Definition:
Place of articulation is the location in the vocal tract where the primary constriction or closure occurs in the production of a consonant. It is one of three parameters — alongside voicing and manner of articulation — used to classify consonants in articulatory phonetics. Together, these three parameters provide a complete description of any consonant: for example, /d/ is a voiced (voicing) alveolar (place) plosive (manner). Place of articulation is the column dimension of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) consonant chart.
Places of Articulation
Moving from front to back in the vocal tract:
1. Bilabial
Both lips form the constriction:
- /p/ (voiceless bilabial plosive), /b/ (voiced bilabial plosive), /m/ (voiced bilabial nasal)
- Found in virtually all languages; highly typologically common
2. Labiodental
Lower lip + upper teeth:
- /f/ (voiceless labiodental fricative), /v/ (voiced labiodental fricative)
- Not universal — absent from many Asian and African languages
3. Dental
Tongue tip/blade + upper teeth:
- /?/ (voiceless dental fricative, English “think”), /ð/ (voiced dental fricative, English “this”)
- Dental stops: /t? d?/ — common in Indian languages, Spanish, other languages
4. Alveolar
Tongue tip/blade + alveolar ridge (just behind upper teeth):
- /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/, /r/
- Extremely common across languages; one of the most cross-linguistically frequent places
5. Postalveolar
Tongue blade/body + just behind alveolar ridge:
- /?/ (English “sh”), /?/ (English “vision”), /t?/ (“ch”), /d?/ (“judge”)
- Common in many languages
6. Retroflex
Tongue tip curled back toward hard palate:
- /? ? ? ? ? ? ?/ — common in South Asian languages (Hindi, Tamil, Dravidian)
- The retroflex /r/ characteristics in American English are related but not strictly IPA retroflex
7. Palatal
Tongue body + hard palate:
- /j/ (English “yes”), /c ? ? ç ?/ — common; also found in Spanish ñ, French gn
8. Velar
Tongue back + soft palate (velum):
- /k/, /g/, /?/ (ng in “singing”)
- Universal or near-universal in the world’s languages
9. Uvular
Tongue back + uvula:
- /q/, /?/, /?/, /?/ — Arabic /q/, French /?/ (in some accents — Parisian “r”), Arabic /?/
- Not present in English or most European languages
10. Pharyngeal
Tongue root + pharynx walls:
- /h/ (voiceless pharyngeal fricative — Arabic ?), /?/ (voiced pharyngeal fricative — Arabic ?)
11. Glottal
At the larynx itself:
- /h/ (voiceless glottal fricative), /?/ (glottal stop — “uh-oh” in English; Arabic ?)
- Glottal stop is common even in English (Cockney bu’er for “butter”)
Cross-Linguistic Place Frequency
| Place | Typological frequency |
|---|---|
| Bilabial, alveolar, velar | Near-universal |
| Postalveolar, palatal | Very common |
| Labiodental, dental | Common |
| Retroflex | South/Southeast Asia |
| Uvular | Arabic, Caucasian, some European |
| Pharyngeal, glottal | Arabic; glottal stop widely present |
Place Assimilation
Place of articulation is the target of the most common type of assimilation — place assimilation, in which an alveolar consonant adjacent to a bilabial or velar consonant takes on that consonant’s place:
- ten bikes ? /n/ ? [m] (bilabial place assimilation before /b/)
- ten cups ? /n/ ? [?] (velar place assimilation before /k/)
History
Systematic description of consonant places was established in 19th-century comparative linguistics and phonetics. Henry Sweet, Eduard Sievers, and Paul Passy formalized articulatory description. The IPA chart (1888) codified the place × manner × voicing matrix. Ladefoged (1975) and Ladefoged & Maddieson (1996) The Sounds of the World’s Languages provided the most comprehensive cross-linguistic inventory.
Common Misconceptions
- “English has all the speech sounds in the world” — English lacks pharyngeals, uvulars, clicks, retroflex stops (standardly), and many other cross-linguistically common sounds
- “The /r/ sounds in different languages are the same” — English /r/ (postalveolar approximant), French /?/ (uvular fricative/approximant), Spanish trilled /r/ (alveolar trill) are produced at different places
Criticisms
- The discrete place categories in the IPA underspecify the gradient articulatory reality — actual consonant productions exist on a continuum, not in discrete slots
Social Media Sentiment
IPA and place of articulation are frequently encountered in language learning contexts, especially for pronunciation guides and in discussions of “why is this sound hard.” Phonetics-focused language learning content is popular on YouTube and social media. Last updated: 2026-04
Practical Application
- Understanding place of articulation helps you diagnose why a TL sound is hard — is it a place you’ve never used before? (uvular /?/ for English speakers learning French/Arabic)
- Explicit articulatory instruction (where to place the tongue) can break through imitation plateaus for difficult sounds
Related Terms
See Also
Research
- Ladefoged, P., & Maddieson, I. (1996). The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Blackwell. — The definitive cross-linguistic survey of consonant place, manner, and voicing inventories.
- Ladefoged, P., & Johnson, K. (2014). A Course in Phonetics (7th ed.). Wadsworth. — Standard textbook; place of articulation in Chapters 1–4.
- Maddieson, I. (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press. — Typological database and analysis of phoneme inventories cross-linguistically.