Manner Of Articulation

In phonetics, the manner of articulation refers to how the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract during the production of a speech sound. Along with place of articulation and voicing, it is one of the three main parameters used to classify consonants in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Description

While the place of articulation tells us where a consonant is produced in the vocal tract, the manner of articulation describes how the articulators interact to shape the sound. This involves the degree and type of constriction in the vocal tract, which affects the airflow and creates the distinctive acoustic characteristics of different consonant types.

Major Manners of Articulation

The IPA recognizes several major manners of articulation for pulmonic consonants (those produced with air from the lungs):

Manner of Articulation	Description	Example Sounds	Example Words
Stops/Plosives	Complete blockage of the airstream followed by release	[p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]	English: "pat", "bat", "tap", "dab", "cap", "gap"
Nasals	Complete oral blockage with air flowing through the nose	[m], [n], [ŋ]	English: "mom", "noon", "sing"
Fricatives	Narrow constriction causing turbulent airflow	[f], [v], [s], [z], [ʃ], [ʒ]	English: "fat", "vat", "sip", "zip", "ship", "measure"
Affricates	Stop followed immediately by homorganic fricative	[tʃ], [dʒ], [ts], [dz]	English: "church", "judge", German: "Zeit", Italian: "zero"
Approximants	Slight constriction without turbulence	[j], [w], [ɹ], [l]	English: "yes", "way", "red", "lead"
Trills	Rapid vibration of an articulator against another	[r], [ʙ], [ʀ]	Spanish: "perro", Czech: "řeka", French: "Paris" (uvular)
Taps/Flaps	Brief contact between articulators	[ɾ], [ɽ]	Spanish: "pero", American English: "better", Hindi: "बारह"
Laterals	Air flows around the sides of a central obstruction	[l], [ʎ], [ɫ]	English: "let", Italian: "famiglia", English: "feel" (velarized)

Airstream Mechanisms

Beyond the standard pulmonic consonants, there are three additional airstream mechanisms that create distinct manners of articulation:

• Ejectives: Produced with a glottalic egressive airstream (air pushed upward by the glottis). Examples: [p'], [t'], [k'], found in languages like Amharic, Navajo, and Georgian.
• Implosives: Produced with a glottalic ingressive airstream (air pulled in by lowering the glottis). Examples: [ɓ], [ɗ], [ɠ], found in languages like Sindhi, Hausa, and Vietnamese.
• Clicks: Produced with a velaric ingressive airstream (air pulled in by backward movement of the tongue). Examples: [ǀ], [ǃ], [ǂ], found in languages like Xhosa, !Xóõ, and Zulu.

Degrees of Constriction

Manners of articulation can be arranged along a continuum based on the degree of constriction:

1. Complete closure: Stops, nasals
2. Close approximation: Fricatives
3. Medium approximation: Approximants
4. Open approximation: Vowels

This continuum helps explain related phenomena such as:

• Why approximants are sometimes called "semi-vowels"
• Why some consonants can function as syllable nuclei in certain languages
• How sound changes often involve shifts along this continuum (e.g., stops becoming fricatives)

Phonological Significance

Manner of articulation is phonologically significant in all languages, with most languages distinguishing at least between:

• Stops and continuants (sounds that can be prolonged)
• Oral and nasal sounds
• Obstruents (stops, fricatives, affricates) and sonorants (nasals, liquids, glides)

However, the specific manner distinctions vary significantly across languages. For example:

• Hawaiian has no fricatives except for [h]
• Mandarin Chinese has no voiced obstruents
• Arabic has many fricatives but few affricates
• Many Australian Aboriginal languages lack fricatives entirely

Related Articles

• Place of Articulation
• Voice (Phonetics)
• Plosive
• Fricative
• Affricate
• Nasal Consonant
• Approximant
• Ejective Consonant

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