TEMA 8 – SISTEMA FONOLÓGICO DE LA LENGUA INGLESA II: LAS CONSONANTES.

SÍMBOLOS FONÉTICOS. COMPARACIÓN CON EL SISTEMA FONÓLOGICO DE LA

LENGUA O LENGUAS OFICIALES DE LA COMUNIDAD AUTÓNOMA
CORRESPONDIENTE. English Phonological System II: Consonants. Phonetic Symbols.
Comparing phonological systems: English vs. Spanish, the official language of Madrid
Autonomous Community.

OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION
2. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM
2.1. Phonetics, phonology and phonemes.
2.2. Sound changes: modifications in the English consonants.
2.3. A standard of pronunciation: Received Pronunciation (RP).
3. THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH
3.1. The speech organs regarding consonants.
3.2. Respiration and voicing.
3.3. Articulation of the speech sounds.
3.4. Place of articulation.
3.5. Manner of articulation.
4. ENGLISH CONSONANTS: PHONETIC SYMBOLS
4.1. On defining English consonants.
4.2. The plosive consonants.
4.3. The fricative consonants.
4.4. The affricate consonants.
4.5. The nasal consonants.
4.6. Approximants.
5. COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
6. PRESENT-DAY DIRECTIONS IN PRONUNCIATION
7. CONCLUSION
8. BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. INTRODUCTION
Topic number 8 deals with the English phonological system, the articulation of the speech and the organs involved, the
consonants sound with their phonetic symbols and the comparison with the Spanish phonological system, among other
things. To start with, it is important to justify this topic in the English curriculum. In the past, grammar and lexical aspects
were considered the primary aspects of learning a foreign language, so other important parts were disregarded. The new
Organic Law LOMLOE “Ley Orgánica de Modificación de la LOE” 3/2020 has proposed a new communicative approach to
foreign languages, and this approach implies not only the consideration of grammatical aspects and vocabulary, but also
cultural, historical, and social characteristics of the English language.
Pronunciation plays an important part in our everyday lives, since if we mispronounced a word, we could change the
whole meaning of what we are trying to say. It is relevant to know the sounds that we can use while speaking either
Spanish or English because a failure in pronunciation, as I said before, can mean a total misunderstanding of the message
we are trying to transmit. As Zelda Fitzgerald said, “pronunciation has made any innocent word sounds like a doctor’s
order for a stomach pump”. In this context, this topic has a relevant role in the English curriculum as it deals with the
phonological aspects and it can be a tool to teach our students some of the basic and fundamental competences such as
the communicative competence.
All topics concerning phonology are interrelated and they should be treated as a whole, for instance, in order to
understand this topic much better, we should take into consideration other topics, such as topic 7, which deals with the
English phonological system regarding the vowels or topic 9 which deals with stress, rhythm and intonation.
To carry out this unit I will present a short theoretical framework of the English phonological system, defining phonetics,
phonology and phonemes, and referring to the some of the changes consonants have gone throughout English history
and what is understood by Received Pronunciation. After that, the next section will deal with the articulation of the speech
and the organs involved in it, then I will explain the consonant sounds with their phonetic symbols. The following section
will be about the comparison of the English phonological system with the Spanish one, the present-day directions of
pronunciation and a conclusion on this present study. Finally, you will find the bibliography used to elaborate this topic.
2. A THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK OF THE ENGLISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEM
2.1. Phonetics, phonology and phonemes.
To begin with, I am going to explain the main differences between phonetics and phonology, which although they sound
similar, they belong to different fields.
Phonetics is a Science of Language and studies speech sounds according to their production in the vocal organs, their
physical properties, or their effect on the ear. It is part of Historical Science that carries out a chronological study of speech
sounds and deals with phonemes as semantic entities, the evolution of sounds and the full range of human ways to
articulate sounds.
On the other hand, phonology is an auxiliary discipline of Linguistics. It focuses on the study of the distribution and
patterning of speech sounds in a language and of the tacit rules governing language pronunciation. Phonology
distinguishes between segmental (phonemic), and suprasegmental (prosodic) levels of language and it deals with the
physiology of sounds of an existing language, the actual production of sounds, the speaking and the selection of patterns
of sounds that form a language.
Regarding phonemes, Gimson (1980) described it as the smallest contrastive linguistic unit which may bring about a
change of meaning. So, a unit is called phoneme, and the complete set of these units is called the phonemic system of
the language. Also, they are abstract, but there are many slightly different ways in which we make the sounds that
represent these phonemes, just as there are many ways in which we may make a mark on a piece of paper to represent
a particular letter of the alphabet. A phoneme is a part of a morpheme where it has a distinctive function when occurs in
a strong position and a contrastive function when in a weak position. In a strong position, a phoneme distinguishes
morphemes and words, whereas in a weak position, where sound variations do not indicate a change in meaning, they
are called allophones. The sound of phonemes may differ according to three factors which are the position of each unit
in the chain of sounds, the context where speech is produced and the speaker’s individual features.
When we talk about how phonemes function in language, and the relationships among the different phonemes, we are
studying what we know as phonology. Only by studying both the phonetics and the phonology of English is possible to
acquire a full understanding of the use of sounds in English speech.

