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Articulation Exercises

Exercise 1. Name the consonant sounds in the middle of each of the following words as
indicated in the example:

Voiced or Place of Manner of
voiceless Articulation Articulation

adder voiced alveolar stop
father
singing
etching
robber
ether
pleasure
hopper
selling
sunny
lodger

Exercise 2. Describe the consonants in the word skinflint using the chart below. Fill
in all five columns, and put parentheses around the terms that may be left out, as shown
for the first consonant:

Voiced or Place of Manner of Oral or Articulatory
Voiceless articulation articulation nasal action
s voiceless alveolar (central) (oral) fricative
k
n
f
l
n
t

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Exercise 3. In the spaces provided below, state (1) the place of articulation and (2) the
manner of articulation of each sound. In addition, give3 (3) an example of an English
word beginning with the sound illustrated.

Voiced or Place of Manner of
voiceless Articulation Articulation
a. .. .. ..
b. .. .. ..
c. .. .. ..
d. .. .. ..
e. .. .. ..
f. .. .. ..
g. .. .. ..




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Exercise 4.
1. Circle the words that begin with a bilabial consonant:
mat gnat sat bat rat pat
2. Circle the words that begin with a velar consonant:
knot got lot cot hot pot
3. Circle the words that begin with a labiodental consonant:
fat cat that mat chat vat
4. Circle the words that begin with an alveolar consonant:
zip nip lip sip tip dip
5. Circle the words that begin with a dental consonant:
pie guy shy thigh thy high
6. Circle the words that bcgin with a palato-alveolar consonant:
sigh shy tic thigh thy lie
7. Circle the words that end with a fricative:
race wreath bush bring breathe bang rave real ray rose rough
8. Circle the words that end with a nasal:
rain rang dumb deaf
9. Circle the words that end with a stop:
pill lip lit graph crab dog hide laugh back
10. Circle the words that begin with a lateral:
nut lull bar rob one
11. Circle the words that begin with an approximant:
we you one run
12. Circle the words that end with an affricate:
much back edge ooze
13. Circle the words in which the consonant in the middle is voiced:
tracking mother robber leisure massive stomach razor
14. Circle the words that contain a high vowel:
sat suit got meet mud
15. Circle the words that contain a low vowel:
weed wad load lad rude
16. Circle the words that contain a front vowel:
gate caught cat kill put
17. Circle the words that contain a back vowel:
maid weep coop cop good
18. Circle the words that contain a rounded vowel:
who me us but him

Exercise 5. Give three examples of English words beginning with the following
consonant sounds:
1. voiced bilabial 6. voiced palatal
2. voiceless alveolar 7. voiceless bilabial
3. voiced labial-velar 8. voiceless velar
4. voiced labiodental 9. voiceless dental
5. voiceless palato-alveolar 10. voiced post-alveolar
..
Exercise 6. Give three examples of words ending with the following sounds:
1. voiced bilabial 6. voiced alveolar
2. voiceless alveolar 7. voiceless bilabial
3. voiced velar 8. voiceless velar
4. voiced labiodental 9. voiceless dental
5. voiceless palato-alveolar 10. voiceless labiodental

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Exercise 7. As well as identifying consonant sounds with articulatory labels, we can
represent them in diagrams. What do you judge to be the place of articulation of each of
the following consonants? (In each case look carefully to determine which active
articulators are involved and which passive articulator they are relating to.)


Exercise 8. Give voice and place labels to each of the consonants in the following
utterances. Begin by transcribing them.
1. Try to be very quick.
2. Its fairly easy, once you know how.
3. Judge the voicing first.
4. Nearly finished!
5. Check the answers carefully.

Exercise 9. Here are all the English consonants:

[p t k b d g f T s S h v D z Z tS dZ m n N r w l j]

a) Divide them into two groups, putting all the voiceless ones together and all the voiced ones together.
(b) Fill the items from each group into the following matrix:

Place of Articulation Voiceless Sounds Voiced Sounds
Bilabial
Labiodental
Dental
Alveolar
Post alveolar
Palato-alveolar
Palatal
Velar
Glottal
Labial-velar





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Exercise 10. Phoneticians also need to be able to draw these diagrams quickly and
easily. Complete the following diagrams to illustrate an articulation at each of the six
different places of articulation given.




Exercise 10. Phoneticians also need to be able to draw these diagrams quickly and
easily. Complete the following diagrams to illustrate an articulation at each of the four
different places of articulation given. Remember to signal voice with a crooked line (see
the bottom of the map example at the bottom or leave it blank if it is voiceless.



Example: mat think


cat nut day