English consonant sounds

In contrast to the open sounds of vowels, consonants are closed sounds. This means there is some type of obstruction to the airflow from the lungs by parts of the mouth coming into contact with each other (or very nearly contacting) and so closing off the free flow of air.

Pronunciation Coach features 24 English consonants and these are arranged into five main groups. Click on the links to watch a short 3D animation of how each consonant is produced:

Group	Description	Example
Plosives	Sounds that cannot be sustained and which have a 'popping' quality	/p/ as in pea /b/ as in boy.
Nasals	Sounds in which the escaping air passes through the nasal cavity	/m/ as in map /n/ as in nap.
Fricatives	As air exits through the mouth, it forces its way through a narrowed gap to create turbulence or friction	/s/ as in so /f/ as in fit.
Affricates	Combination sounds that begin with a complete obstruction formed by the tongue tip contacting the alveolar ridge, before the air is released slowly with friction	/ʧ/ as in chop /ʤ/ as in jam.
Approximants	A group of four sustainable sounds	/w/ as in we /r/ as in red /l/ as in let /j/ as in you.

In addition to the above main groups, consonants can be further described in terms of voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation:

Voicing

Voicing refers to whether or not the vocal folds are vibrating during the production of the consonant. If they are not vibrating the sound is voiceless and if they are vibrating then the sound is voiced.

Pronunciation Coach 3D

Pronunciation Coach 3D uses state-of-the-art computer animation and 3D modelling techniques to illustrate how to pronounce all of the sounds in the English language, and how to combine these sounds to pronounce any word or sentence.

Place of articulation

Place of articulation refers to the place in the vocal tract where the two articulators come together. There are eight places:

	Place	Description
1	Bilabial	Two lips come together
2	Labio-dental	Lip and teeth come together
3	Dental	Tongue contacts the teeth
4	Alveolar ridge	Tongue tip moves towards the gum ridge just behind the upper incisors
5	Post alveolar	Tongue tip is close to the position just behind the alveolar ridge, towards the back of the mouth
6	Palatal	Tongue moves towards the roof of the mouth (palate)
7	Velar	The back of the tongue moves towards the soft palate (velum)
8	Glottal	the only glottal consonant in English is /h/ as in how. Strictly speaking, this does not involve two articulators coming together. The sound is simply the friction caused by air being expelled through the gap between the vocal cords (glottis)

Manner of articulation

Manner of articulation indicates the type of contact that is made between the two articulators and is defined simply by the five main groups described above: plosive, nasal, fricative, affricate or approximant. The table below summarises the 24 main consonants of English in terms of their voicing, place and manner. Click on the links to watch a short video of how each consonant is produced.

Phonetic symbol	Example	Manner	Place of articulation
/p/	pot	plosive	bilabial
/b/	bet	plosive	bilabial
/d/	dog	plosive	alveolar
/t/	top	plosive	alveolar
/k/	kit	plosive	velar
/g/	got	plosive	velar
/f/	fog	fricative	labio-dental
/v/	vat	fricative	labio-dental
/ɵ/	thick	fricative	dental
/ð/	that	fricative	dental
/s/	sat	fricative	alveolar
/z/	zoo	fricative	alveolar
/ʃ/	shut	fricative	post-alveolar
/ʒ/	measure	fricative	post-alveolar
/h/	help	fricative	glottal
/ʧ/	church	affricate	post-alveolar
/ʤ/	jump	affricate	post-alveolar
/m/	mom	nasal	bilabial
/n/	nod	nasal	alveolar
/ŋ/	thing	nasal	velar
/l/	lot	approximant	alveolar
/r/	rat	approximant	post-alveolar
/w/	won	approximant	bilabial
/j/	you	approximant	palatal

Consonant Sounds