Glossary · Sounds and phonemic awareness
What is place and manner of articulation?
Definition
Place of articulation is where in the mouth a sound is made; manner of articulation is how the air is shaped, such as stopped, squeezed or sent through the nose.
Place answers “where?” /p/, /b/ and /m/ are made with both lips. /t/, /d/ and /n/ are made with the tongue behind the top teeth. /k/ and /g/ come from the back of the mouth.
Manner answers “how?” Stops block the air completely (/p/, /t/). Fricatives squeeze it through a narrow gap (/f/, /s/, /sh/). Nasals send it through the nose (/m/, /n/, /ng/). Affricates start as a stop and end as a fricative (/ch/, /j/). Glides and liquids barely block it at all (/w/, /y/, /l/, /r/).
Students don't need the terms. They need to notice what their mouth does, because a student who can feel a sound can check it when they spell.
In a lesson
Hand the student a small mirror. Say /m/, /n/ and /ng/ together and watch: lips closed, then tongue up front, then tongue at the back. All three hum through the nose.
Examples
Each word with its spelling units, one per sound.
- chinch·i·n
- thingth·i·ng
- bangb·a·ng
- rungr·u·ng
Words come from our lexicon, checked against a pronouncing dictionary. Words a student sees in our assessments are left out.
Why does this matter for the record?
Articulation work belongs to the first weeks of a sequence. Note any sound the student can't produce clearly; a speech-language pathologist may need to see it.
Rate each skill as you teach it
Needs support, Developing, Secure. The rating schedules the review and builds the report.