English consonants and how to make them

So you’re working on your English pronunciation and accent? Well you’re in luck. Here’s a quick and simple guide to English sounds and how to make them. Well, it’s as simple as I can make it while still mentioning the necessary phonetic terminology necessary for you to understand how to produce the sounds and check if you’re pronouncing them accurately.

In this two part series, I’ll be teaching you how to pronounce English consonants and then vowels. I’ll explain the parts of the mouth that create them as well as the physical processes that result in these sounds. Knowing this is essential if you want to systematically and scientifically improve your pronunciation (and accent). In addition, by understanding how sounds are created, you can check how they differ from sounds in your own target language.

The three parts of consonant phonemes

So let’s start with some key terminology before learning about how to produce English phonemes. What’s a phoneme? A phoneme is a sound that has meaning in a language’s system, AKA its phonology. That is to say, if you mix one phoneme for another phoneme, you might say a completely different word and thus confuse people. For example, in English, led and red are different words because /l/ and /r/ are different phonemes. However, in Japanese /l/ and /r/ are not different phonemes, so if you said sayonala instead of sayonara the word that is understood is the same (although one version is pronounced in a better accent).

Now that we know what a phoneme, let’s discuss how they’re produced. Consonant phonemes are defined by three attributes in how they are articulated. I’ll explain this in detail later, but briefly these are 1) voicing, 2) place of articulation, and 3) manner of articulation.

1) Voicing

et’s start with voicing. All sounds are either voiced or voiceless. This refers to the state of the vocal cords when you produce the sound. If the vocal cords vibrate when you produce the sound, then it’s a voiced sound. If they are still, then the sound is voiceless.

To check if a sound is voiced or voiceless, place your hand on your throat while producing the sound. If there’s a vibration, then it’s a voiced sound and if not it is voiceless. Note: Some sounds are harder to check for with regards to voicing, especially if you add a vowel to the sound, i.e. if you say “puh” rather than just “p”, then you may actually feel the vibration of the vowel, and all vowels are voiced.

Try it now.

Put your hand to your throat and say “ssssss” like a snake. You should feel no vibration because /s/ is a voiceless consonant. Now say “zzzzzz” like an fly. You should feel some vibration because /z/ is a voiced sound. Click here to watch a more in-depth explanation on voicing, which is also a video from my pronunciation video course.

Learning to check if the sound you’re producing is voiced correctly is helpful because English has a lot of voiced consonant sounds. In contrast, many common languages have fewer voiced consonant than English does, either because they naturally have fewer of them, or because through phonological processes their voiced consonants get de-voiced. Because of this, it’s likely that you will need to check if you are correctly voicing your English consonants. This is a useful skill in improving your English pronunciation and accent.

English voiced consonants mostly stay voiced. However, in many languages like Slavic & Germanic languages, voiced sounds may devoice in certain phonetic environments. In others, such as Chinese languages, such as Cantonese, there are very few voiced sounds in the first place. You can download my free guide to most common pronunciation problems according to your native language.

2) Place of Articulation

Place of articulation refers to where you place the articulators.

The articulators are the parts of the mouth you control to create sounds, the most important of which are the lips and the tongue. Understanding the anatomy of the mouth and where sounds are created can help you in your practice. If you can feel where your articulators are, you can verify that you are correctly pronouncing the sounds. Now, let’s go through the places of English consonant phonemes.

Lips: The two lips come together to create bilabial sounds because bi means two and labia means lips. These include the consonants /p, b, m, w/

Teeth: The tongue and the teeth interact to create dental sounds, including the sounds for the words “this” and “thin” /th, dh/.

Lips + teeth: English also has labio-dental sounds, meaning the lips and teeth interact. These are the sounds /f, v/. These are often problematic for Korean and Spanish speakers.

Alveolar ridge: Behind the top front teeth is the alveolar ridge. The tongue makes contact with this part of the mouth to create a variety of sounds. These are: /t, d, n, s, z, r, l/

Postalveolar area: When the tongue interacts with the area behind the alveolar ridge you get post-alveolar sounds because they are… post (behind) - alveolar. These include: /sh, zh, and r/. You might notice I’ve included /r/ twice as alveolar and post-alveolar. This is because for some speakers it is alveolar while for others it is post-alveolar.

Palate: Behind the post alveolar area you get the palate, sometimes called the hard palate. English only has one real sound here /j/ as in “yeah”

Velum: At the back of the mouth you get the velum, the part of the mouth just before the dangly bit which is called the uvula. While English doesn’t have any uvular sounds, English has the following velar sounds: /k, g, ng/. The ng sound in particular is problematic for many Slavic speakers. Get a free pronunciation guide here [download link].

Glottis: Finally, at the bottom of the throat near the vocal cords you have the glottis, a part of the oral tract that opens and closes to produce sounds. English again only has one sound here, the /h/ sound.

3) Manner of Articulation

The last attribute that produces different consonants is the manner of articulation. The manner indicates the way the sound is produced, usually by different physical movements of the articulators creating a different type of airflow. Let’s look at the the different manners of articulation.

Plosives: Plosives are created from a type of explosive action. Specifically, when your articulators block off the air flow allowing pressure to build up before releasing that air, you create a plosive sound. English has the following plosive sounds: p/b, t/d, k/g. You may sometimes hear these called stop consonants too. Students usually don’t have problems with plosives, but in case you do, make sure you have a buildup of pressure that is released.

Fricatives: Fricatives are produced with friction-filled air. Your articulators come together but don’t fully close the oral passage way so the air is forced turbulently through a narrow passage creating a sound. English fricatives include s/z, ʃ/ʒ, θ/ð, f/v. Students that have problems with fricatives often produce the fricative with insufficient friction, such as Slavic speakers or German speakers. Get my free pronunciation guide here.

Affricates: Affricates are basically a combination of a plosive followed immediately by a fricative. Therefore, if you pronounce the affricate slowly, you’ll notice some pressure at the beginning from blocked airflow followed by a continuous turbulent airflow. English affricates include ch and dg.

Nasals: Nasals in English are more accurately called nasal stops. This is because you stop the air in the mouth either with the lips, or using the tongue to block off air at the alveolar ridge or velum. This forces the air to exit through the nose, creating a nasal consonant. English nasals include m, n, ng

Approximants: Approximants are similar to fricatives except there’s no friction. Your articulators narrow the oral passageway somewhat, but still allow for a smooth airflow to escape the mouth. English approximants include j,w, r,l sounds.

Further improvement

So now you know how English consonants are produced and the ways in which they differ from each other. They are either voiced or voiceless whereas the articulators interact with the mouth at different places of articulation in different manners of articulation. Now, armed with this knowledge, you should be able to check if you’re producing the sounds accurately.

Another way you can practice sounds is with my English pronunciation video course, which goes through every single English phoneme and how to produce them. It contains video explanations, exercises, and audio recordings to check your pronunciation. It’s designed to be comprehensive but still step-by-step so you can easily complete it on your own in your own time.

In addition, you can also receive a free guide to common pronunciation problems that speakers of your mother tongue have, such as Russian speakers, or Portuguese speakers or Spanish speakers. This free guide lists out common phonemes that speakers of your background may mispronounce so you know which areas of your pronunciation to work on.

I hope that was helpful, if you have any questions, you can always email me at adrian@accentamazing.com