3. MANNER AND PLACE OF ARTICULATION OF THE ENGLISH CONSONANTS
Bilabial Labiodental Dental Alveolar Palatal Velar glottal
Stops: breath is fully
stopped and then
released
Voiceless /p/ /t/ /k/ /ʔ/
Voiced /b/ /d/ /g/
Fricatives: breath causes
friction
Voiceless /f/ /θ/ /s/ /ʃ/ /h/
Voiced /v/ /ð/ /z/ /ʒ/
Affricates: breath is
stopped and friction
follows.
Voiceless /tʃ/
Voiced /dʒ/
Nasals: breath is
released through the
nose
Voiced /m/ /n/ /ŋ/
Liquids:
breath does
not cause
friction
Lateral
Voiced
/l/
Retroflex /r/
flap /r/2
Semivowels: mouth
moves from one position
to another
Voiced /w/ /y/
PBF Pronunciation Course
99. Silent B
B is not pronounced when following M
at the end of a word:
climb
crumb
dumb
comb
100. Silent C
C is not pronounced in the ending
"scle“:
muscle
101. Silent D
D is not pronounced in the following
common words:
handkerchief
sandwich
Wednesday
102. Silent E
E is not pronounced at the end of
words and usually makes the vowel
long :
hope
drive
gave
write
site
103. Silent GH
GH is not pronounced before T and at
the end of many words:
Thought fight
through weigh
daughter right
light
might
104. Silent H
H is not pronounced when following
W. Some speakers whisper the H
before the W :
what
when
where
whether
why
105. Silent H
H is not pronounced at the beginning
of many words. Use the article "an"
with unvoiced H. Here are some of the
most common:
hour
honest
honor
heir
herb
106. Pronounced H
H is pronounced at the beginning of
these common words. Use the article
"a" with voiced H:
hill
history
height
happy
hangover
107. Silent K
K is not pronounced when followed by
N at the beginning of a word:
knife
knee
know
knock
knowledge
108. Silent L
L is often not pronounced before D, F,
M, K:
Calm would
half should
salmon
talk
balk
109. Silent N
N is not pronounced following M at the
end of a word:
autumn
hymn
110. Silent P
P is not pronounced at the beginning
of many words using the suffix "psych"
and "pneu":
psychiatrist
pneumonia
psychotherapy
psychotic
111. Silent S
S is not pronounced before L in the
following words:
island
isle
112. Silent T
T is not pronounced in these common
words:
Castle thistle
Christmas whistle
fasten
listen
often
113. Silent U
U is not pronounced after G and before
a vowel :
guess
guidance
guitar
guest
114. Silent W
W is not pronounced at the beginning
of a word followed by an R:
wrap
write
wrong
115. Silent W
W is not pronounced with these three
pronouns:
who
whose
whom
116.
117. What is connected speech?
When we speak naturally we do not pronounce a
word, stop, then say the next word in the sentence.
Fluent speech flows with a rhythm and the words
bump into each other. To make speech flow smoothly
the way we pronounce the end and beginning of some
words can change depending on the sounds at the
beginning and end of those words.
These changes are described as features of connected
speech.
118. Sounds link
Linking is a way of joining the pronunciation of two
words so that they are easy to say and flow
together smoothly. In English there are different
ways that this happens.
119. Consonant to vowel linking - when the first
word ends with a consonant sound and the second
word begins with a vowel sound.
120. Vowel to vowel linking - when certain vowels come
next to each other an extra sound is added to make
the link smooth.
122. Linking 'r'
In standard British English (RP) the letter 'r' after a
vowel sound at the end of word is often not
pronounced. However, when the following word
begins with a vowel the /r/ sound is pronounced to
make a smooth link. See
123. Sounds disappear
When the sounds /t/ or /d/ occur between two
consonant sounds, they will often disappear
completely from the pronunciation.
124. Sounds join together
When a word ends in a consonant sound and the
following word begins with the same consonant
sound, we don't pronounce two sounds - both
sounds are pronounced together as one.
125. Sounds change
When a word ends in a consonant sound and the
following word begins with a consonant sound,
depending on the particular sounds, the last sound
of the first word or both the last sound and the first
sound of the next word can change.