2.2. Sound changes: modifications in the English consonants

Due to a relative freedom in spelling for centuries before the 18th century, the history of spoken English from Old English
to its present-day form, has undergone important changes which have affected every aspect of the language, its
morphology, syntax, and vocabulary, and in particular, pronunciation.
Consonants have been subject to less changes than vowels, for a consonantal articulation usually involves an
approximation of organs which can be felt. In fact, such an articulation tends to be more stable in that it is more easily
identified and transmitted more exactly from one generation to another.
According to Gimson (1980), there are three main types of consonant changes: modification of sound, loss, or addition.
He also claimed that it is usually possible to explain the type of modification which has taken place and the approximate
period during which it occurred. Firstly, regarding loss of sounds, we note that double consonants in words were lost by
late Middle English, certain other consonant clusters were no longer tolerated by Middle English (/hl, hr, hn/) and /kn, gn,
wr/ in the early Modern English period. Also, post-vocalic /r/ was lost in the south-east of England in the 18th century.
Secondly, regarding modification and loss, allophones of certain phonemes were also lost, the allophone of /g/ in late Old
English and the allophones of /h/ in the 17th century. Finally, regarding addition, new phonemes emerged, as for example,
the sounds of church and Jane in Old English, the sounds of view /v/, the /d/, and she’s /z/ in Middle English, and the
sounds of sing /nasal n/ and Jane in early Modern English.

2.3. A standard pronunciation: Received Pronunciation (RP)

It is a fact that English language is sensitive to variations in pronunciation, and that, socially speaking, there is an attitude
towards certain set of sound values which is considered to be more acceptable than others. So, a standard pronunciation
exists, although it has never been explicitly imposed by any official body. This unofficial standard emerges from disparities
between the speech sounds of younger and older generations, different parts of the country, and, also, social classes. For
reasons of politics, commerce, and the presence of the Court, it was the pronunciation of the south-east of England that
this prestige was attached. This standard is called Received Pronunciation (RP).
The speech of the Court increasingly acquired a prestige value and, in time, lost some of the local characteristics of London
speech. With the spread of education, the situation arose in which an educated man might not belong to the upper classes
and still retain his regional characteristics. Those eager for social advancement felt obliged to modify their accent in the
direction of the social standard. Pronunciation was a marker of position in society.
Great prestige is still attached to this implicitly accepted social standard of pronunciation since it has become widely
known and accepted through the advent of the radio and TV. RP often became identified in the public mind with “BBC
English”. This special position has become the form of pronunciation most commonly described in books about the
phonetics of British English and traditionally taught to foreigners.
3. THE PRODUCTION OF SPEECH
3.1. The speech organs regarding consonants
The larynx has several very important functions in speech, but before we can look at these functions we must examine
its anatomy and physiology, how it is constructed and how it works. The larynx is in the neck. Its main structure is made
of cartilage, a material that is similar to bone but less hard. Its structure is made of two large cartilages. These are hollow
and are attached to the top of the trachea, when we breathe, the air passes through the trachea and the larynx. The front
of the larynx comes to a point and you can feel this point at the front of your neck. This point is commonly called the
Adam’s Apple.

