In the production of consonants, articulatory organs are moved in such a way that they make contact or produce a constriction. 

Main articulators used in the production of Spanish speech sounds.
(Hualde 2005, 42)

Manner of articulation

The manner of articulation refers to the type of obstruction that is created during the articulation of the consonant. The following classes are distinguished (the phonetic symbols used in this course are those of the International Phonetic Alphabet):

Stops (plosives): The airflow is stopped completely before the consonant is released, as in /p/ pata (leg) or /d/ doy (I give). See Week 5 for a detailed description of all the Spanish consonants.    

Fricatives: During the production of fricative consonants, air leaks through a narrow constriction between the articulators producing turbulent noise, e.g. /f/ or /s/ as in fonética (phonetics) or sapo (toad).

Affricates: The articulation of these consonants includes two phases: first, the flow of air is blocked just like in stops, but instead of an abrupt release, the second phase consists of a fricative-like release. The only affricate in Spanish is /tʃ͡/ as in chico (boy).       

Nasals: Nasals are similar to stops in that they are produced with a complete closure in the oral cavity, however, they differ from stops in that air can flow freely through the nasal cavity. This is achieved by lowering the velum. The only difference between the following three Spanish words – cama (bed), cana (grey hair) and caña (cane) – is the place of articulation of the nasals. 

Liquids: The articulators are positioned in such a way that airflow is obstructed without causing friction. Liquids are further classified into laterals and rhotics. 

Laterals: In the production of these consonants, contact is made along the central axis of the mouth, allowing the flow of air through the sides, as in lado (side).

Rhotics: These sounds are produced with one or more quick contacts of the tip of the tongue against the alveolar region. Spanish has a tap (vibrante simple) as in caro (expensive) and a trill (vibrante múltiple) as in carro (cart). 

Approximants: In the case of approximant consonants, the articulators approach each other but neither touch nor make a narrow enough constriction to produce turbulence. Spanish /b d g/ in certain positions – mostly between vowels – are pronounced as approximants [β ð ɣ], e.g. lado (side).

Activity

You can check your answers in Section 6.

Place of articulation

The place of articulation refers to the articulators that are involved in the production of the consonant. 

Bilabial: These sounds are articulated with both lips e.g. /β/ and /m/.  

Labiodental: The lower lip makes contact with the upper teeth, as in /f/.

Interdental: In these consonants, the tip of the tongue is placed between the upper and lower teeth e.g. /ð/.

Dental: In dental consonants, the tip of the tongue touches the base of the upper front teeth as in /t/ and /d/. Note that in the articulation of /t/ and /d/ in English, the tongue is more retracted, the tip of the tongue touches the alveolar region and might also be curled back a little. 

Alveolar: In alveolar consonants, the tongue touches or approaches the alveolar ridge, the area just behind the upper teeth, as in /n/ or /s/.       

Prepalatal: The area just behind the alveolar ridge is usually called palato-alveolar, postalveolar or prepalatal. The obstruction or constriction is formed between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate, as in chico (boy).

Palatal: The articulation of palatals involves raising or touching the hard palate with the tongue body (also called dorsum), as in yo (I) and ñandú (rhea).

Velar:   Velars are articulated by the back part of the tongue touching or approaching the soft palate (also called velum), e.g. jabón (soap) and carbón (carbon).            

Glottal: In some areas (e.g. the Caribbean, parts of southern Spain, Colombia, etc.), jabón starts with a soft sound, the same as English hi [h]. The noise in the production of this sound comes from the glottis, the space between the two vocal cords (also called the vocal folds). 

Voiced or voiceless?

The third feature used in the classification of consonants, after the manner and place of articulation, refers to the activity of the vocal cords. Vocal cords are sets of tiny cartilages and muscles on both sides of the larynx. The space between them is called the glottis. If the vocal folds are brought together and the flow of air repeatedly forces them apart, a periodic vibration is produced and we speak of voiced sounds, for instance zzzzz, the first sound of English zebra or zoo.

If the vocal folds are separated, air can flow through the glottis without producing vibration, and the result will be a voiceless sound like ssss, the first sound in the Spanish word sapo. The contrastive use of the feature voice in Spanish occurs in the stop series only; par (pair) – bar (bar), tía (aunt) – día (day), corro (I run) –gorro (cap). In English, this is more systematic and also occurs in the fricative series and affricates, e.g. fan vs. van. 

Activity

Place your fingers on your Adam´s apple and feel the vibration (or lack of it). Decide whether the following sounds are voiced or voiceless. 

You can check your answers in Section 6.

International Phonetic Alphabet

In this course we are going to use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The International Phonetic Alphabet is a system in which each symbol is associated with a particular sound. 

By using IPA, you can know how to pronounce a word in any language.

The consonantal sounds of Spanish. The sounds in brackets only occur in some varieties of Spanish or in specific phonetic contexts. 

Activity

Find the voiced counterpart for each of the voiceless sounds in the left-hand column. This exercise involves the sounds of English.  

References

Hulade, José Ignacio. The Sounds of Spanish, 2005, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.