Place of Articulation

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In phonetics and phonology, we refer to the place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing when describing consonant production.

In this article, we'll look at:

The definition of 'place of articulation'
The different places of articulation
A chart of the different places of articulation
Different types of consonants

Voicing refers to if a consonant sound is voiced or voiceless (like whispering).

Manner of articulation refers to the way in which articulators release the airflow to create a consonant sound.

Place of articulation: definition

The place of articulation refers to where the articulators (tongue, teeth, lips or glottis) make contact in the vocal tract to create consonant sounds. Let's look at the process of consonant production to see where the place of articulation fits in.

The process of consonant production is:

Air builds up in the lungs;
Air then moves toward the trachea, larynx and pharynx;
The diaphragm and chest muscles control airflow;
The vocal cords in the larynx, start a vibration cycle which builds up air pressure and generates acoustic waves;
The airflow can go either through the oral cavity or the nasal cavity, depending on the sound.
Finally, the air is modified by the articulators (lips, tongue, teeth and palate).

The gap between the vocal cords is called the glottis and can be either closed (so no air passes through), partially open (making the vocal folds vibrate to make “voiced sounds”) or open (the airflow passes through with no vibration to make “Voiceless sounds”).

Places of articulation

Speech sounds are separated according to their place of articulation and manner of articulation. There are eight places of articulation:

Bilabial: contact between the lips;
Labio-dental: contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth;
Dental: contact between the tip of the tongue and the area just behind the upper teeth;
Alveolar: contact between the tongue and the Alveolar ridge (this is the ridged area between the upper teeth and the hard palate);
Palatal: contact between the tongue and the hard palate or Alveolar ridge;
Post-alveolar: contact between the tongue and the back of the Alveolar ridge;
Velar: contact between the tongue and the soft palate;
Glottal: restriction of the airflow at the glottis.

Place of articulation: chart

Take a look at the chart below for the eight different places of articulation.

Place of Articulation, Place of articulation diagram, Vaia Fig. 1 - There are eight different places of articulation.

Place of articulation: coronal, dorsal and labial consonants

Let's now look in more detail at how we group these consonants in places of articulation:

1. Coronal

Coronal consonants are speech sounds made with the most flexible part of the mouth: the tongue. Coronal consonants can be bilabial, dental, labiodental, alveolar and post-alveolar.

There are four further sub-categories:

Apical: made by the tip of the tongue;
Laminal: made by the blade of the tongue;
Domed: made when the tongue bends upwards;
Sub-apical: made at the bottom of the tongue.

In English, the coronal consonants are / l, s, z, n, d, t /. It is good to be aware of coronal consonants, especially if you are learning a new language because it helps to know which part of the tongue to use.

2. Dorsal

Dorsal consonants are speech sounds created with the tongue, but they use the body of the tongue rather than the tip or the blade. Dorsal consonants include palatal and velar consonants.

Because of the flexibility of the tongue's dorsum (its back), we can reach a wide area in the roof of the mouth: from the hard palate (where we form the palatal consonants) to the velum (where we form the velar consonants).

In we have four types of dorsal consonants in English:

Voice palatal approximant: made with the middle or back of the tongue touching the hard palate.
Voiced velar nasal: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate, with airflow escaping from the nose.
Voiced velar plosive: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate and the vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiceless velar plosive: made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate with no vibration of the vocal cords.

3. Labial

Labial consonants are speech sounds created when one or both lips interact as active articulators. As we have seen before, labial consonant divide in bilabial and labio-dental.

There are five ways of making labials in English:

Voiceless bilabial plosive: articulated with both lips and with no vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiced bilabial plosive: articulated with both lips and with the vibration of the vocal cords.
Labiodental nasal: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with the airflow escaping through the nose.
Voiceless labiodental fricative: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with no vibration of the vocal cords.
Voiced labiodental fricative: articulated with the lower lip and upper teeth, with the vibration of the vocal cords.