Inside the “box” made by these two cartilages are the vocal folds, two thick flaps of muscle rather like a pair of lips. At the
front of the vocal folds are joined together and fixed to the inside of the thyroid cartilage. At the back they are attached
to a pair of small cartilages called the arytenoid cartilages so that if the arytenoid cartilages move, the vocal folds will
move too.
The arytenoid cartilages are attached to the top of the cricoid cartilage, but they can move so as to move the vocal folds
apart or together. We use the word glottis to refer to the opening between the vocal folds. If they are apart we say that
the glottis is open, if they are pressed together we say that the glottis is closed. We can produce a very complex range of
changes in the vocal folds and their positions. These changes are often important in speech. Let’s look at four easily
recognizable states of the vocal folds:
- Wide apart. For normal breathing and usually during voiceless consonants like p, f, s.
- Narrow glottis. If air is passed through the glottis when it is narrowed the result is a fricative sound for which the
symbol is h. It is called a voiceless glottal fricative.
- Position for vocal fold vibration. When the edges of the vocal folds are touching each other, or nearly touching,
air passing through the glottis will usually cause vibration. Air is pressed up from the lungs and this air pushes the
vocal folds apart so that a little air escape. As the air flows quickly past the edges of the vocal folds, the folds are
brought together again. This opening and closing happens very rapidly and is repeated regularly, averaging
roughly between two and three hundred times per second in a woman’s voice and half that rate in adult men.
- Vocal folds tightly closed. They are pressed together so that air cannot pass between them. When this happens
in speech we call it a glottal stop or glottal plosive, for which we use the symbol ?.

3.2. Respiration and voicing

When air is made to move out of the lungs we say that there is an egressive pulmonic airstream. All speech sounds are
made with some movement of air, and the egressive pulmonic is by far the most commonly found in the languages of the
world.
How is air moved into and out of the lungs? The lungs are like sponges that can fill with air, and they are contained in the
rib cage. If the rib cage is lifted upwards and outwards there is more space in the chest for the lungs and they expand,
with the result that they take in more air. If we allow the rib cage to return to its rest position quite slowly, some of the
air is expelled and can be used for producing speech sounds. If we wish to make the egressive pulmonic airstream continue
without breathing in again we can make the rib cage press down on the lungs so that more air is expelled.
To make speech sound we must obstruct the air flow in some way. We obstruct the airflow by making one or more
obstructions or strictures in the vocal tract, and one place where we can make a stricture is in the larynx, by bringing the
vocal folds close to each other. If the vocal folds vibrate we will hear the sound that we call voicing or phonation. There
are many different sorts of voicing that we can produce. They can, for example, be made longer or shorter, more tense
or more relaxed or be more or less strongly pressed together. The pressure of the air below the vocal folds can also be
varied. Three main differences are found:
- Variations in intensity. We produce voicing with high intensity for shouting and low intensity for speaking quiety.
- Variations in frequency. If the vocal folds vibrate rapidly, the voicing is at high frequency. If there are fewer
vibrations per second the frequency is lower.
- Variations in quality. We can produce different-sounding voice qualities, such as those we might call harsh,
breathy, murmured or creaky.

3.3. Articulation of the speech sounds

According to Gimson (1980), any communicative act by means of speech involves a highly complicated series of events
on the part of the speaker. This manifestation of language has been described as a physiological process where we can
distinguish three main stages, as follow.
The first stage is called psychological since the formulation of the concept takes place at a mental level in the brain. Then,
the message is transmitted by the nervous system to the organs of speech, which in turn, on taking a provision of air,
produce a particular pattern of sound in a conversational manner, as it is learned by experience.
The second stage is known as the articulatory stage, takes place when our organs of speech move and then create
disturbances in the air, or whatever the medium may be through which we are talking. The phonatory organs move in
terms of quality of voice to make the appropriate sound.
The third stage is called the acoustic stage. This is the end of the production chain where the listener appreciates
significant features in the speech chain since we deal with the reception of the sound waves by the hearing apparatus.
These three stages require a listener and a speaker for the message to be sent and received, but for our purposes, we
should focus on the speaker, and more especially, on the concrete speech level which involves the production of sounds
rather than the transmission of the information along the nervous system to the brain, and the linguistic interpretation
of the message.

