Week 2: Consonant Features (2)

Place of Articulation

Not only voicing is used to classify consonants; place or point of articulation in another feature that is used as well. Place of articulation is directly linked with our speech apparatus because all of its parts play an important role in consonant sound production.

Based on where we place our tongues within our mouths or its interaction with other parts of the speech apparatus, we can classify sounds accordingly. There are seven different categories of sounds if classified with this second consonant feature:

1. Bilabial consonant sounds

2. Labio-dental consonant sounds

3. Interdental consonant sounds

4. Alveolar consonant sounds

5. Palatal consonant sounds

6. Velar consonant sounds

7. Glottal consonant sounds

Knowing the points of articulation of sounds has two advantages. On the one hand, you can self-correct your pronunciation and reduce your accent in English. On the other hand, having this knowledge accessible implies that you can correct your future students to avoid using Spanish sounds (or any other language sounds) to speak English.