PRONOUNCIATION CONSONAN CHART
The IPA consonant chart
This is the main IPA consonant chart. (Clicking on a column will take you to the page for that place of articulation. Clicking on a row label will take you to the page for that manner of articulation.)Given that we need to answer seven questions to describe a consonant, a perfect consonant chart would need seven dimensions. For us mere mortals who can't handle seven-dimensional diagrams, the IPA consonant chart uses several tricks to squeeze the answers to all seven questions into two dimensions.
In the horizontal dimension of the IPA consonant chart, each of the most common places of articulation (i.e., the most common combinations of active and passive articulators) has its own column:
IPA column
label |
active
articulator |
passive
articulator |
labial (lower lip)
|
labial (upper lip)
|
|
labial (lower lip)
|
dental (upper teeth)
|
|
apical/laminal
|
dental
|
|
apical/laminal
|
alveolar
|
|
apical/laminal
|
postalveolar
|
|
apical
|
postalveolar/palatal
|
|
dorsal
|
palatal
|
|
dorsal
|
velar
|
|
dorsal
|
uvular
|
|
radical
|
pharyngeal
|
|
(see page)
|
(see page)
|
dental
|
[ d̪
]
|
alveolar
|
[ d̺
]
|
postalveolar
|
[ d̠ ]
(or else treat as retroflex [ ɖ ])
|
IPA row label
|
laterality
|
nasality
|
constriction
degree
|
non-lateral
|
oral
|
stop
|
|
non-lateral
|
nasal
|
stop
|
|
non-lateral
|
oral
|
trill
|
|
non-lateral
|
oral
|
tap or flap
|
|
non-lateral
|
oral
|
fricative
|
|
lateral
|
oral
|
fricative
|
|
non-lateral
|
oral
|
approximant
|
|
lateral
|
oral
|
approximant
|
Airstream mechanism is not answered directly in the consonant chart. Every last one of the consonants in the main chart uses the most common airstream mechanism -- the pulmonic mechanism, as indicated in the title of the chart, "Consonants (pulmonic)". The sounds that use one of the less common airstream mechanisms are exiled to a smaller sub-chart (which appears directly below the main consonant chart if you have the all-on-one-page version).
Chapter
1
Clicking on a symbol will take you
to a part of the chart where you can hear the corresponding sound.
To hear the sounds in a row or column and get short definitions of the terms click here.
To hear the sounds in a row or column and get short definitions of the terms click here.