3.4. Place of articulation

Important points of articulation in English may be clearly seen from left to right, starting by the upper lip, the teeth, the
roof of the mouth, beginning with the alveolar ridge and continuing back through the hard palate area to the velum. They
are summarized as follows:
- Labial consonants are divided into two types: bilabial when sounds are produced with the two lips, and
labiodental when sounds are produced with the upper teeth and inner lower lip.
- Dental consonants when the tongue tip is on or near the inner surface of the upper teeth.
- Alveolar consonants when the tongue tip and blade is on or near the tooth ridge.
- Post-alveolar consonants are produced when the tip and rims of the tongue articulate with the rear part of the
alveolar ridge but not touching it.
- Palate-alveolar consonants when the blade, or the tip and blade, of the tongue articulates with the alveolar ridge
and there is at the same time a raising of the front of the tongue towards the hard palate.
- Palatal consonant when the tongue blade or body is articulated near the hard palate. However, this consonant is
usually included in the category of semi-vowel as from the point of view of phonetic description.
- Velar consonants when the back of the tongue is on or near the soft palate.
- Glottal consonant is produced by air passing from the windpipe through the vocal cords, causing friction but not
vibration. This sound is articulated in the glottis and it is known as the glottal stop.
3.5. Manner of articulation
In the production of consonant sounds, consonant sounds involve some narrowing of the articulatory passageway, or
some obstruction of the airflow due to the different configurations of the speech organs. As the air encounters these
obstacles, different kinds of sounds are produced. The manner of articulation refers to the type of obstacle course the air
takes in producing different kind of sounds:
- Plosives. The airstream is blocked or stopped completely before its release, and suddenly the air escapes making
an explosive sound. They are divided into three groups: bilabial, alveolar and velar.
- Fricatives. When the articulatory organs approach but do not touch each other and the air is forced through the
passageway in the mouth or throat causing continuous friction.
- Affricates. Combination of a stop and a fricative. Air pressure is first built up, and it is released through a narrow
passageway like a fricative.
- Nasals. The air passes through the nasal cavity since the oral passage is closed and the velum moves forward to
free the nasal cavity.
- Lateral (or approximant). The airstream flows along the sides of the tongue, and it has two allophones.
- Frictionless continuant. The tongue tip is near the alveopalatal area but does not touch the roof of the mouth.
- Semi-consonant glides. Also called semi-vowels because they consist of a quick, smooth, non-friction glide
towards a following vowel sound. The airstream moves through the oral chamber in a relatively unobstructed
manner.

4. ENGLISH CONSONANTS: PHONETIC SYMBOLS

4.1. On defining English consonants
Following O’Connor (1988), there are good reasons to consider consonants much more important than vowels as if we
leave out all the vowels sounds and pronounce only the consonants, most English would still be fairly easy to understand.
One way to think of consonant sounds is as the solid block with which we construct words, phrases, and sentences, and
which are connected or held together by the vowels of a language, considered to be a more fluid material. Together
provide the basic structure to create the architecture of a language, and meaningful sound combinations.
According to Gimson (1980), this process of commutation is carried out by 24 distinctive units which may be defined,
first, in terms of their function, by which a consonant cannot usually constitute the peak of a syllable, and therefore it is
considered to be as a non-central or marginal element, and secondly, in terms of their phonetic nature, where the vocal
cord vibration can be interrupted and there is obstruction of the airflow when the various articulators approach each
other.

