Board Thread:Linguistics/@comment-4924435-20141231044420/@comment-25410520-20150103072554

I understand your frustration. I assume you're talking about the IPA consonant table. If you understand the names such as place of articulation (where in your mouth you're putting your tongue) and manner of articulation (how you're pronouncing the sound). In fact most symbols are the same as English (/k/ = cake; /t/ = rate; /s/ = soup).

Here are some definitions of some terms of the places of articulation in common areas:

Bilabial~ with only your lips (ex: /b/ boat, /m/ moat, /p/ power)

Labio-Dental~ with your lower lip touching your teeth¹ (ex: /f/ fat, /v/ vacuum)

Dental~ with your teeth against your teeth¹, this applies to right behind your teeth¹ or under the tip of your teeth. (ex: /θ/ theater, /ð/ the)

Alveolar²~ your tongue on your alveolar ridge or the space behind teeth¹  but  not touching your teeth (ex: /t/ top, /d/ down, /n/ not, /l/ low)

Post-Alveolar~ right after your alveolar ridge. Used virtually excusivally when talking about the 2 fricatives (ex: /ʃ/ ship, /ʒ/ measure)

Palatal~ on your soft palate or the soft part of your mouth that comes right after your jaw. If you're still confused then trace your finger from the alveolar ridge until you the soft area where the bone ends. (ex: /j/ yes)

Velar~ the "back" of your mouth. (ex: /k/ cake, /g/ gate, /ŋ/ reading)

Uvular~ This doesn't exist in English but very common. It is the place of articulation of the French and German R, and the Arabic Q (ex: French: /ʀ/ rappeler, German /ʀ/ rübe)

Glottal~ This usually means 2 sounds H, and ʔ (ex: /h/ hot, in the unstressed general american accent /ʔ/ important which in this accent is /ʔɪmpɔɹʔnt/)

¹ When I say teeth I mean your front teeth on your upper jaw

² Most traditionally alveolar consonants in English are dental (i.e. /t/, /d/, and /n/)

Here are some definitions of some manners of articulation in common areas:

Nasal~ air goes through the nose (ex: /m/ more, /n/ not)

Plosive or Stop~ air is stoped or blocked (ex: /t/ top, /k/ cake, /p/ pour)

Sibilant Fricative~ air pushed sharply through to your teeth (ex: /s/ soup, and /ʃ/ sheep)

Non-Sibilant Fricative~ air is pushed through a narrow channel (ex: /θ/ theather, /f/ fork, /h/ hot)

Approximant~ are is disturbed slightly (ex: /j/ yes, /ɹ/ road)

Flap or Tap~ like a plosive but very quick (ex: Spanish /ɾ/ pero)

Trill~ the continuous flapping of the tongue against the surface of another part of your mouth (ex: Spanish /r/ perro, /ʙ/ bbbbrrrr [the comidial sound of a person being cold)

Lateral~ means that air goes around your tongue and not over. In most languages it refers either the lateral alveolar approximant L (ex: /l/ lamb) or the fricative /ɬ/ (voiced: /ɮ/ but that's less common)

Another common sound is an affricate or when you pronounce 2 consonants consecutively. Some common ones are /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ts/, and /dz/. (ex: /tʃ/ church, /dʒ/ judge, /ts/ its, /dz/ rids).

If you have any other questions then just ask :)

Another thing to know is voiced and unvoiced; voiced means you vibrate your vocal coards (the difference between the /s/ of soup, unvoiced, and /z/ zest, voiced, or the /k/ of kate, unvoiced, and the /g/ of gate, voiced), unvoiced is when you don't.