# Consonant series

## Consonant position sets

Consonants are in sets, related through a four-way contrast system.

[w  m  pʰ  b  f  v](#w-m-p-b-f-v)

l  n  tʰ  d  θ  ð

s  z &#x20;

ʧ  ʤ  ʃ  ʒ

ŋ  k  ɡ

These are related as such:

### w  m  pʰ  b  f  v

Notice that all six of these sounds are based on the lips.

f and v use only ONE lip, touching the top teeth.

#### w

w is a glide sound, made by closing the lips into a tight circle (without touching together) and then opening them again.

{% hint style="success" %}

## Glide

***Glide*** is a continuous sound that is shaped by mouth movement into and out of a narrowest point.
{% endhint %}

#### m

m is a nasal sound.

{% hint style="success" %}

## Nasal

***Nasal*** is a sound that exits through the nose.
{% endhint %}

#### pʰ and b

Both pʰ and b are plosive, bilabial sounds.

pʰ is unvoiced, and has breath (aspirated), while b is voiced, and has no breath.

{% hint style="success" %}

## Bilabial

***Bilabial*** is a sound that you make by using two lips.
{% endhint %}

#### f and v

Both f and v are fricative, labiodental sounds.

f is unvoiced, and has breath, while v is voiced, and has no breath.

{% hint style="success" %}

## Labiodental

***Labiodental*** is a sound that you make by using your top teeth pressed on your bottom lip.
{% endhint %}

#### Four-way contrast comparison table

> *As an experiment, I'll present this information laid out in two different ways. **Please let me know which you find more easy to understand**.*

<table><thead><tr><th width="43"></th><th width="102">vocal</th><th width="128">breath</th><th width="123">position</th><th width="102">method</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>w</td><td>voiced</td><td><mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark></td><td>glide</td></tr><tr><td>m</td><td>voiced</td><td><mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark></td><td>nasal</td></tr><tr><td>pʰ</td><td><mark style="color:purple;">unvoiced</mark></td><td><mark style="color:blue;">aspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark></td></tr><tr><td>b</td><td>voiced</td><td><mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark></td><td><mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark></td></tr><tr><td>f</td><td><mark style="color:purple;">unvoiced</mark></td><td><mark style="color:blue;">aspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:green;">labiodental</mark></td><td><mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark></td></tr><tr><td>v</td><td>voiced</td><td><mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark></td><td><mark style="color:green;">labiodental</mark></td><td><mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark></td></tr></tbody></table>

| w                                              | m                                              | pʰ                                          | b                                              | f                                             | v                                              |
| ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------- |
| voiced                                         | voiced                                         | <mark style="color:purple;">unvoiced</mark> | voiced                                         | <mark style="color:purple;">unvoiced</mark>   | voiced                                         |
| <mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark> | <mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark> | <mark style="color:blue;">aspirated</mark>  | <mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark> | <mark style="color:blue;">aspirated</mark>    | <mark style="color:orange;">unaspirated</mark> |
| <mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark>       | <mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark>       | <mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark>    | <mark style="color:red;">bilabial</mark>       | <mark style="color:green;">labiodental</mark> | <mark style="color:green;">labiodental</mark>  |
| glide                                          | nasal                                          | <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>     | <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>        | <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>   | <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>    |

{% hint style="info" %}
Note that both bilabial sounds **pʰ** and **b** are plosive, and both labiodental sounds **f** and **v** are fricatives.&#x20;

This reinforces the contrast between them.&#x20;
{% endhint %}

If you make the bilabial sounds into fricatives, we will hear the fricative counterparts, although we will be uncertain.

#### Swapping plosives with fricatives

<table><thead><tr><th width="135" align="right">you want to say</th><th width="85" align="right">you say</th><th width="80" align="right">we hear</th><th>reason</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="right">pʰ</td><td align="right">ɸ</td><td align="right">f?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark> into a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>. </p><p>We hear the <mark style="color:green;">airflow</mark> and recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, which must be /f/ because we don't have /ɸ/.</p></td></tr><tr><td align="right">b</td><td align="right">β</td><td align="right">v?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark> into a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>. </p><p>We hear the <mark style="color:green;">continuous vibration</mark> and recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, which must be /v/ because we don't have /β/.</p></td></tr><tr><td align="right">f</td><td align="right">p̪</td><td align="right">pʰ?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark> into a <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>. </p><p>We can't hear the <mark style="color:green;">necessary airflow</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, and there is a <mark style="color:red;">sudden burst</mark>, so it sounds like a <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>. It must be /pʰ/ because we don't have /p̪/.</p></td></tr><tr><td align="right">v</td><td align="right">b̪</td><td align="right">b?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark> into a <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>. </p><p>We can't hear the <mark style="color:green;">necessary vibration</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, and there is a <mark style="color:red;">sudden burst</mark>, so it sounds like a <mark style="color:red;">plosive</mark>. It must be /b/ because we don't have /b̪/.</p></td></tr></tbody></table>

Some L1 languages cause English learners to mix these sounds up even further:

