue contacting the
teeth.
Voiceless Voiced
Fricative / / / /

LINGUA-ALVEOLAR refers to a consonant produced with the tongue contacting the

upper alveolar ridge.
Voiceless Voiced
Stop /t/ /d/
Fricative /s/ /z/
Affricate /t/ /d/
Nasal /n/
Liquid /l/

LINGUA-PALATAL a linguapalatal consonant is produced with the tongue contacting the

hard palate.
Voiceless Voiced
Fricative / / / /
Liquid /r/
Glide /j/

LINGUA-VELAR refers to a consonant produced with the tongue contacting the velum.
Voiceless Voiced
Stop /k/ /g/
Nasal //

GLOTTAL is a place of articulation referring to a consonante that is produced by

completely or partially constricting the glottis.
Voiceless Voiced
Fricative /h/
___________________________________________________________________
Voice refers to whether the vocal folds are vibrating during a production of a particular
consonant.

VOICED a voiced sound is produced with vibration of the adducted vocal folds in the
larynx.
Voiced
Stop /b/ /d/ /g/
Fricative /v/ / / /z/ / /
Affricate /d/
Nasal /m/ /n/ //
Liquid /l/ /r/
Glide /w/ /j/

VOICELESS voiceless sounds are consonants produced without vibration of the vocal
folds.
Voiceless
Stop /p/ /t/ /k/
Fricative /f/ / / /s/ / / /h/
Affricate /t/
Exercise
1. Write the MANNER, PLACE AND VOICE of each one:
/b/ _____________________________________________________________________
/m/ _____________________________________________________________________
/p/ _____________________________________________________________________
/n/ _____________________________________________________________________
/w/ _____________________________________________________________________
/r/ ______________________________________________________________________
/l/ ______________________________________________________________________
/s/ _____________________________________________________________________
/z/ _____________________________________________________________________
/t/ ______________________________________________________________________
/d/ _____________________________________________________________________
/f/ ______________________________________________________________________
/g/ _____________________________________________________________________
/h/ _____________________________________________________________________
/j/ ______________________________________________________________________
/k/ _____________________________________________________________________
/v/ _____________________________________________________________________
/ / _____________________________________________________________________
/ / _____________________________________________________________________
/t/ _____________________________________________________________________
/d/ ____________________________________________________________________
/ / _____________________________________________________________________
/ / _____________________________________________________________________
// __________________________________________ _______________________________

2. Access http://soundsofspeech.uiowa.edu/english/english.html to practice more.

Some extra info:

 IPA what it means2

The vertical line () is used to show word stress. It is placed before the stressed syllable in a

word.

means that r is always pronounced in American English, but not in British English. For
example, if we write that FA R is pronounced /f:/, we mean that it is pronounced /f:r/ in
American English, and /f:/ in British English.

However, in BrE, r will be heard if is followed by a vowel. For example,FA R GO NE is

pronounced /f: gn/ in BrE, but FAR OUT is pronounced/f: rat/.

i is usually pronounced like a shorter version of i:, but sometimes (especially in an old-
i fashioned British accent) it can sound like . Examples: VERY /veri/,CREATE /kri
et/, P REVIOUS /pri:vis/, ABILIT Y /blti/.

l represents either a syllabic l or, less commonly, l. Syllabic l is an l which acts as a vowel

l and forms a syllable, as in LITT LE /ltl/, U NCLE /kl/.

Instead of l, some dictionaries use a regular l, as in /ltl/.

n represents either a syllabic n or, less commonly, n. Syllabic n is an n which acts as a vowel

n and forms a syllable, as in WRITTEN /rtn/, LIS TEN /lsn/.

Instead of n, some dictionaries use a regular n, as in /rtn/.

2 Extracted from http://www.antimoon.com/how/pronunc-soundsipa.htm