Academic English Skills with Dr. Byrnes

Introduction to Consonants In the previous chapter we studied the vowels of standard American English. In this chapter we learn the pronunciation of consonants. While there are disagreements on the number of vowels, linguists are unanimous on the number of consonants of American English: 24 consonant phonemes. We present these sounds followed by the vowel ‘ah’ for clarity.  /p/ /t/ /k/ /f/ /θ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /tʃ/ /h/ /b/ /d/ /g/ /v/ /ð/ /z/ /ʒ/ /dʒ/ /m/ /n/ /ŋ/ /r/ /l/ /w/ /j/  To study the sounds of these consonants effectively, we need some system. By definition, consonants are sounds that are produced by some obstruction in the vocal tract. Due to the obstruction, there is some blockage in the airflow. Linguists use the obstruction as the key to classify consonants. The obstruction of airflow can be studied in light of where it happens and how it happens. Based on these two aspects, linguists classify consonants in light of the place of articulation and the manner of articulation....