PRONOUNCING ENGLISH CONSONANTS


Consonant Sounds are produced by completely or partially stopping the breath. Consonant Sounds can be voiceless (VL, no vibration of the vocal cords) or voiced (VD, vibration of the vocal cords) and often come in sound pairs. The symbols used for consonants are shown in the following table. Where symbols appear in pairs, the one to the left is voiceless, the one to the right voiced.
 
Bilabial
Labio- dental
Labio- velar
Dental
Alveolar
Post- alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal

Stop
p  b
 
 
 
t  d
 
 
k  g
 

Affricate
 
 
 
 
 

  

 
 
 

Nasal
m
 
 
 
n
 
 


 

Fricative
 
f  v
 

  

s  z

  

 
(x)
h

Approximant
 
 

  W
 


 
j
 
 

Lateral approximant
 
 
 
 
l
 
 
 
 


/p/: pit
/b/: bit
/t/: tin
/d/: din
/k/: cut
/g/: gut
/
/: cheap
/
/: jeep
/m/: map
/n/: nap
/
/: bang
/f/: fat
/v/: vat
/
/: thin
/
/: then
/s/: sap
/z/: zap
/
/: she
/
/: measure
/x/: loch, Chanukah (often replaced by /h-/ and /-k/)
/h/: ham
/
/: whine (also written /hw/), (only when distinguishing whine/wine, which/witch; otherwise replaced by /w/)
/w/: we
/
/: run (often written /r/ in broad transcription)
/j/: yes
/l/: left


Voicing and aspiration