Plosives

(i) Plosives Let us take the first group of consonant sounds, the plosives. These are six in number and include: /p/ as in ‘pet’, /b/ as in ‘bag’, /t/ as in ‘tap’, /d/ as in ‘dog’, /k/ as in ‘kite’ and /g/ as in ‘go’. You will notice that while saying these sounds the air pressure is built up due to blocking of the air stream coming out of our lungs by closing the speech organs at some point. The blocked air is then suddenly released to produce a plosive sound. /p/ Pin To produce the sound /p/: 1. Close both the lips tightly to shut the mouth cavity. 2. Let the air pressure build up. 3. Open the lips to let the air out suddenly. 4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords. See the figure given below and practice producing this sound. The first figure shows the position of lips when we begin to produce this sound, the second figure shows the position of lips immediately after the sound has been uttered. Production of the sound /p/ Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /p/ is produced. Other words : page, piece, point, pencil, punish, peace, patience, place, space, speak, spring, split ,happy,simple, important, apply, pupil, lip, dip, ship, cap, hop, leap. /b/ Ball To produce the sound /b/: 1. First practice the sound /p/. 2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords. Production of the sound /b/ Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /b/ is produced. Other words : stumble, member, hub, cub, bed, bike, bow, bite, bill, band, bay, bread, blade, block, back, bear, big, board, behave, below ,behind, about, cupboard, labour, flabby, shabby, tribal, pebbles, cobbler, cub, crab, job, cab, tribe, club, shrub, tub, cube. /t/ Table To produce the sound /t/ : 1. Press the tip of the tongue tightly against the teeth ridge. 2. Let the air pressure build up. 3. Quickly remove the tip of the tongue to let the air out suddenly. 4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords. See the figure given below and practice producing this sound. The first figure shows the initial position of the tongue and the lips while the second picture shows these positions at the final stage of pronunciation. Production of the sound /t/ Practice the sound /t/ by reading the following words aloud. /d/ Deer To produce the sound /d/ : 1. First practice the sound /t/. 2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords. See the figures given below and practice this sound. The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when we utter this sound. Production of the sound /d/ Practice saying the following words aloud with special attention to the sound /d/. /k/ Kite To produce the sound /k/ : 1. Press the back of the tongue against the soft palate (back part of the roof of the mouth). 2. Let the air pressure build up . 3. Quickly remove the back of the tongue to let the air out suddenly. 4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords. See the figure given below and practice this sound. Production of the sound /k/ Practice saying the following words aloud with special attention to the sound /k/. /g/ Girl To produce this sound /g/ : 1. First practice the sound /k/. 2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the vocal cords. This sound, like /k/, is also made by pressing the back of the tongue against the soft palate. It is accompanied by vibration of the vocal cords (throat). See the figure given below and practice this sound. The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when we utter this sound. Production of the sound /g/ Read the following words and note how the letter ‘g’ is pronounced. (ii) Affricates These sounds are also produced by the blockage of the outgoing air stream like the plosives. However, the release of air by parting of the speech organs is gradual and not sudden as inplosives. The sounds of /tʃ/ as in ‘chair’ and /dʒ/ as in ‘jug’ are affricates. /tʃ/ Chair The consonant /tʃ/ is produced by pressing the front part of the tongue against the front part of the roof of the mouth as is shown in the figure. The air is released slowly after the blockage is removed. This is a voiceless sound as there is no vibration in the vocal cords. See the figure given below and practice this sound. The two figures given below show the initial and final positions of the tongue when we utter this sound. Production of the sound /tʃ/ See the pictures given below and read the words given under them