The Study
of Sounds.
Before English can be spelled, it has to be spoken — and speech begins in a narrow tract of muscle, cartilage and bone that turns moving air into meaning. This is the map of that tract, and the sounds it makes.
Opens, as generations of students' textbooks have, with T. S. Watt's 1954 verse on the strange distance between English spelling and English sound.
A slice of head, in three dimensions
"What we need is a slice of head," the textbooks say — crack it right down the middle and every structure used in speech comes into view. Drag to orbit the model, tap a number or a name to identify a part, and toggle the airflow to watch the airstream itself move through the tract.
Slowing down the chatter of everyday talk
As we speak, we don't produce a random selection of the sounds our vocal tract can make — only certain sounds are selected, on a regular basis, as meaningful. Identifying and describing them means slowing that stream down to look at each individual segment. Symbols for these sounds, drawn from the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), are always written inside square brackets — [p], [ʃ], [aɪ].
How sounds are made
The study of how speech sounds are articulated — which parts of the vocal tract move, and how. This is the branch this page focuses on.
How sounds travel
Deals with the physical properties of speech as sound waves moving through the air.
How sounds are heard
Also called perceptual phonetics — the study of how the ear perceives speech sounds.
Three features describe every consonant
When we describe how a consonant is articulated, we focus on three things: whether it is voiced or voiceless, where in the vocal tract it is made (place of articulation), and how the airflow is shaped there (manner of articulation).
Vocal folds spread apart
Air from the lungs passes between the vocal folds with no obstruction, producing a voiceless sound — no vibration.
Vocal folds drawn together
Air repeatedly pushes the folds apart as it passes through, vibrating them, producing a voiced sound.
Place of articulation
Once air passes the larynx, it travels up through the pharynx and out through the mouth and/or nose. Most consonants are formed by using the tongue and other parts of the mouth to constrict the shape of this passage at a particular place.
Both lips
[p] pop · [b] Bob · [m] mom · [w] wet
Upper teeth + lower lip
[f] fat · [v] vat — both appear in five.
Tongue tip + teeth
[θ] "theta" — thin, wrath · [ð] "eth" — thus, feather
Tongue tip → alveolar ridge
[t] tot · [d] dad · [s] size · [z] size · [r] rail · [l] rail · [n] nun
Tongue + palate
[ʃ] shout · [tʃ] child · [ʒ] treasure · [dʒ] judge · [j] yes
Back of tongue / open glottis
[k] kick · [g] gag · [ŋ] "angma" — thong · [h] have
| Consonants | Voiceless | Voiced | Place of articulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bilabials | [p] | [b] [m] [w] | both lips |
| Labiodentals | [f] | [v] | upper teeth with lower lip |
| Dentals | [θ] | [ð] | tongue tip behind upper teeth |
| Alveolars | [t] [s] | [d] [z] [n] [l] [r] | tongue tip to alveolar ridge |
| Palatals | [ʃ] [tʃ] | [ʒ] [dʒ] [j] | tongue and palate |
| Velars | [k] | [g] [ŋ] | back of tongue and velum |
| Glottals | [h] | — | space between vocal folds |
Manner of articulation
[t] and [s] are both voiceless alveolars, yet clearly different sounds — the difference lies in how the airflow is shaped as it passes: their manner of articulation.