4.2. The plosive consonants

 Voiceless bilabial plosive /p/. Formed by closing the lips and raising the soft palate, the air is compressed by
pressure from the lungs. When the lips are opened, the air suddenly rushes out and makes an explosive sound.
Do not vibrate. When it is followed by a stressed vowel, it is aspirated (“pay, part”). It corresponds to letter p and
sometimes is silent (“pneumatic, psychology”).
 Voiced bilabial plosive /b/. Like consonant /p/, but the rush of air is less strong. Vibrate. When it is followed by
/m/ or /n/, nasal plosion is used (“submit, subnormal). It corresponds to letter b and sometimes is silent, before
t (“debt, doubt”) and final and following m (“lamb, comb”).
 Voiceless alveolar plosive /t/. Formed by closing the lips and raising the soft palate, the tip of the tongue pressed
against the teeth ridge, the air is compressed by pressure from the lungs. When the tongue is lowered, the air
suddenly rushes out and makes an explosive sound. Do not vibrate. When it is followed by a stressed vowel, it is
aspirated (“take, tea”). A dental /t/ is used before dental fricatives /Ɵ/ and /đ/ (“eighth, look at this”). It
corresponds to letter t, but also consider some proper names with th (“Anthony, Thames”) and the past tense of
some regular verbs (“worked, stamped”). Sometimes it is silent: between s and l (“castle, wrestle”), words ending
in -sten (“fasten, listen”), French origin ending (“ballet, bouquet”).
 Voiced dental plosive /d/. Like consonant plosive /t/, but the rush of air is less strong. Vibrate. A dental /d/ is
used before dental fricatives /Ɵ/ and /đ/ (“width”). When it is followed by /m/ or /n/, nasal plosion is used
(“sadness”). Post-alveolar /d/ is used before /r/ (“dry”). It corresponds to letter d and also past tense of some
regular verbs (“climbed, planned, plunged”). Sometimes is silent, between n and another consonant
(“handsome”).
 Voiceless velar plosive /k/. The back of the tongue is pressed against the soft palate, which is raised, the air is
compressed by pressure from the lungs, when the tongue is lowered the air suddenly rushes out and makes an
explosive sound. Do not vibrate. When it is followed by a stressed vowel, it is aspirated (“key, come”). A lip
rounding /k/ is used before semi-vowel /w/. It is pronounced with nasal plosion before nasal consonants
(“bacon”). It corresponds to letters k, c, ch, qu and x (“king, call, Christmas, queen, conquer, box”) and it is silent
in initial position and followed by n (“knee, know”).
  Voiced velar plosive /g/. Like plosive consonant /k/, but the rush of air is less strong. Vibrate. It may be
pronounced further forward or backward according to adjacent vowel /i/ or /o/ (“guitar, got”). A lip rounding /g/
is used before semi-vowel /w/ (“language”). It is pronounced with nasal plosion before nasal consonants
(“pregnant”). It corresponds to letter g when followed by vowels a, o, u, consonant or when it is final (“gate, goa,
gun, glass”). Sometimes it is followed by e, i (“get, give”). Prefix ex- is usually pronounced /gz/ when followed by
stressed vowel (“examine, exist”) and sometimes is silent: initial position and followed by n (“gnaw”), final
position and followed by n (“sign”) and the group gm (“diaphragm”).
 The glottal stop /?/. It is formed by closing the glottis and by contact with the vocal cords, when the glottis opens
and the vocal cords separate, air rushes out. Do not vibrate. It is used when a word beginning with a stressed
vowel is emphasized (“it, ate”), it may substitute /t/ in unstressed positions (“bottle, butter”), it may be used to
separate words and avoid confusion, it separates vowels when there is not natural glide (“Maria asked”), it is
often used with d, t, k, g, b, or p when one of those sounds happen at the end of a word or syllable (“light, flight,
grip”). It is also heard in words that end in t + vowel + n (“button, cotton, kitten”).

4.3. The fricative consonants

 Voiceless labio-dental fricative /f/. The obstacle is formed by the lower lip against the upper teeth, the soft palate
is raised, the glottis is open. Do not vibrate. Usually spelt f, ff, or ph and sometimes the group gh (“enough, laugh”).
 Voiced labio-dental fricative /v/. It is pronounced like phoneme /f/. Vibrate. Usually spelt v (“van, vet”) and
sometimes the group ph (“Stephen”).
 Voiceless dental fricative /Ɵ/. The obstacle is formed by the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth, the soft
palate is raised. Do not vibrate. It is usually spelt th in initial position except pronouns and some adverbs (“thanks,
theme, thorn”), at the end of a word (“mouth”), in the middle of non-Germanic words (“healthy”) and plural of
nouns that are preceded by a short vowel -moth, a consonant -months, or r-births.
 Voiced dental fricative /đ/. Like phoneme /Ɵ/ but vibrate. It is spelt with th in pronouns (“this, they”) and
determiners (“the, there”), in the middle of words of German origin (“father”), in final position and followed by
mute e (“bathe, breathe”) and plural of nouns ending in th which are not preceded by r and contain a long vowel
or diphthong (“paths, mouths”).
 Voiceless blade-alveolar fricative /s/. The obstacle is formed by the blade of the tongue against the teeth ridge,
the front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate, the teeth are close together and the soft palate is raised.
Do not vibrate. The tip of the tongue is lowered and there are different qualities of the hiss. It is written s in final
position when following a voiceless sound (“books, stamps”) and in medial position s may be pronounced /s/ or
/z/. it may also be spelt ss (“pass”), c or sc before e, i, y (“cell, scent”).
 Voiced blade-alveolar fricative /z/. Like phoneme /s/ but vibrate. It is often spelt z (“zeal, zinc, seize”) and also s
in medial position (“easy, raise”) or final position following a vowel or voiced consonant (“gives, dogs”). Also, ss
(“possess”).
 Voiceless palate-alveolar fricative /ʃ/. The obstacle is formed by the tip and blade of the tongue against the
hinder part of the teeth ridge, the blade of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate and the soft palate is
raised. Do not vibrate. The tip of the tongue is lowered. It is often spelt sh and si, sci, ci, ti followed by unstressed
vowel or syllabic consonant (“pension, conscience, nation”), sometimes s (“sugar, sure”). It may be written ch in
words of French origin (“machine, moustache”) and also the group -ssion (“discussion, mission”).
 Voiced palate-alveolar fricative /ʒ/. Like the phoneme /ʃ/ but vibrate and not so much air is expelled. It is often
spelt s (“pleasure, usual”), and also z (“seizure”). Also, spelt g in some words of French origin (“beige, garage”)
and it may occur medially and finally, but never in initial position.
 Breather glottal fricative /h/. The friction is produced by the air passing through the glottis, the mouth is held in
vowel-position. Do not vibrate. As many varieties as vowels, voiced /h/ occurs when voiced sounds both precede
and follow. It is written h and also wh (“who”). There is a silent h in unstressed syllables/words (“him, her”), names
ending in -ham (“Wykeham”, also in “hour, heir, honour, hones, vehicle”)