<table><thead><tr><th width="135" align="right">you want to say</th><th width="85" align="right">you say</th><th width="80" align="right">we hear</th><th>reason</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td align="right">f</td><td align="right">p̚</td><td align="right">p?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark> into an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark>. </p><ul><li>We can't hear the <mark style="color:green;">necessary airflow</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, and there is a <mark style="color:orange;">sudden stop</mark>, with no audible release. </li></ul><ul><li>We don't use <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stops</mark> at the end of words, so not only does the final sound sound wrong, but we also can't be sure of what sound you said. </li></ul><ul><li>Words with a final /f/ ⟨f⟩ &#x26; ⟨gh⟩ are common problems for Vietnamese speakers: if, laugh, wife, life, safe, etc.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td align="right">v</td><td align="right">p̚</td><td align="right">p?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark> into an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark>. </p><ul><li>We can't hear the <mark style="color:green;">necessary airflow</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:green;">fricative</mark>, and there is a <mark style="color:orange;">sudden stop</mark>, with no audible release. </li></ul><ul><li>We don't use <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stops</mark> at the end of words, so not only does the final sound sound wrong, but we also can't be sure of what sound you said. </li></ul><ul><li>Words with a final /v/ ⟨v⟩ are common problems for Vietnamese speakers: give, gave, live, five, have, etc.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td align="right">p</td><td align="right">p̚</td><td align="right">p?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:red;">plosive-stop</mark> into an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark>.</p><ul><li>We can't hear the <mark style="color:red;">necessary tiny burst of air</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:red;">plosive-stop</mark>. You, the speaker, can probably discern the final stop position, but this is because you hear the shape of how the vowel closes. We cannot hear this. Additionally, an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark> is in English as the glottal stop, which is <mark style="color:orange;">reserved for T</mark> (and K in rare cases).</li><li>We don't use <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stops</mark> at the end of words, so not only does the final sound sound wrong, but we also can't be sure of what sound you said. </li><li>Words with a final /p/ ⟨p⟩ are common problems for Vietnamese speakers: top, cup, tip, map, stop, etc.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td align="right">b</td><td align="right">p̚</td><td align="right">p?</td><td><p>You made the <mark style="color:red;">plosive-stop</mark> into an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark>.</p><ul><li>We can't hear the <mark style="color:red;">necessary tiny burst of air</mark> to recognise it as a <mark style="color:red;">plosive-stop</mark>. You, the speaker, can probably discern the final stop position, but this is because you hear the shape of how the vowel closes. We cannot hear this. Additionally, an <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stop</mark> is in English as the glottal stop, which is <mark style="color:orange;">reserved for T</mark> (and K in rare cases).</li><li>We don't use <mark style="color:orange;">unreleased stops</mark> at the end of words, so not only does the final sound sound wrong, but we also can't be sure of what sound you said. </li><li>Words with a final /b/ ⟨b⟩ are common problems for Vietnamese speakers: job, etc.</li></ul></td></tr></tbody></table>

## Consonant method sets

Consonants can also be grouped by method instead of by position, which adds a second dimension to your mental model to store & access the phonemes of a language.

pʰ b  tʰ d  ʧ  ʤ  kʰ ɡ

f  v  θ  ð  s  z  ʃ  ʒ  h

m  n  ŋ

w  l  ɹ  j  ɫ  ʍ

<table><thead><tr><th width="135"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th><th width="45"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>plosives</td><td>pʰ</td><td>b</td><td>tʰ</td><td>d</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>ʧ</td><td>ʤ</td><td>kʰ</td><td>ɡ</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>fricatives</td><td>f</td><td>v</td><td>θ</td><td>ð</td><td>s</td><td>z</td><td></td><td>ʃ</td><td>ʒ</td><td></td><td></td><td>h</td></tr><tr><td>nasals</td><td></td><td>m</td><td></td><td>n</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td>ŋ</td><td></td></tr><tr><td>approximants</td><td></td><td>w</td><td></td><td>l</td><td></td><td></td><td>ɹ</td><td></td><td>j</td><td></td><td>ɫ</td><td>ʍ</td></tr></tbody></table>

<table><thead><tr><th width="135"></th><th width="61" align="center"></th><th width="55" align="center"></th><th width="52" align="center"></th><th width="45" align="center"></th><th width="55" align="center"></th><th width="55" align="center"></th><th width="45" align="center"></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>plosives</td><td align="center">pʰ b</td><td align="center">tʰ d</td><td align="center"></td><td align="center"></td><td align="center">ʧ  ʤ</td><td align="center">kʰ ɡ</td><td align="center"></td></tr><tr><td>fricatives</td><td align="center">f  v</td><td align="center">θ  ð</td><td align="center">s  z</td><td align="center"></td><td align="center">ʃ  ʒ</td><td align="center"></td><td align="center">h</td></tr><tr><td>nasals</td><td align="center">m</td><td align="center">n</td><td align="center"></td><td align="center"></td><td align="center"></td><td align="center">ŋ</td><td align="center"></td></tr><tr><td>approximants</td><td align="center">w</td><td align="center">l</td><td align="center"></td><td align="center">ɹ</td><td align="center">j</td><td align="center">ɫ</td><td align="center">ʍ</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### Swapping aspirated and unaspirated

<table><thead><tr><th width="135">you want to say</th><th width="80">you say</th><th width="80">we hear</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>pʰ</td><td>p</td><td>b</td></tr><tr><td>tʰ</td><td>t</td><td>d</td></tr><tr><td>ʧ</td><td>c</td><td>ʤ</td></tr><tr><td>kʰ</td><td>k</td><td>ɡ</td></tr></tbody></table>
