Voice, place and manner of articulation

In the International Phonetic Alphabet consonant (pulmonic) chart you will see that eleven places of articulation are displayed: bilabial (consonants made with both lips in contact); labiodental (consonants made with contact between the lower lip and upper teeth); and so on. These places of articulation are cross referenced with the way, or manner in which the sounds are produced. There are eight manners of articulation: plosive (or stop) consonants in which the air-flow is stopped abruptly by the articulators; nasals, in which the air flows down the nose; fricatives in which friction is created by the air passing through lightly touching articulators; and so on.

The chart also indicates which consonants are voiced (like b, d, g, v, z, etc.) and which are voiceless (like p, t, k, f, s, etc.). Where you see pairs of sounds (or voiced and voiceless cognates) the voiceless sound is on the left, and the voiced one on the right. When a voiced sound is produced the vocal cords in the larynx (voice box) vibrate. When a voiceless sound is produced the vocal cords do not vibrate. All the consonants of English can be classified in terms of "VPM" (voice-place-manner). For instance, /f/ is a voiceless labiodental fricative, and /b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive (stop).

Places of Articulation
bilabial the lower lip articulates against the upper lip labiodental the lower lip articulates against the upper teeth dental the tongue tip articulates against the upper teeth (also referred to as interdental) alveolar the tongue tip and/or blade articulates against the teeth ridge post-alveolar the tongue front articulates immediately behind the teeth ridge palatal the tongue front articulates against the hard palate velar the tongue back articulates against the soft palate labial-velar the lips are rounded simultaneously with velar articulation glottal the vocal folds themselves are the place of articulation

1. bilabial The articulators are the two lips. (We could say that the lower lip is the active articulator and the upper lip the passive articulator, though the upper lip usually moves too, at least a little.)English bilabial sounds include [p], [b], and [m].

2. labio-dental The lower lip is the active articulator and the upper teeth are the passive articulator. English labio-dental sounds include [f] and [v].

3. dental Dental sounds involve the upper teeth as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade -- diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. Extreme lamino-dental sounds are often called interdental. English interdental sounds include [ ] and [ ].

4. alveolar Alveolar sounds involve the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue blade or (usually) the tongue tip -- diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. English alveolar sounds include [t], [d], [n], [s], [z], [l].

5. postalveolar Postalveolar sounds involve the area just behind the alveolar ridge as the passive articulator. The active articulator may be either the tongue tip or (usually) the tongue blade -- diacritic symbols can be used if it matters which. English postalveolars include [ ] and [ ]. Linguists have traditionally used very inconsistent terminology in referring to the postalveolar POA. Some of the terms you may encounter for it include: palato-alveolar, alveo-palatal, alveolo-palatal, and even (especially among English-speakers) palatal. Many insist that palato-alveolar and alveo(lo)-palatal are two different things -- though they don't agree which is which. "Postalveolar", the official term used by the International Phonetic Association, is unambiguous, not to mention easier to spell.

6. retroflex In retroflex sounds, the tongue tip is curled up and back. Retroflexes can be classed as apicopostalveolar, though not all apico-postalveolars need to be curled backward enough to count as retroflex. The closest sound to a retroflex that English has is [r]. For most North Americans, the tongue tip is curled back in [r], though not as much as it is in languages that have true retroflexes. Many other North Americans use what is called a "bunched r" -- instead of curling their tongues back, they bunch the front up and push it forward to form an approximant behind the alveolar ridge.

7. palatal

The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the hard palate. The English glide [j] is a palatal.

8. velar The active articulator is the tongue body and the passive articulator is the soft palate. English velars include [k], [g], and [ ].

9. glottal This isn't strictly a place of articulation, but they had to put it in the chart somewhere. Glottal sounds are made in the larynx. For the glottal stop, the vocal cords close momentarily and cut off all airflow through the vocal tract. English uses the glottal stop in the interjection uh-uh (meaning 'no'). In [h], the vocal cords are open, but close enough together that air passing between them creates friction noise.