Places and Manners of Articulation

Places and manners of articulation are the two principal dimensions used to classify consonants: where the vocal tract is constricted and how the airflow is obstructed.

Definition

The classification of consonants by the location of vocal-tract constriction (place) and the type and degree of airflow obstruction (manner).

Scope

This topic describes the standard parametric classification of consonants. Place of articulation locates the constriction—bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal. Manner of articulation describes the type of obstruction—stops (plosives), nasals, fricatives, affricates, approximants, taps and trills, and laterals. Combined with voicing, these dimensions organize the IPA consonant chart and provide a vocabulary for describing the sounds of the world's languages. It is descriptive rather than prescriptive.

Core questions

• What are the principal places of articulation along the vocal tract?
• How do manners of articulation differ in the way they obstruct airflow?
• How do place, manner, and voicing combine to define a consonant?
• Why do some place and manner combinations occur rarely or not at all?

Key theories

The IPA consonant chart

The organization of pulmonic consonants in a two-dimensional grid of place against manner, with voiced and voiceless pairs, providing a systematic taxonomy adopted as an international standard.

History

The grouping of consonants by point and manner of contact descends from early articulatory traditions and was formalized in the late nineteenth century within the International Phonetic Association. Cross-linguistic surveys, notably Ladefoged and Maddieson's The Sounds of the World's Languages, documented the full inventory of attested places and manners.

Debates

Granularity of place categories

Researchers debate how finely place of articulation should be subdivided, since articulatory and acoustic boundaries are gradient and some proposed places are attested in only a few languages.

Key figures

• Peter Ladefoged
• Ian Maddieson
• Daniel Jones

Seminal works

• ladefoged2015
• ladefoged1996

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between a stop and a fricative?

A stop (plosive) involves complete closure of the vocal tract so airflow is briefly blocked, while a fricative involves a narrow constriction that lets air pass with turbulent, hissing noise.

What does 'voiced' mean in consonant classification?

A voiced consonant is produced with the vocal folds vibrating, as in the [z] of 'zoo', whereas its voiceless counterpart, [s], is produced with the folds apart and not vibrating.