Week 4: The /t/-consonant sound in English

The /t/-consonant sound in English
Voicing	voiceless
Place of articulation	alveolar
Manner of articulation	stop

1.  Words containing /t/

tea	adult
tell	winter
attack	hot
coat	attractive

2.  Contrastive words

/t/	/d/	/t/	/d/
tear	dear	bat	bad
tie	die / dye	neat	need
time	dime	hat	had
to / too	do	coat	code
town	down	hit	hid

3.  Sentences to practice

1	A	Do you have the time?
	B	Do you have the dime?
2	A	Can you tile it?
	B	Can you dial it?
3	a	Did you say “tore?”
	B	Did you say “door?”
4	A	I like the tie.
	B	I like the die.
5	A	Will you write it?
	B	Will you ride it?

Week 4: The /p/-consonant sound in English

The /p/-consonant sound in English
Voicing	voiceless
Place of articulation	bilabial
Manner of articulation	stop

Taken from the BBC Learning English Channel in youtube.com

  1.  Words containing /p/

pack	problem
piece	public
repair	hop
type	step

2.  Contrastive words

/p/	/b/	/p/	/b/
pie	buy	staple	stable
pack	back	lap	lab
peach	beach	rip	rib
pest	best	pig	big
simple	symbol	palate	ballot

3.  Sentences to practice

1	a	Give him a pat.
	b	Give him a bat.
2	a	This is my pet.
	b	This is my bet.
3	a	Did you take the pill?
	b	Did you take the bill?
4	a	I see the palate.
	b	I see the ballot.
5	a	Is it a little pig?
	b	Is it a little big?

Week 4: The Stops

The Sounds of American English

The Stops

Stops are characterized by the complete obstruction of the airstream coming out of your mouth. Your tongue, as one of the articulators which are part of this group of consonants, is the key element in producing these sounds accurately.

Stops are divided into three subgroups:

1. Bilabial Stops

2. Alveolar Stops

3. Velar Stops

The question regarding the difference or similarity of consonants in two different languages can help us analyze these phonemes in detail. Let’s take a look at the following chart:

Phoneme	Spanish	English
/b/	voiced-bilabial	voiced-bilabial
/p/	voiceless-bilabial	voiceless-bilabial
/d/	voiced-dental	voiced-alveolar
/t/	voiceless-dental	voiceless-alveolar
/g/	voiced-velar	voiced-velar
/k/	voiceless-velar	voiceless-velar

The most important difference we have to point out is the fact that /t/ and /d/ are different in the two languages. Whereas they are dental sounds in Spanish, we must remember that when these sounds are articulated in English, they are alveolar.