Clear English - Stops and Continuants - Page 1

A. Besides voicing, another fundamental distinction between English sounds is whether they are stop sounds or continuant sounds. In some sounds, the air is stopped inside the mouth (stop sounds). In other sounds the air flows out without being stopped (continuant).

To feel the difference between a stop sound and a continuant make an "sssss" sound as long as you can. That is a continuant sound. Now make a "p" sound (not adding a vowel). Can you continue the "p" sound? No, because the "p" is a stop sound. Stops Continuants Voiced boy, day, go, judge, toy, tense, take, tank, ten, ton me, then, low, vote, not, zoo, pleasure, and all vowels Unvoiced pan, too, cake, chew, point think, fine, say, shoe, thank, thing, that, those, than, them, these, this

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