Stops, or plosives, are phonemes such that their production
involves completely obstructing the passage of air through the artic-
ulatory apparatus. Plosives
can be voiced, such as /d/, or voiceless,
such as /t/.
Fricatives are phonemes whose production involves restricting the
passage of air through the articulatory apparatus such that the
passage
of air creates a sibilant, hissing sound. Fricatives can also be
voiced, such as /z/ or voiceless, such as /s/.
Nasal sounds are those whose production involves the resonation
of air in the nasal cavity. It is these obstruent
sounds whose produc-
tion is inhibited when we have a cold. If you hold your nose while
trying to produce these phonemes, you will find that the sound is flat
and wooden, whereas
holding your nose has no e
ffect on the produc-
tion of any other obstruent phonemes. All nasal phonemes are
voiced.
A
ffricate phonemes are combinations of plosives and fricatives.
The passage of air is initially completely restricted, then
partially
restricted. There are only two a
ffricates in English – the voiceless
a
ffricate that is the initial sound in the word ‘chat’ and the voiced
a
ffricate that is the final sound in the word ‘fridge’.
Finally, we have approximants. The
classification of these
phonemes is somewhat contentious but the one above serves our pur-
poses. All approximants are voiced. The approximant phonemes are
the closest obstruents to sonorant phonemes.
This exhausts the manner of articulation of obstruent phonemes.
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