Place of Articulation - Key takeaways

Place of articulation, or point of articulation, is about the points of contact between the articulators and the vocal tract.
There are eight places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, glottal, and velar.
Coronal consonants are speech sounds made with the most flexible part of the mouth: the tongue. They include bilabial, dental, labiodental, alveolar and post-alveolar.
Dorsal consonants are speech sounds created with the tongue, but they use the body of the tongue rather than the tip or the blade. Dorsal consonants include palatal and velar consonants.
Labial consonants are speech sounds created when one or both lips interact as active articulators. As we have seen before, labial consonant divide in bilabial and labio-dental.

Frequently Asked Questions about Place of Articulation

We refer to the place of articulation where the articulators in the vocal tract make contact (or not) to create the sound of the consonant.

We have eight categories in the places of articulation: bilabial, labio-dental, dental, alveolar, velar, post-alveolar, glottal, and palatal.

A bilabial consonant sound is created by the lips making contact with each other.

The glottis consonant is the sound created by the airflow cutting in the vocal cords.

A velar consonant sound is created by the tongue making contact with the soft palate.

Final Place of Articulation Quiz

Place of Articulation Quiz - Teste dein Wissen

Question

Choose the right answer - Which one of the below consonants is labio-dental?

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Answer

f, v

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Question

What is a dental consonant?

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Answer

A dental consonant sound is created by the tip tongue making contact with the upper teeth.

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What is a palatal consonant?

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Answer

A palatal consonant sound is created by the tongue's contact with the hard palate and the alveolar ridge.

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Question

Can you give two examples of dental consonant sounds?

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Answer

Two dental sounds are: / θ / “th” in think or thick and / ð / “th” in that or rather.

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Question

Choose the correct answer - Which ones are velar consonant sounds?

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Answer

k, g, ŋ

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Question

True or false - The postalveolar consonant sound is created with the lips.

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Answer

False. The postalveolar sound is created by the tongue making contact with the area before the alveolar ridge.

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Question

What is the definition of a coronal consonant?

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Answer

A coronal consonant is a speech sound made with the most flexible part of the mouth: the tongue. Coronal consonants include bilabial, dental, labiodental, alveolar and post-alveolar.

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Question

W.hat is the definition of a dorsal consonant?

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Answer

A dorsal consonant is a speech sound created with the tongue, but they use the body of the tongue rather than the tip or the blade. Posterior consonants include palatal and velar consonants.

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Question

What is the definition of a labial consonant?

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Answer

A labial consonant is a sound speech created when one or both lips interact as active articulators. As we have seen before, labial consonant divide in bilabial and labio-dental.

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Question

How many coronal consonants do we have in the English language? Which ones?

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Answer

W.e have four. They are apical, laminal, domed and sub-apical.

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Question

How many dorsal consonants do we have in the English language? Which ones?

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Answer

We have four types and they are:

Voice palatal approximant
Voiced velar nasal
Voiced velar plosive
Voiceless velar plosive

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Question

How many labial consonants do we have in the English language? Which ones?

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Answer

We have five and they are:

Voiceless bilabial plosive
Voiced bilabial plosive
Labiodental nasal
Voiceless labiodental fricative
Voiced labiodental fricative

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Question

How many places of articulation do we have?

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Answer

W.e have seven places of articulation.

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Question

True or false - Postalveolar consonants are created by the tongue making contact with the upper teeth.

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Answer

False. Postalveolar consonants are created by the tongue making contact with the back of the Alveolar ridge.

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Question

What is the place of articulation

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Answer

We refer to the place of articulation or point of articulation, where the articulators (tongue, teeth, lips or glottis) in the vocal tract make contact (or not) to create the sound of the consonant.

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Question

True or false - Voiced velar plosive are consonants made with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate and the vibration of the vocal cords.

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Answer

True.

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Question

Which of these refers to where the articulators make contact in the vocal tract?

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Answer

Place of articulation

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Question

Which of these is not an articulator?

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Answer

Uvula

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Question

What is the first step in the process of consonant production?

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Answer

Air builds up in the lungs.

