In articulatory phonetics, the manner of articulation is the configuration and interaction of the
articulators when making a speech sound. One parameter of manner is stricture, that is,
how closely the speech organs approach one another. Others include those involved in
the r-like sounds, and the sibilancy of fricatives. The concept of manner is mainly used in discussion
of consonants, although the movement of the articulators will also greatly alter the resonant
properties of the vocal tract, thereby changing the formant structure of speech sounds that
is crucial for the identification of vowels. For consonants, the place of articulation
and the degree of phonation of voicing are considered separately from manner, as being
independent parameters. Homorganic consonants, which have the same place of articulation,
may have different manner of articulation. Often nasality and laterality are included
in manner, but some phoneticians, such as Peter Ladefoged, consider them to be independent.
Stricture From greatest to least stricture, speech sounds
may be classified along a cline as stop consonants, fricative consonants, approximants, and vowels.
Affricates often behave as if they were intermediate between stops and fricatives, but phonetically
they are sequences of stop plus fricative. Historically, sounds may move along this cline
toward less stricture in a process called lenition. The reverse process is fortition.
Other parameters Sibilants are distinguished from other fricatives
by the shape of the tongue and how the airflow is directed over the teeth. Fricatives at
coronal places of articulation may be sibilant or non-sibilant, sibilants being the more
common. Taps and flaps are similar to very brief stops.
However, their articulation and behavior is distinct enough to be considered a separate
manner, rather than just length. Trills involve the vibration of one of the
speech organs. Since trilling is a separate parameter from stricture, the two may be combined.
Increasing the stricture of a typical trill results in a trilled fricative. Trilled affricates
are also known. Nasal airflow may be added as an independent
parameter to any speech sound. It is most commonly found in nasal occlusives and nasal
vowels, but nasalized fricatives, taps, and approximants are also found. When a sound
is not nasal, it is called oral. Laterality is the release of airflow at the
side of the tongue. This can also be combined with other manners, resulting in lateral approximants,
lateral flaps, and lateral fricatives and affricates.
Individual manners Stop, an oral occlusive, where there is occlusion
of the oral vocal tract, and no nasal air flow, so the air flow stops completely. Examples
include English /p t k/ and /b d ɡ/. If the consonant is voiced, the voicing is the only
sound made during occlusion; if it is voiceless, a stop is completely silent. What we hear
as a or is the effect that the onset of the occlusion has on the preceding vowel, as well
as the release burst and its effect on the following vowel. The shape and position of
the tongue determine the resonant cavity that gives different stops their characteristic
sounds. All languages have stops. Nasal, a nasal occlusive, where there is occlusion
of the oral tract, but air passes through the nose. The shape and position of the tongue
determine the resonant cavity that gives different nasals their characteristic sounds. Examples
include English /m, n/. Nearly all languages have nasals, the only exceptions being in
the area of Puget Sound and a single language on Bougainville Island.
Fricative, sometimes called spirant, where there is continuous frication at the place
of articulation. Examples include English /f, s/, /v, z/, etc. Most languages have fricatives,
though many have only an . However, the Indigenous Australian languages are almost completely
devoid of fricatives of any kind.
Sibilants are a type of fricative where the airflow is guided by a groove in the tongue
toward the teeth, creating a high-pitched and very distinctive sound. These are by far
the most common fricatives. Fricatives at coronal places of articulation are usually,
though not always, sibilants. English sibilants include and .
Lateral fricatives are a rare type of fricative, where the frication occurs on one or both
sides of the edge of the tongue. The "ll" of Welsh and the "hl" of Zulu are lateral
fricatives.
Affricate, which begins like a stop, but this releases into a fricative rather than having
a separate release of its own. The English letters "ch" [tʃ] and "j" [dʒ] represent
affricates. Affricates are quite common around the world, though less common than fricatives.
Flap, often called a tap, is a momentary closure of the oral cavity. The "tt" of "utter" and
the "dd" of "udder" are pronounced as a flap [ɾ] in North American and Australian English.
Many linguists distinguish taps from flaps, but there is no consensus on what the difference
might be. No language relies on such a difference. There are also lateral flaps.
Trill, in which the articulator is held in place, and the airstream causes it to vibrate.
The double "r" of Spanish "perro" is a trill. Trills and flaps, where there are one or more
brief occlusions, constitute a class of consonant called rhotics.
Approximant, where there is very little obstruction. Examples include English and . In some languages,
such as Spanish, there are sounds that seem to fall between fricative and approximant.
One use of the word semivowel, sometimes called a glide, is a type of approximant, pronounced
like a vowel but with the tongue closer to the roof of the mouth, so that there is slight
turbulence. In English, is the semivowel equivalent of the vowel , and is the semivowel equivalent
of the vowel in this usage. Other descriptions use semivowel for vowel-like sounds that are
not syllabic, but do not have the increased stricture of approximants. These are found
as elements in diphthongs. The word may also be used to cover both concepts. The term glide
is newer than semivowel, being used to indicate an essential quality of sounds such as and
, which is the movement from their initial position to a following vowel.
Lateral approximants, usually shortened to lateral, are a type of approximant pronounced
with the side of the tongue. English is a lateral. Together with the rhotics, which
have similar behavior in many languages, these form a class of consonant called liquids.
Broader classifications Manners of articulation with substantial obstruction
of the airflow are called obstruents. These are prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents
are extremely common as well. Manners without such obstruction are called sonorants because
they are nearly always voiced. Voiceless sonorants are uncommon, but are found in Welsh and Classical
Greek, in Standard Tibetan, and the "wh" in those dialects of English that distinguish
"which" from "witch". Sonorants may also be called resonants, and
some linguists prefer that term, restricting the word 'sonorant' to non-vocoid resonants.
Another common distinction is between occlusives and continuants; affricates are considered
to be both, because they are sequences of stop plus fricative.
Other airstream initiations All of these manners of articulation are pronounced
with an airstream mechanism called pulmonic egressive, meaning that the air flows outward,
and is powered by the lungs. Other airstream mechanisms are possible. Sounds that rely
on some of these include: Ejectives, which are glottalic egressive.
That is, the airstream is powered by an upward movement of the glottis rather than by the
lungs or diaphragm. Stops, affricates, and occasionally fricatives may occur as ejectives.
All ejectives are voiceless, or at least transition from voiced to voiceless.
Implosives, which are glottalic ingressive. Here the glottis moves downward, but the lungs
may be used simultaneously, and in some languages no air may actually flow into the mouth. Implosive
stops are not uncommon, but implosive affricates and fricatives are rare. Voiceless implosives
are also rare. Clicks, which are lingual ingressive. Here
the back of the tongue is used to create a vacuum in the mouth, causing air to rush in
when the forward occlusion is released. Clicks may be oral or nasal, stop or affricate, central
or lateral, voiced or voiceless. They are extremely rare in normal words outside Southern
Africa. However, English has a click in its "tsk tsk" sound, and another is often used
to say "giddy up" to a horse. Combinations of these, in some analyses, in
a single consonsant: linguo-pulmonic and linguo-glottalic consonants, which are clicks released into
either a pulmonic or ejective stop/fricative. See also
Index of phonetics articles Articulatory phonetics
Place of articulation Basis of articulation
Diction Phonation
Airstream mechanism Relative articulation
Nonexplosive stop Vocal tract
Human voice Source-filter model of speech production
Bibliography Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian. The Sounds
of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.
External links Movie clip showing the human articulators
in action Interactive place and manner of articulation
Interactive Flash website for American English, Spanish and German sounds