place of articulation ˌpleɪs əv ɑːˌtɪkjəˈleɪʃən Consonants are made by producing an obstruction to the flow of air at some point in the vocal tract, and when we classify consonants one of the most important things to establish is the place where this obstruction is made; this is known as the place of articulation, and in conventional phonetic classification each place of articulation has an adjective that can be applied to a consonant. To give a few examples of familiar sounds, the place of articulation for p, b is bilabial, for f, v labiodental, for θ, ð dental, for t, d alveolar, for ʃ, ʒ post-alveolar, for k, ɡ velar, and for h glottal. The full range of places of articulation can be seen on the 1IPA chart. Sometimes it is necessary to specify more than one place of articulation for a consonant, for one of two reasons: firstly, there may be a secondary articulation – a less extreme obstruction to the airflow, but one which is thought to have a significant effect; secondly, some languages have consonants that make two simultaneous constrictions, neither of which could fairly be regarded as taking precedence over the other. A number of West African languages, such as Igbo, have consonants which involve simultaneous plosive closures at the lips and at the velum, as in, for example, the labial-velar stops kp, ɡb found in Igbo and Yoruba. | 