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How is a 'dental' consonant sound produced?

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Answer

The tongue makes contact with the teeth.

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What is the velum?

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Answer

The velum, also known as the soft palate, is part of the roof of the mouth located behind the hard palate.

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A velar consonant is a sound that involves a constriction between the _____ and the velum.

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Answer

body of the tongue

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Question

Which of the following are velar consonants in English?

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Answer

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Question

The velar plosives are:

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Answer

[k, g]

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What is the articulatory description for the sound [k]?

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Answer

voiceless velar plosive

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What is the articulatory description for the sound [g]?

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Answer

voiced velar plosive

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True or false: the velar fricatives are not phonemes in English.

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Answer

True. Even though they show up in some English expressions, the velar fricatives can't set one word apart from another in English.

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Question

During a velar _____ , air is forced quickly through the constriction at the velum, creating a turbulent noise.

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Answer

fricative

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The velar fricatives are:

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Answer

[x, ɣ]

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Question

In a nasal stop, the velum _____ to allow air to pass through the nose.

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Answer

lowers

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What is the articulatory description for the sound [x]?

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Answer

voiceless velar fricative

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What is the articulatory description for the sound [ɣ]?

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Answer

voiced velar fricative

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Question

True or false: all nasal sounds are velar nasals.

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Answer

False. Although the lowering of the velum is part of all nasal sounds, the velar nasal only describes the nasal consonant with a constriction between the body of the tongue and the velum.

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Question

What is the articulatory description for the sound [m]?

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Answer

bilabial nasal

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What is the articulatory description for the sound [ŋ]?

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Answer

velar nasal

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Question

What is velar fronting?

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Answer

Velar fronting is a child speech pattern of replacing velar consonants with more frontal consonants.

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Question

True or false: a child pronouncing cat as tat is an example of velar fronting.

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Answer

True. The velar plosive [k] has been replaced with the alveolar plosive [t]. This is an example of velar fronting.

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Question

True or false: a child pronouncing goat as coat is an example of velar fronting.

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Answer

False. This pronunciation doesn't involve moving the velar consonant [g] to a more frontal place of articulation.

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Question

What does alveolar refer to?

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Answer

A place of articulation

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Question

True or false: Alveolar sounds can be either vowels or consonants?

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Answer

False

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Where are alveolar sounds articulated?

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Answer

Alveolar ridge

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Question

Fill in the blanks:

The alveolar ridge is located at the _____ of the mouth _____ the _____.

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Answer

1. top

2. behind

3. teeth

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Question

True or false: Alveolar sounds can only be voiced.

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Answer

False - there are both voiced and voiceless alveolar sounds.

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Question

How is an alveolar consonant sound produced?

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Answer

An alveolar consonant sound is produced when the obstruction to the airflow takes place at the alveolar ridge.

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Question

Which articulator is used to produce sounds at the alveolar ridge?

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Answer

Tongue

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How many areas of the tongue are there?

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Which of these isn't a part of the tongue referred to in phonetics?

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Answer

middle

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How are the alveolar plosive sounds produced?

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Answer

The tongue creates a complete obstruction to the airflow at the alveolar ridge and then releases the air quickly.

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Question

Which of these are the two alveolar plosive sounds?

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Answer

/t/

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Question

How is the following sound described, and how is it produced?

/n/

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Answer

Voiced alveolar nasal

This is produced when the blade of the tongue is touching the alveolar ridge and air is released through the nasal cavity.

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Place of Articulation

Place of articulation: definition

Places of articulation

Place of articulation: chart

Place of articulation: coronal, dorsal and labial consonants

1. Coronal

2. Dorsal

3. Labial

Place of Articulation - Key takeaways

Frequently Asked Questions about Place of Articulation

What do we mean by place of articulation?

How many categories of the place of articulation do we have? What are they?

What is a bilabial consonant?

What is a glottis consonant?

What do we call a velar consonant?

Final Place of Articulation Quiz

Place of Articulation Quiz - Teste dein Wissen

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