Language In Consonants Essay

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the sounds of language in consonants In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are [p], pronounced with the lips; [t], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f] and[s], pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting with consonants are vowels(1). Since the number of possible sounds in all of the world's languages is much greater than the number of letters in any one alphabet, linguists have devised systems such as the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to assign a unique and unambiguous symbol to each attested consonant. In fact, the English…show more content…
Manners include stops, fricatives, and nasals. The place of articulation is where in the vocal tract the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and which speech organs are involved. Places includebilabial (both lips), alveolar (tongue against the gum ridge), and velar (tongue against soft palate). In addition, there may be a simultaneous narrowing at another place of articulation, such as palatalisation or pharyngealisation. The phonation of a consonant is how the vocal cords vibrate during the articulation. When the vocal cords vibrate fully, the consonant is calledvoiced; when they do not vibrate at all, it is voiceless. The voice onset time (VOT) indicates the timing of the phonation. Aspiration is a feature of VOT. The airstream mechanism is how the air moving through the vocal tract is powered. Most languages have exclusively pulmonic egressiveconsonants, which use the lungs and diaphragm, but ejectives, clicks, and implosives use different

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