In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language, such as an English ah! [] or oh!

[o], pronounced with an open vocal tract so that there is no build-up of air pressure at any point above the glottis. This contrasts with consonants, such as English sh! [], where there is a constriction or closure at some point along the vocal tract. A vowel is also understood to be syllabic: an equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is called a semivowel. In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are [p], pronounced with the lips; [t], pronounced with the front of the tongue; [k], pronounced with the back of the tongue; [h], pronounced in the throat; [f] and [s], pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel (fricatives); and [m] and [n], which have air flowing through the nose (nasals). Contrasting with consonants are vowels. [1] A diphthong (/df/ or /dp/; Greek: , diphthongos, literally "two sounds" or "two tones"), also known as a gliding vowel, refers to two adjacent vowel sounds occurring within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets: that is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel. For most dialects of English, the phrase "no highway cowboys" contains five distinct diphthongs.

In articulatory phonetics, the place of articulation (also point of articulation) of a consonant is the point of contact where an obstruction occurs in the vocal tractbetween an articulatory gesture, an active articulator (typically some part of the tongue), and a passive location (typically some part of the roof of the mouth). Along with the manner of articulation and the phonation, this gives the consonant its distinctive sound.

Place of Articulation
Bilabial - uses both lips to create the sound such as the beginning sounds in pin, bust, well and the ending sound in seem. Labiodental - uses the lower lip and upper teeth; examples include fin and van. Dental/interdental - creates sound between the teeth such as the and thin. Alveolar - is a sound created with the tongue and the ridge behind the upper teeth; examples include the beginning sounds of tin, dust, sin, zoo, and late and the /n/ in scene. Palatal - uses the tongue and the hard palate to created the following sounds: shin, treasure, cheep, jeep, rate and yell. Velar - makes the sound using the soft palate in the back of the mouth; sounds include kin, gust, and the -ng in sing. Glottal- is a sound made in the throat between the vocal cords such as in the word hit

Manner of Articulation

The manner of articulation means how the sound is made using the different places of articulation, tongue placement, whether the sound is voiced or unvoiced and the amount of air needed. Stops - air coming from the lungs is stopped at some point during the formation of the sound. Some of these sounds are unvoiced, such as pin, tin, and kin; some of these are voiced, such as bust, dust and gust. Fricatives - restricted air flow causes friction but the air flow isnt completely stopped. Unvoiced examples include fin, thin, sin, shin, and hit; voiced examples include van, zoo, the, and treasure. Affricates - are combinations of stops and fricatives. Cheap is an example of an unvoiced affricate and jeep is an example of an voiced. Nasals - as expected, the air is stopped from going through the mouth and is redirected into the nose. Voiced examples include seem, seen, scene, and sing. Liquids - almost no air is stopped; voiced exampled included late and rate. Glides - sometimes referred to as semi-vowels, the air passes through the articulators to create vowel like sounds but the letters are known as consonants. Examples include well and yell.
1. THE DEGREE OF NOISE

A. Noise Consonants

1. In the work of the vocal cords 2. The degree of force of articulation

B. Sonorants are