B5 EXPLAIN IN ARTICULATORY TERMS THE FEATURES OF THE CONSONANTS: NASALS

There are essentially three major ways of classifying consonants, according to voicing, place of articulation and manner of articulation. Voicing is described as the movement of vocal cords. If the vocal cords move or vibrate, then the consonant is a voiced one and if the vocal cords do not move or vibrate, then it is known as voiceless consonants. Now, the place of articulation describes point in the vocal tract at which the obstruction is made and the manner of articulation in which stream of air is interfered with. Let us get to know the place of articulation in consonants. In consonants, the places of articulations are bilabial, labiodentals, dental, alveolar, palate-alveolar, velar and glottal. These are the places of articulations in consonants. On the other hand, the manners of articulations are plosives (stops), nasals, fricatives, affricates and laterals/approximants. These are the manners of articulations in English consonants. Now, I would like to focus on the consonants that involve nasals. There are three consonants involve in nasals. They are simply m, n and . All these consonants are voiced because when we sound it, the vocal cords do vibrate thus they are voiced consonants. Now, what are nasals? How are nasals consonants produced? Nasal involves complete closure of the mouth. The velum is lowered, diverting the air through the nose. So, the air from the lungs are released through the nasal cavity instead the oral cavity. This is unique compared to other consonants where the air from the lungs is released through the oral cavity (velum is raised and air cannot pass through the nose). Thus, the air from the lungs does not pass through the mouth which is prevented by a complete closure in the mouth at some point. There are three types of closure involved in nasal, namely bilabial (lips), alveolar (tongue blade against alveolar ridge) and velar (back of the tongue against the soft palate). These are the places of articulations involved in nasal. For consonant m, the place of articulation is bilabial, where it is produced by a closure with both lips. It

involves both lips coming together when consonant m is sounded. Next, the consonant n is produced by raising the tongue in various ways to the alveolar ridge and the tip of the tongue is raised where it touches the ridge. Thus, the place of articulation of consonant n is alveolar. Apart from that, the consonant is produced when the back of the tongue is raised to the velum (soft palate). Thus, the place of articulation of consonant is velar. All the consonants m, n and have the same manners of articulation. It is nasal. As mentioned before, these consonant are different from other consonants as the air from the lungs is passed through the nose by the lowering of the velum where it creates a complete closure in the oral cavity and the air passes through the nose. In articulatory terms, the consonant m is known as voiced, bilabial and nasal. For consonant n, it is known as voiced, alveolar and nasal and for consonant is voiced, velar and nasal. In conclusion, nasal sounds are different compared to the other consonants. It involves the release of air through the nose. As compared to other consonants, the air from the lungs is released through the mouth. Thus, the consonants involve in nasal are unique compared to other consonants.