Plosives Week 4

Plosives
Week 5
Consonant Sounds
We have learnt earlier that the speech

sounds can be divided into two types:
1. the vowel sounds and
2. the consonant sounds.
The consonant sounds are 24 in
number.
Classification of Consonant Sounds
The consonants sounds are classified according

to:
a) the way they are pronounced
b) the place of pronunciation in the mouth, and
c) whether they are voiced or unvoiced (a sound
is ‘voiced’ if accompanied by vibrations in the
vocal cords and it is ‘unvoiced’ when there are no
vibrations in the vocal cords.)
We shall deal with consonant sounds in groups
based on the first classification i.e. the way the
sounds are produced. This classification includes;
1. Plosives: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/.
2. Affricates: /tʃ/, /dʒ/.
3. Fricatives: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/.
4. Lateral: /l/.
5. Frictionless Continuant: /r/.
6. Nasals: /m/, /n/, /ŋ/.
7. Semi - Vowels: /w/, /j
Plosives
Let us take the first group of consonant sounds, the
plosives. These are six in number and
include:
/p/ as in ‘pet’, /b/ as in ‘bag’, /t/ as in ‘tap’, /d/ as in
‘dog’, /k/ as in ‘kite’ and /g/ as in ‘go’.
You will notice that while saying these sounds the air
pressure is built up due to blocking of the
air stream coming out of our lungs by closing the
speech organs at some point. The blocked air is
then suddenly released to produce a plosive sound
/p/ Pin
To produce the sound /p/:
1. Close both the lips tightly to shut the mouth cavity.
2. Let the air pressure build up.
3. Open the lips to let the air out suddenly.
4. There should be no vibration in the vocal cords.
See the figure given below and practice producing this
sound.
Exercise 1
Read the sentences given below and locate
the words containing the sound /p/.
1. The painter sprayed the pink paint all over the

puzzle.
2. To polish your pronunciation practice patiently.
3. Taking a sip of soup from the cup, Peter
smacked his lips.
4. Please pack a pound of potatoes.
5. Polly won a prize in the triple race, which
involved hopping, skipping and jumping.
/b/ Ball
To produce the sound /b/:
1. First practice the sound /p/
Exercise 2
the words containing the sound /b/.
1. The baby used the blocks to make a beautiful

building.
2. Buy a bottle of black ink when you go to the
bazaar.
3. Don’t borrow books, buy them.
4. We have baked beans and bread for breakfast.
5. The club members must pay the bills by
February.
/t/
/t/ Table
To produce the sound /t/ :
1. Press the tip of the tongue tightly against the
teeth ridge.
2. Let the air pressure build up .
3. Quickly remove the tip of the tongue to let the
air out suddenly.
See the figure given below and
practice producing this sound.
The first figure shows the initial
position of the tongue and the lips while the second picture shows these
positions at the final stage of pronunciation.
Exercise 5
the words containing the sound /t/.
1. At no time must you be tense.
2. His tattered coat took twenty minutes to be stitched.
3. It’s time to set out for the tour.
4. Fatty Twinkle Teddy is her favourite toy.
5. Put it in the past perfect tense.
6. Don’t try to touch the hot pot.
7. They laughed and talked as they watched the movie
together.
8. The pretty teenager attracted a lot of attention at the
party.
/d/ Deer

To produce the sound /d/ :
1. First practice the sound /t/.
2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in the
vocal cords.
See the figures given below and practise this sound. The
two figures given below show the initial
and final positions of the tongue when we utter this
sound.
Exercise 7
Practice the sound ‘d’ with the help of the following words
and write down the words ending
with the /d/ sound.

dig, day, dark, dozen, delay, bad,
addition, dance, pod, saddle, dry, riddle,
sad, dark, bread, blade,
behind, hand, pleased, desire, deal,
ground, drop, called
/k/ Kite
To produce the sound /k/ :

1. Press the back of the tongue against the soft
palate (back part of the roof of the mouth).
2. Let the air pressure build up .
3. Quickly remove the back of the tongue to let
the air out suddenly.
See the figure given below and practice this
sound
Exercise 10
Read the words given below and note the different
spellings of the sound /k/ in these words.
kite, cake, cup, coat, coast, class, kind, kick, cross, keep,
character, chemistry, chaos, stomach,
queen, quilt, queue, quality, quiet, across, account,
record, request, decay, darkness, ankle,
breakage, background, occasion, occur, book, walk,
truck, stick, frock, brick, ache, bark.
Exercise 11
Say the following words aloud. What do you notice

about the sound of the letter ‘k’ in these
words?
knock, know, knee, knickers, knife, knowledge.
the words containing the sound /k/.
1. The quality of cakes in this bakery is quite good.

2. The strikers have stopped work in the factory.
3. I can’t drink cold coffee because I’ve caught a
cold.
4. Kamal kicked the ball to the back of the court.
5. Cut the cabbages, cauliflowers, carrots and
capsicum for the baked dish.
6. The Cricket World Cup attracted controversy.
7. Keep quiet and sit calm during the class
discussion.
/g/ Girl
To produce this sound /g/ :

1. First practice the sound /k/.
2. Now add voice to it with the help of vibrations in
the vocal cords.
This sound, like /k/, is also made by pressing the
back of the tongue against the soft palate. It is
accompanied by vibration of the vocal cords
(throat).
See the figure given below and practise this
sound. The two figures given below show the initial and
final positions of the tongue when we
utter this sound.
Read the words given below and note whether the letter
‘g’ is pronounced as /g/ or as /dʒ/. Put
these words in correct column of the following table.
girl, ginger, gym, gingerbread, giraffe, give, glass,

gesture, guest, general, generation, gem, gene,
gaze, gallant, game, gain, God, suggest, budge,
George, Geography, sag, guard, jungle, dagger.
Read the sentences given below and spot the words which
contain /g/ sound. Also note the
words which contain the letter ‘g’ but it is pronounced as
/dʒ/.
1. He is holding a long string.

2. Did you get grass for your goat?
3. The beggar gave George his luggage and got
a bag in return.
4. He returned in a giant ship after a great
struggle.
5. Garbage in is garbage out.
6. They garnished the dish with ginger and garlic.

Plosives Week 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Plosives Week 4

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Plosives Week 4

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Plosives

We have learnt earlier that the speech

The consonants sounds are classified according

1. The painter sprayed the pink paint all over the

1. The baby used the blocks to make a beautiful

To produce the sound /k/ :

Say the following words aloud. What do you notice

1. The quality of cakes in this bakery is quite good.

To produce this sound /g/ :

girl, ginger, gym, gingerbread, giraffe, give, glass,

1. He is holding a long string.

You might also like