to practice this sound. (iii) Fricatives Let us take the third group of consonant sounds. These are nine in number and include: /f/ as in ‘fan’, /v/ as in ‘van’, /θ/ as in ‘think’, /ð/ as in ‘then’, /s/ as in ‘sit’, /z/ as in ‘zoo’, /ʃ/ as in ‘shoe’, /ʒ/ as in ‘pleasure’ and /h/ as in ‘hen’. These sounds are produced by a continuous flow of air through a narrow passage in the mouth made by placing the two organs of speech very close together. Now let us discuss these sounds one by one. /f/ Fan To produce the sound /f/: 1. Touch your upper teeth with the lower lip. 2. Blow out air between the teeth and the lower lip without using your voice. See the figure given below and note how the consonant sound /f/ is produced. Production of the sound /f/ Read the following words aloud and practice the sound /f/. (iv) Lateral The English sound /l/ comes under this category. The sound is called lateral (which means side) as the air stream comes out from both sides of the tongue due to blockage in the middle of the mouth. /l/ lamp To produce the sound /l/ : 1. Let the tip of the tongue touch the teeth ridge. 2. Let the air come out through the sides of the tongue. 3. Feel the vibrations in your throat. Production of the sound /l/ Read the following words aloud and note how the consonant sound /l/ is produced. Practice saying the following words which contain the sound /l/ light, line, loyal, lamb, long, late, liver, legs, handle, yellow, laugh, pull, oil, flame, loaf, lock, pillar, slide, blackboard, ladder, letter, apple. (v) Frictionless continuant The English sound /r/ as in ‘rat’ comes under this category. The air passes out through a narrow passage without any friction. /r/ rose To produce the sound /r/: 1. Put the tip of the tongue just behind the teeth ridge. 2. Let the air come out of the narrow passage near the teeth ridge. 3. Feel the vibrations in your throat. Production of the sound /r/ Read the words given below and note the sound /r/. Other words: ray, three, draw, cross, road, track, tree, river, raised, rough, rock, scream, grow, root, forest, heart, cradle. (vi) Nasals There are three nasal sounds in English-/m/ as in ‘man’, /n/ as in ‘nine’ and /ŋ/ as in ‘ring’. These are called nasals because the outgoing air stream passes through the nasal cavity in place of the oral cavity as in all other sounds. The oral cavity is closed by lowering the soft palate. /m/ Man To produce the sound /m/ : 1. Close your lips tightly 2. Let the air come out through the nose. Add voice to it. See the figure given below and practice this sound. Production of the sound /m/ Read the following words aloud and note how the sound /m/ is produced. (vii) Semi-vowels These sounds include /w/ as in ‘wall’ and /j/ as in ‘yellow’. A semi-vowel is a vowel glide in which the tongue glides from one position to another while pronouncing it. However, semi-vowels function like consonants in English speech. Hence they are termed semi-vowels. /w/ Wall To produce the sound /w/ : 1. Put your lips in a rounded position as when you say /u/. 2. Raise the back of the tongue close to the soft palate. 3. Produce the sound by quickly gliding over to the vowel sound that follows. 4. In producing this sound the lips are rounded and the tongue assumes a position required for producing the sound that follows it in the word. See the figure given below and practice this sound. Position of tongue Shape of lips Production of the sound /w/ Read the words given below and note how the consonant sound /w/ is produced. twig, watch, wallet, whale, wine, queen, wheel, wail, white, worm, railway. Consonant sounds /v/ and /w/ Some speakers use the sound /v/ for both the sounds /w/ and /v/ which leads to a confusion in meaning. Read the following pairs of words and note the way the sounds /w/ and /v/ are pronounced. vest — west vine — wine veil — whale vein — wane verse — worse Note: For producing the sound /v/ the lower lip touches the upper teeth and the lips are in approximately spread position whereas, for production of the sound /w/ the lips are rounded. /j/ Yellow To produce the sound /j/: 1. Put your lips in a position as when you say /i/. 2. Raise the back of the tongue close to the soft palate. 3. Produce the sound by quickly gliding over to the vowel sound that follows. Production of the sound /j/ Read the words given under the following pictures and note how the consonant sound /j/ containedin these words is produced.