Consonants in the IPA
The technical names of consonants tell three things about a sound:
- The state of the vocal cords (voiced or voiceless)
- The place of articulation in the vocal tract (bilabial, etc.)
- The manner of articulation or the way the air moves through the vocal tract (fricative, etc.)
The technical names for the consonants follow the order listed above. Thus, for example, what a teacher traditionally would call “the f sound” in an elementary classroom is technically called a voiceless labiodental fricative. The terms used in the technical names, like many other scientific and technical terms, are frequently derived from Latin roots.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
Mouse over each term to hear associated sound.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
The IPA symbols associated with many of the consonant speech sounds are already familiar symbols for native speakers of English, and they even represent the same sound that a NSE is accustomed to associate with that symbol.
Click and drag each term to the correct symbol. When you click on the term you will hear the associated sound.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
When you click on a sound icon you will hear an IPA consonant sound. Click drag, and drop each sound icon over the correct term.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
Other consonant sounds may be written with familiar symbols, but represent different sounds than a native speaker of English is accustomed to. Others may have more than one sound attached in English, but only one of the two in IPA. Finally, other consonants sounds are written with completely unfamiliar symbols.
Mouse over each term to hear associated sound.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
Click and drag each term to the correct symbol. When you click on the term you will hear the associated sound.
Activity: Learn the Technical Names
Some other symbols may be used in addition to the basic sounds already listed. These symbols represent sounds in English that most native speakers are unaware that they are producing and that are not represented in the practical orthography of English.
| ɾ | voiced alveolar flap |
| ʔ | glottal stop |
| _h | aspirated stop |
Finally, although the IPA includes a unique symbol [ɹ] for the voiced alveolar retroflex liquid, many texts do not use this symbol and instead use the r from the Latin alphabet for the English retroflex.
The table below follows the standard IPA format by showing the terms associated with the front of the vocal tract (lips) on the left and moving back through the vocal tract in order until the sounds produced farthest back in the vocal tract are all the way on the right. This table only shows the consonants in English. The abbreviation v stands for voiced and vls stands for voiceless.
|
Bilabial |
Labiodental |
Interdental |
Alveolar |
Palatal |
Velar |
Glottal |
|||||||
|
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
v |
vls |
Stop |
b |
p |
|
|
|
|
d |
t |
|
|
g |
k |
|
ʔ |
Fricative |
|
|
v |
f |
ð |
θ |
z |
s |
ʒ |
ʃ |
|
|
|
h |
Affricate |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
dʒ |
tʃ |
|
|
|
|
Nasal |
m |
|
|
|
|
|
n |
|
|
|
ŋ |
|
|
|
Liquid |
|
|
|
|
|
|
l r |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Glide |
w |
ʍ |
|
|
|
|
|
|
j |
|
w |
ʍ |
|
|
Activity: Go to Multiple Choice questions in Moodle to practice exercises on IPA consonants