Dr. Judith M. Newman

CONSONANTS

Consonant is the name given to a sound that is formed by the articulation of the tongue and lips/teeth closing off the flow of air. In written English each consonant is represented by one or more letters.

There are two kinds of consonants: stop (b, d, g, etc.) and continuant (l, m, n, w, h, s).

Consonants can also be voiced (using the larynx in the production of sound) or unvoiced (creating a whisper). You can tell whether a consonant is voiced or unvoiced by holding your fingers against your larynx while making the sound--you can feel a vibration against your fingers when you make a voiced consonant; you don't feel anything with an unvoiced one.

SINGLE CONSONANT SOUNDS

Single consonant sounds can require more than one letter of the alphabet to represent them.