4.4. The affricate consonants

 Voiceless palatao-alveolar affricate /ʧ/. The air is blocked by pressing the tip and the blade of the tongue against
the soft palate, which is also raised, the tongue is taken away from the teeth ridge to release the pressure and let
the air rub out of the mouth, lips may be protruded or spread. Do not vibrate. It is usually written ch, tch and it is
also represented by t in unstressed syllable (“picture, furniture, question”). Also, words of Italian origin (“cello”).
 Voiced palate-alveolar affricate /ʤ/. It is formed like consonant /ʧ/, but the vocal cords vibrate. It is partially
voiced when placed initially, finally, or preceded by a voiceless sound. It is usually written j, and g before e, i and
y (“judge, jam, gin, gypsy”) and it is often spelt dg (“bridge, fudge”), final -ge (“age, large”), final -age is
pronounced /I ʤ/ (“village”) and final -ich in place names (“Greenwich, Norwich”).
  Voiceless blade-alveolar affricate /ts/. The tongue is placed in the position for /s/ with the blade touching the
teeth ridge, after the initial pressure the air escapes as the tongue is removed from the teeth ridge. Do not vibrate.
It is rare in English and it occurs in loan words. Spelling ts only happen in initial position (“tsetse”).
 Voiced blade-alveolar affricate /dz/. Like affricate /ts/, but the vocal cords vibrate. It is rare in English and it
occurs in loan words. The spelling dz only happens in initial position (“Dzungaria”). The final sequence d+z exists
in English, but it is not a true affricate.
 Voiceless post-alveolar affricate /tr/. The tongue is placed as for /r/ with the tip against the back part of the teeth
ridge, after the initial pressure the air escapes as the tongue is removed from the teeth ridge. Do not vibrate. It is
usually spelt tr (“tree, train”) and mustn’t be confused with sequence t+r (“it rains”).
 Voiced post-alveolar affricate /dr/. Like affricate /tr/, but the vocal cords vibrate. It is usually spelt dr (“dress,
hundred”) and mustn’t be confused with sequence d+r (“you should read it”).

4.5. The nasal consonants

 Voiced bilabial nasal consonant /m/. The mouth passage is blocked with the lips, the soft palate is lowered so
that the air can leave through the nose, the tongue in a neutral position. Vibrate. Syllabic m in final position and
preceded by /s/ or /z/ (“prism”). It is usually spelt m and also mm (“summer”). It is silent in initial mn
(“mnemonic”).
 Voiced alveolar nasal consonant /n/. The mouth passage is blocked by the tip of the tongue against the teeth
tidge, the soft palate is lowered so that the air can leave through the nose. Vibrate. It is often syllabic (“nation,
heaven”). It is spelt n, and also nn (“dinner”). It is silent in final position after m (“autumn”).
 Voiced velar nasal consonant /Ƞ/. The mouth passage is blocked by the back of the tongue against the soft palate
which is lowered so that the air can leave through the nose. Vibrate. It is sometimes syllabic when near /k/ or /g/
(“bacon”). It is spelt ng, nk (“listening, ink”).

