The 'Place of Articulation', the speech organs, are primarily involved in the production of a particular sound. These speech organs modify the airstream that is pushed up by the lungs; this process produces different sounds. The place where the airstream is obstructed is furthermore significant for the exact production of sounds.

Manner of Articulation refers to how the sound is made. In NAE, there are six manners of articulation:

 

Table 1. The Classification of Consonant Sounds

Manner of ArticulationVoicing   Place of Articulation    |  | Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Palatal | Velar | Glottal
Stop | Voiceless
Voiced | /p/
/b/ |  |  | /t/
/d/ |  | /k/
/g/ | 
Fricative | Voiceless
Voiced |  | /f/
/v/ | /θ/
/ð/ | /s/
/z/ | /ʃ/
/ʒ/ |  | /h/
Affricate | Voiceless
Voiced |  |  |  |  | /tʃ/
/dʒ/ |  | 
Nasal | Voiced | /m/ |  |  | /n/ |  | /ŋ/ | 
Liquid | Voiced |  |  |  | /l/ | /r/ | /ɫ/ | 
Glide | Voiced | /w/ |  |  |  | /y/ 

The active articulator usually moves in order to make the constriction. The passive articulator usually just sits there and gets approached.

A sound's place of articulation is usually named by using the Latin ajective for the active articulator (ending with an "o") followed by the Latin adjective for the passive articulator. For example, a sound where the tongue tip (the "apex") approaches or touches the upper teeth is called an "apico-dental". Most of the common combinations of active and passive articulator have abbreviated names (usually leaving out the active half).

A speech sound made with obstruction of the airflow is said to be articulated; therefore, to describe different articulations some basic parameters should be taken into consideration.

Consonants are normally specified for three descriptive parameters:

PLACE OR POINT OF ARTICULATION

A) PLACE OR POINT OF ARTICULATION

It refers to the horizontal relationship between the articulators.

WHAT MOVES, AND IN WHICH DIRECTION IT MOVES.

The places or points of articulation for both English and Spanish consonants can be summarized as follow:

B) MANNER OF ARTICULATION: it is concerned with

the nature of the obstruction.

2. Labiodental

1. Bilabial

C) VOICING: Voicing means that the vocal folds are

used: if they are not, the sound is voiceless.

4. Alveolar

5. Retroflex

7. Palatal

8. Velar

PLACE OR POINT OF ARTICULATION

It refers to the horizontal relationship between the articulators.

WHAT MOVES, AND IN WHICH DIRECTION IT MOVES.

The places or points of articulation for both English and Spanish consonants can be summarized as follow:

1. Bilabial

4. Alveolar

7. Palatal

English contains the following three bilabial consonants:

LABIO-DENTAL: Labio-dental consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by curling your lower lip back and raising it to touch your upper row of teeth.

English contains the following two labio-dental sounds:

DENTAL: Dental consonants occur when you block/constrict airflow by placing your slimy tongue against your upper teeth. 

English contains the following two labio-dental sounds:

ALVEOLAR: The alveolar ridge is where your teeth meet your gums. 

You create Alveolar consonants when you raise your tongue to the alveolar ridge to block or constrict airflow. 

The English alveolar consonants are as follows:

POST-ALVEOLAR: When you retract your tongue back just a bit from the alveolar ridge, the sounds change enough to be recognized as distinct consonants.  

So post-alveolar consonants are those that occur when the tongue blocks or constricts airflow at the point just beyond the alveolar ridge. 

The post-alveolar english consonants are as follows: 

PALATAL: The roof of your mouth is the hard palate. You may know it as “the place that burns like hell when I eat pizza that is too hot.”  

You create Palatal consonants when you raise the tongue to this point and constrict airflow.  

English has only one palatal consonant: 

VELAR: Behind your hard palate you have the velum or soft palate. Unlike the bony hard palate in front of it, the this consists of soft, mucousy tissue.  

You make Velar Consonants when you raise the back of your tongue to the velum to block or restrict airflow.

English has the following velar consonants:

GLOTTAL: The glottis is actually two vocal folds (i.e. vocal cords). It acts as a sort of bottle cap to your windpipe.

Inhale and then hold your breath for a few seconds while keeping your mouth open. What you are actually doing to keep the air from expelling out of your lungs by closing your glottis.  

Glottal consonants aren’t actually consonants; they just play consonant roles in the language. In English, the following things happen at the glottis: