Speech Sounds - Consonants
- A consonant is a sound produced by an obstruction or blocking or some other restriction of the free passage of the air exhaled from the lungs through the oral cavity.
- The consonants, as they are, form the framework of English sounds.
- Think of ‘k’, and try pronouncing the letter, you will discover that there is an obstruction at the roof of the mouth.
- The consonant sounds are 24 in number. They include:
- /p/ as in tip, happen, pail, pipe, happy, pew, paste, stamp, post, splash, pin, pun, tap, cap, soup, etc.
- /b/ as in baby, balance, grab, ball, cab, bag, mob, bachelor, rub, back, etc.
- /t/ as in tire, talent, light, but, temper, set, tell, net, rat, toss, etc.
- /d/ as in bed, gold, dandy, band, hide, danger, card, die, dance, dip, dagger, etc.
- /s/ as in mission, fashion, nation, session, dilution, profession, ocean, omission, shoes, lotion, etc.
- /k/ as in kick, accord, charisma, cane, bucket, key, mask, clock, credit, pick, kind, king, coat, council, like, come, etc.
- /ʒ/ as in measure, treasure, vision, casual, decision, occasion, closure, confusion, leisure, seizure, revision, provision, etc.
- /g/ as in glass, gun, bigger, sag, league, ghost, dogma, girl, grass, gear, etc.
- /m/ as in mouth, dumb, comb, bump, balm, climb, cream, map, mob, lamp, remain, meat, dim, etc.
- /n/ as in neglect, now, no, knell, noon, nice, funny, train, knit, wine, near, sign, negro, gnaw, etc.
- /l/ as in leaf, large, lip, slang, flesh, lines, bleed, slip, tight, sleep, etc.
- /r/ as in write, sprint, run, brook, reign, race, throw, worry, fresh, etc.
- /kw/ as in question, quick, quite, quack, qualm, quantity, etc.
- /ð/ as in mother, brother, father, murder, other, further, etc.
- /θ/ as in teeth, Ruth, thing, death, ect.
- /f/ as in phonetics, fast, physics, suffix, from, phone, Pharisees, photo, foot, cough, laugh, ect.
- /v/ as in nephew, love, view, prove, save, very, vary, van, give, provide, prove, vote, vase, volume, etc.
- /s/ as in loss, principal, house, dress, soon, scripture, pass, false, else, place, city, seat, cross, etc.
- /z/ as in zoo, zip, lose, disease, those, doze, ways, has, fees, zero, zebra, reason, husband, is, etc.
- /h/ as in whole, he, hear, half, behalf, perhaps, how, who, hand, hears, etc.
- /w/ as way, warm, woo, wine, twenty, twice, twine, weak, worse, suite, choir, guava, etc.
- /dʒ/ as adjacent, gin, suggest, page, gem, soldier, bridge, ridge, badge, Jew, Jane, age, general, John, etc.
- /ʃ/ as in she, short, should, push, national, official, show, etc.
- /tʃ/ as in righteous, watch, perch, choose, cheap, catches, chew, chair, batch, feature, adventure, etc.