4.6. Approximants
 The lateral consonants. They are formed by placing the tip of the tongue against the teeth ridge and letting the
air escape along both sides of the tongue. The soft palate is raised. It is usually spelt l or ll. Sometimes it is silent
before f, k, m (“calf, talk, palm”). There are different varieties of /l/:
o Clear /l/. Before vowels and /j/ (“love, failure”). The front of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.
o Dark /ƚ/. Before all other consonants and in final position (“told, bottle”). The back of the tongue is raised
towards the soft palate. It is often syllabic in final unstressed syllable (“people, table”).
 The frictionless-continuants. They are formed by a narrowing of the air -passage so that the air expelled from the
lungs rubs out of the mouth producing a friction. In this case, either the friction is almost imperceptible or not
audible at all. This is because less exhaling-force is used, and the aperture is wider. The alveolar approximant is
/ʴ/ and the voiced post-alveolar fricative /r/. It is formed by placing the tip of the tongue against the teeth ridge.
When the front part of the tongue approaches the upper gum the air escapes along both sides of the tongue. The
soft palate is raised. Vibrate. No or little friction can be heard and there is no momentary closure of the vocal
tract. The alveolar and post-alveolar sounds are the most common realizations of the phoneme in RP English,
General American English and most dialects. When it is preceded by a voiceless dental fricative the alveolar
approximant suffers a process of assimilation and becomes voiceless and dental (“thread, thrill”). Letter r can
appear in initial position (“raw, red”), in medial position (“miracle, treasure”), and in final position (“more, better”)
where it is not pronounced in Standard British English unless it is followed by a vowel (linking r) (“far away”). The
sound may appear even when it does not exist and this is called intrusive r. It especially occurs between final /ə/
and a new word beginning with a vowel sound, also between final /a:/ or /o:/ when the next word begins with a
vowel. Types of allophones:
o Retroflex approximant.
o Labiodental approximant.
o Trill r.
o Tap or flap r.
o Voiced uvular fricative.
 Semi-vowels. They behave like consonants, they take the form a of the indefinite article, they take the weak form
of the indefinite the article and they use the weak form of the to-infinitive.
o Labio-velar semivowel /w/. The starting point of this sound is the same as phoneme /u:/ and then it
glides to another vowel position. In initial position in words such as what, where, when, etc. A voiceless
variety is used instead /hw/. In the North of England, Ireland and Scotland, and in some part of America.
It is spelt w in initial position and preceded by a consonant (“twelve”). It is silent in the cluster sw, the
endings wich/wick, the group wh. It is spelt u in the group qu and in the group gu. Also o in choir, one,
once, etc.
 o Unrounded palatal semivowel /j/ (yot). The starting point is the same as the phoneme /i:/ and then it
glides to another vowel position. It may be inserted before the phoneme /u:/, but not inserted after the
following consonants /ʧ/, /ʤ/, /r/ or /l/ preceded by a consonant. There is a voiceless variant specially
found in words beginning with hu-. It is represented by y in initial position (“yes, you”), it is often
represented by i in medial position (“behaviour, companion”) and also eo (“simultaneous, hideous”).

5. COMPARISON OF ENGLISH AND SPANISH PHONOLOGICAL SYSTEMS

In this section I will examine the most striking differences and similarities of both systems by comparing the English
consonants with their Spanish counterparts. Before continuing, it is relevant to establish the main distinctive features of
English and Spanish consonantal systems.
When comparing English and Spanish consonant systems, we find important differences and some similarities, as I said
before. Regarding quantity, the English consonant system counts on 24 consonants whereas Spanish counts on just 19.
Concerning the place of articulation, physically, the speech organs are equally distributed in both systems. However, if
we talk about manner of articulation, there are relevant contrasts in the way consonant sounds are produced in both
systems. Regarding voicing, the distinction between voiced and voiceless consonants is a primary characteristic of English
consonants, not being the case for Spanish. This is also the case of aspiration, which is primarily characteristic of the
English phonological system.
Another feature that helps contrast English and Spanish is positional restrictions, by which all the English consonants,
except for /h/, may be in final syllable position whereas for Spanish only 7 consonants may appear in this position.
According to Delattre (1965), in both languages, most of the articulations in the speech chain are to be given in the
alveolar ridge area, this means the frontal resonance is produced. Therefore, the most frequent consonants in Spanish
are respectively /s, n, r, d, t, l/, and in English they are /d, l, n, r, s, t/. Besides, consonants /d/ and /h/ are quite frequent
in English due to its realizations in the indefinite article the, and the demonstrative adjectives this, that, these, those, etc.
Some special differences we can find are:
- c can be /k/ before an a, o, u or at the end of a word in Spanish.
- g can have the /g/ sound before a, o, or u, or the /x/ sound before e or i, in Spanish.
- In Spanish we have the silent h and the double ll pronounced as /j/ (“llorar, lluvia”).
- There is a voiced palatal nasal consonant /ɲ/ which does not exist in English (“roña, cañón”).
- There is a voiceless velar fricative /x/ that does not occur in English (“jarra, jeque”).
- There are two allophones for the alveolar frictionless continuant r:
o Voiced alveolar vibrating consonant (roll) /r/ (“claro, vara”).
o Voiced alveolar multiple vibrating consonant (trill) /R/ (“rosa, remar”)

