This chapter focuses on the inventory of English consonants,
which are classified and described in accordance with the point of
articulation, articulator, manner of articulation, and state of the vocal cords relevant to the production of each sound. Despite the fact that the English alphabet comprises twenty-one letters representing consonants, a few more than twenty-one consonant sounds are employed in spoken English. Like other languages, English has six groups of consonants, namely, stops, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, and glides. Table 2 given below shows the English consonant classification on the basis of the four major criteria mentioned.