Block, then release
Airflow is briefly blocked, then let go abruptly — almost a small explosion. [p t k b d g]
Squeeze through a gap
Airflow is almost blocked, then escapes through a narrow gap, creating friction. [f θ s ʃ h v ð z ʒ]
Stop, then fricative
A brief stop combined immediately with a fricative. [tʃ] cheap · [dʒ] jeep
Out through the nose
The velum lowers, letting air flow out through the nose. [m n ŋ]
Round the sides
The tongue raises and curls, letting airflow escape around its sides. [l r]
Toward or from a vowel
Also called approximants or semi-vowels — the tongue moves toward or away from a vowel position. [w j]
| Consonants | Voiceless | Voiced | Manner of articulation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stops | [p] [t] [k] | [b] [d] [g] | block airflow, let it go abruptly |
| Fricatives | [f] [θ] [s] [ʃ] [h] | [v] [ð] [z] [ʒ] | almost block airflow, escape through a narrow gap |
| Affricates | [tʃ] | [dʒ] | a brief stop combined with a fricative |
| Nasals | — | [m] [n] [ŋ] | lower the velum, air flows through the nose |
| Liquids | — | [l] [r] | raise and curl tongue, air escapes round the sides |
| Glides | — | [w] [j] | move the tongue to or from a vowel |
The full consonant chart
Place of articulation runs along the top; manner runs down the side. −V marks voiceless, +V marks voiced.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| −V | +V | −V | +V | −V | +V | −V | +V | −V | +V | −V | +V | −V | +V | |
| Stops | p | b | t | d | k | g | ||||||||
| Fricatives | f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | h | |||||
| Affricates | tʃ | dʒ | ||||||||||||
| Nasals | m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||
| Liquids | l r | |||||||||||||
| Glides | w | j | ||||||||||||
Free-flowing, and always voiced
Where consonants obstruct the airflow, vowels are produced with a relatively free flow of air, and are typically all voiced. We describe them by where the tongue sits: front or back, high or low. Say heat, hit, hat, hot in front of a mirror — your mouth stays fairly closed for the first two, high-front vowels, then opens wider as the tongue lowers for the last two.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| High | i | u | |
| ɪ | ʊ | ||
| Mid | e | ə | o |
| ɛ | ʌ | ɔ | |
| Low | æ | ||
| a | ɑ |
[i] bead, key · [ɪ] bid, myth · [ɛ] bed, said · [æ] bad, wrap
[ə] above, oven · [ʌ] butt, tough
[u] boo, move · [ʊ] book, put · [ɔ] born, fall · [ɑ] cot, swan
Diphthongs: two vowels, one glide
A diphthong is a single sound made of the vocal organs gliding from one vowel position to another. [aɪ] glides low-to-high-front, as in Hi or Bye. [aʊ] glides low-to-high-back, as in the classic training phrase "how now brown cow."
| poor | peer | pair | pour | pyre | power | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| American | [pʊr] | [pir] | [peɪr] | [poʊr] | [paɪər] | [paʊər] |
| British | [pʊə] | [pɪə] | [pɛə] | [pɔə] | [paɪə] | [paʊə] |
Southern British English typically omits the final [r] that American varieties pronounce — especially among higher social-status speakers.
The full IPA chart
English uses only a fraction of the sounds human vocal tracts can produce. The complete International Phonetic Alphabet catalogues every pulmonic consonant and vowel used in the world's languages — the sounds covered earlier on this page are highlighted in bold.
Pulmonic consonants
Where symbols are paired, the left is voiceless and the right is voiced. A blank cell means the combination is not used in any known language, or is judged impossible to articulate.
| Bilabial | Labio‑dental | Dental | Alveolar | Post‑alveolar | Retroflex | Palatal | Velar | Uvular | Pharyngeal | Glottal | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plosive | p b | t d | ʈ ɖ | c ɟ | k g | q ɢ | ʔ | ||||
| Nasal | m | ɱ | n | ɳ | ɲ | ŋ | ɴ | ||||
| Trill | ʙ | r | ʀ | ||||||||
| Tap / flap | ⱱ | ɾ | ɽ | ||||||||
| Fricative | ɸ β | f v | θ ð | s z | ʃ ʒ | ʂ ʐ | ç ʝ | x ɣ | χ ʁ | ħ ʕ | h ɦ |
| Lateral fricative | ɬ ɮ | ||||||||||
| Approximant | ʋ | ɹ | ɻ | j | ɰ | ||||||
| Lateral approximant | l | ɭ | ʎ | ʟ |
Vowels
Arranged by tongue height (rows) and front–to–back tongue position (columns). Where symbols are paired, the left is unrounded and the right is rounded.
| Front | Central | Back | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Close | i y | ɨ ʉ | ɯ u |
| Near-close | ɪ ʏ | ʊ | |
| Close-mid | e ø | ɘ ɵ | ɤ o |
| Mid | ə | ||
| Open-mid | ɛ œ | ɜ ʌ ɞ | ɔ |
| Near-open | æ | ɐ | |
| Open | a ɶ | ɑ ɒ |
Twenty questions on the sounds of speech
From the organs of speech to vowels and diphthongs — check your bearings, then check your answers.
Take it into the classroom
A printable worksheet: students label the organs of speech from a blank numbered diagram, then work through matching questions on phonetics — with a full answer key for teachers on the last page.