6. PRESENT-DAY DIRECTIONS IN PRONUNCIATION

Celce-Murcia (2001) provides three guiding principles in moving beyond traditional teaching practices. Methods other
than mechanical drills or rules, an emphasis on musical aspects of pronunciation more than sounds and teaching real
speech patterns and giving students practice in efficient oral communication.
Pronunciation instruction has traditionally been defined as the accurate production of the sounds, rhythms, and
intonation patterns of a language. Pronunciation has stood apart from the communicative language teaching movement,
however, new techniques have been recently proposed in the fields of fluency and accuracy, multisensory mode of
learning, the adaptation of authentic materials, and the use of instructional technology, such as computers, tablets or
smartphones.
Firstly, fluency as a multisensory mode of learning, it aims at boosting students’ confidence level while promoting fluency.
Secondly, employing multisensory modes, such as visual and auditory reinforcement in the pronunciation class can help
to break down the ego boundaries of learners, hence making them more receptive to undergoing change in their fossilized
pronunciation systems.
Thirdly, the use of authentic materials in teaching pronunciation. However, we must not overlook the rich resources
available using authentic materials, such as anecdotes, jokes, advertisements, comic strips, etc. Finally, the use of new
technology, it is worth remembering that after the Audiolingual Method, the use of lab and instructional technology in
general fell into disfavour as they were considered to be tedious or unstimulating. Nowadays, the language lab is still
around, often as a multimedia environment with video viewing or computer work stations. These electronic aids are quite
useful when displaying speech patterns as they receive not only audio feedback but visual aids.
Yet, in a sense, the rebirth of language lab represents the triumph of technology over method. Clearly, the sophisticated
level of practice and the game-like atmosphere of such advanced technologies offer advantages that the simpler
technologies, including the language laboratory, do not.
7. CONCLUSION
To conclude, I will highlight the idea that learning English is not just learning a second language but discovering a new
culture. In this way it is very useful for our students to be aware of the English phonological system, specifically in this
case the consonant sounds, taking into account the articulation of the speech sounds and the organs involved, the
phonetic symbols regarding the consonants sounds. Also, learning what is known as Received Pronunciation and some of
the changes that consonants have suffered in the history of English pronunciation, without forgetting about the
comparison between the English phonological system and the Spanish one, since it is their mother tongue.
Knowing the English phonological system and all the different things involved on it to achieve an effective communication
and improve the communicative competence. All these aspects must be explained to our students in a very
communicative way. They can be taught by means of theoretical sessions and individual practices, but they can also be
taught by means of more dynamic activities. Just to give an example, we can work the different English accents throughout
videos found on platforms such as YouTube or Tik Tok. In case we want them to be the ones talking, and not only
observing, we can also make an activity in which they are divided into groups and they participate in a sort of relay race
in which each group will have a short text that need to tell one member of the group, the one who will write the final
version of the text. The thing is that each student will need to remember one sentence of the text, because they cannot
read it, and go running to their classmate, tell them and make sure they write it down. The short texts provided will have
minimal pairs, such as “pill” or “peel”, “ship” or “sheep”, in order to make the students practice the different and difficult
sounds of the English language. The aim is that they get the text right and can discriminate the sounds both in the hearing
department and the oral one.
All in all, the study of the English phonological system will be highly useful as our students will be facing the achievement
of an effective communication during their whole academic lives. We should not forget that our students must know that
a language cannot be separated from the aspect of pronunciation, so it is through the acquisition of all the things that
intervene on it that they will be able to understand and communicate in English.

8. BIBLIOGRAPHY
- Celce-Murcia, M. et al. (2001). Teaching Pronunciation, A Reference for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other
Languages. London: Cambridge University Press.
- Delattre, P. (1965). The General Phonetic Characteristics of Languages. California: California University.
- Gimson, A. C. (1980). An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English. London: Edward Arnold.
- O’Connor, J. D. (1988). Better English Pronunciation. Cambridge University Press.
- Roach, P. (1983). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.