The Features of Consonants
- Place of articulation: where is the obstruction occurring in the mouth?
- Manner of articulation: what is the airflow doing leaving your vocal tract?
- Voicing: are the vocal folds vibrating or not?
Consonant Phone Examples
- Fricative
- Voiceless palatal fricative
[ç]: German ich[ɪç]
- Voiceless velar fricative
[x]: Mandarin 哈 [xā]
- Voiced uvular fricative
[ʁ]: Arabic: غ[ʁ]
- Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
[ħ]Arabic: ح[ħ]
- Nasal
- Voiced labiodental nasal
[ɱ]: English emphasis[ɛɱfəsɪs]
- Voiced palatal nasal
ɲ: Spanish ña
- Trills and Flaps
- Voiced alveolar trill
[r]: Spanish carro[karo]
- Voiced alveolar flap
[ɾ]: American English kitty[kɪɾi], atom[æɾəm]
- Voiced uvular trill
[ʀ]: French fromage[fʀomaʒ], German rauchen[ʀaʊxən]
- Lateral Approximant
- Voiced palatal lateral approximant
[ʎ]: Spanish dialect Gallo[gaʎo], Italian famiglia[famiʎʎa]