Languagesare entrenched with sound. Mostly, the hardest thing about learning any language is to grapple the pronunciations. In order to make learning easier, the English language sounds are distributed into two parts that are consonants and vowels. 

A consonant is a speech sound that is segmented with utter or restricted part closure of the vocal tract. Elementary, we can define a consonant as the speech sounds or letters of the alphabets that are not vowels. Altogether, there are 24 consonant sounds. (p, b, t, d, k, g, f, v, s, z) are some examples of the consonants, some of them are voiced and some are voiceless. 

 A vowel is a syllabic speech sound that is pronounced without any restriction in the vocal tract. The vowel is pronounced by varying the shape of the upper vocal tract (the area of the mouth above the tongue). Simple vowels are known as monophthongs, and the combinations of two different vowels are called diphthongs.

The main difference between consonant and vowel is that vowels are those speech sounds that are made with the mouth amply open and the consonants are those speech sounds that are made with the mouth fairly closed. Most syllables include vowels, but some vowel-like consonants can be sometimes called syllables. 

Plosive 

Plosive also known as stop consonant or occlusive that is pronounced by ceasing the air flowing effortlessly through the mouth, by closing the lips or touching the teeth with the help of the tongue. English pronunciation includes 6 plosive phenomena (p,b,t,d,k,g). 

Fricative 

Fricative also sometimes called “spirant”, is a consonant sound that is produced by strangulating the vocal tract, giving rise to audible friction, as the air streams through it. Basically, it means bringing the mouth into such a position where the passage of airflow is closed, but not making utter closure, so that the mouth is able to produce friction. 

Plosive vs fricative 

Main difference 

The main difference between both of the consonants is that plosive is the sound composed after opening a formerly closed oral passage, while fricative is produced by air flowing through a narrow path in the oral cavity and mainly producing a hissing type of sound. Plosives are pronounced without putting effort into the passage of air, while fricatives are pronounced by the nearly blockage of air. 

Examples 

Plosive 

Sound “P” in “puff”, 

Fricative 

Sound “z” in “zebra”

Describing consonant 

  • Manner of articulation
  • place of articulation
  • Voicing 

Manner of articulation

Manner of articulation alludes to how the airflow is restricted in the vocal tract. 

Place of articulation

Place of articulation makes a reference to where in the vocal tract the restriction of airflow takes place. 

Voicing 

Voicing alludes to the function of vocal folds. 

Types

  • Voiced 
  • Voiceless 

Voiced sound

It is a sound where the vocal cords oscillate, in consequence they produce some type of amplified pitch. 

Voiceless sound

It is sound where the vocal cords do not oscillate, in consequence they produce whispering, low pitched sound. 

Conclusion For easier learning and fluent pronunciations, in English language, speech sounds are divided into two, vowels and consonants. Vowels are those sounds that are produced by fairly opened mouth, while consonants are produced by fairly closed mouth. In this article, we have summarized two types of consonants, plosives and fricative sounds. Plosives sounds are produced after opening a previously closed oral passage, while fricatives are composed by restricting the airflow in consequence it produces a low pitched sound. What do you think?