How to describe consonant sounds

Hi! María here!

This post is to show you how can be described consonant sounds. 
Consonant sounds are distinguished in terms of place of articulation, manner of articulation and voicing. It seems difficult but don’t worry, it’s very simple. 

The articulation of consonants implies some kind of obstruction of the air passage. The place of articulation is the meeting point between an active and a passive articulator (the articulators which make the obstruction). The active articulator usually moves in order to make the constriction and the passive articulator just sits there and gets approached. In this image we can see the articulators:

In English we find eight places of articulation: bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, post-alveolar, palatal, velar and glottal.

1. Bilabial: it's done by bringing both lips together . 
2. Labiodental: it's is done with the lower lip and the upper teeth. 
3. Dental: it's done with the tongue and the upper teeth. 
4. Alveolar: it's done with the tongue and the alveolar ridge. 
5. Post-alveolar: it's done with the blade of the tongue and the back of the alveolar ridge. 
6. Palatal: it's done with the front of the tongue and the hard palate. 
7. Velar: it's done with the back of the tongue and the soft palate. 
8. Glottal: it's done with the vocal folds open.

The manner of articulation is the degree of the airstream's obstruction and the type of closure made by the articulators. In English there are seven manners of articulation: plosive, nasal, fricative, approximant, lateral, tap and affricate.

1. Plosive: it's made when the articulators are tight united producing a complete obstruction of the airstream. When the air finally separates the articulators a small explosion is produced. 
2. Nasal: it's made when there is a complete obstruction of the airstream in the oral cavity and the air goes to the nasal cavity because the soft palate (or velum) is down. 
3. Fricative: it's made by a narrowing of the vocal tract, so that a turbulent airflow is produced.
4. Aproximant: it's made by one articulator approaching another, but with less constriction than in a fricative. 
5. Lateral: it's made by an obstruction in the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth so the air can pass through them.
6. Tap: it's made by a single tap of the tongue against the alveolar ridge. 
7. Affricate: it's made by the combination of a plosive with a fricative.

Finally the voicing allows us to distinguish between voiced and voiceless sounds. This is easy to test by putting your finger on your throat. If you feel a vibration the sound is voiced. If you don't feel the vibration (just a short explosion of air as you pronounce) the sound is voiceless.

In the next post we are goint to learn to describe vocal sounds with Ana.
Thank you for your attention! J