Pull Out All the Stops π
So you've read about the different articulators involved in English sound production, let's talk about manner of articulation next.
Manner of articulation is how the sound is produced. The combination of HOW and WHERE in the mouth is important and specific to each sound.
We'll start with Plosives a.k.a. Stops.
Plosives - The cork Popper
Plosives are defined as sounds originating from air pressure from the lungs in which the vocal tract is blocked so that all airflow ceases.
Imagine a garden hose with a cork jammed in it. Blocked.
Just like a cartoon where pressure is backed up, air pressure builds behind the obstruction until it is released.
So in this category of sounds, some component work together to block off airflow through the vocal tract. Once that pressure is released, an audible sound is made.
Now in the garden hose analogy, you typically imagine the cork jamming the end of the garden hose, but the cork can theoretically jam anywhere along the hose. As long as the cork is jamming somewhere along the hose, it stops the water.
Corks anywhere and everywhere along the hose
Stops are similar. We can block the airflow right at the end with our lips, but we can also block the airflow anywhere along the vocal tract with the different parts of our mouth and throat like the tongue or the vocal cords.
Just like how a cork pops off a wine bottle and you have an audible sound, the release of the compressed air in your mouth or throat also can make a sound. That's the sound of a plosive or stop.
In English, stop consonants include the P, B, T, D, K and G (denoted by the symbols /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, and /g/ respectively). We've also got a glottal stop, denoted with the 'Κ' symbol (looks like a question mark without a break between the dot and the curly part). This is a sound made when the vocal cords close together and air pressure builds up below the vocal cords.
M, N, and NG (denoted by the /m/, /n/ and /Ε/ symbols respectively) are considered nasal "plosives" so I'll discuss them separately in a future blog post.
But there you have it. It's a pretty quick and easy post. The concept is simple enough as well. No one said linguistics or speech production needed to be hard.
Most languages in the world have either a P or B sound which are good archetypal sounds to understand the concept of a stop. But keep in mind, some languages don't. According to Ian Maddieson, just 5 languages lack a bilabial stop. They are all indigenous to North America and include Tlingit, Chipewyan, Oneida, and Wichita.
If a native-Chipewyan speaker was learning English for the first time, they may never consider using the top and bottom lips together to block airflow. It isn't because they can't. They still have an upper and bottom lip. It's just simply not something they do in Chipewyan.
Here are 2 quick exercises I challenge you to do to become more attuned to your own sounds.
Consider P and B sounds. What is different about them? What feels different?
Consider the T and K sounds. What differs between them? What feels different?
Part of the experience is also exploring your mouth and learning the feelings involved in each sound produced. So, exploring even without knowing the theoretical answer can be effective in gaining a proprioceptive intuition about your own body.
