Introduction

The basic building blocks of speech are called phonemes, and the English language is made of up of 43 of them. They are divided into the classes based on the different uses of the vocal system.

Physiology

Class 1 - Vowels

This group is distinguished as sounds that are made with an open vocal tract. These include A, E, I, O and U.

Class 2 - Voiced Continuants 

These sounds are produced by combining voicing with constrictions in air flow through the vocal tract, with different sounds being produced by varying the place and the amount of constriction. These include L, M, N, R, V, W, and TH+ (with voice).

Class 3 - Fricative Continuants

Fricatives are produced by combining a lack of voicing with constrictions in air flow through the vocal tract, with different sounds being produced by varying the place and the amount of constriction. These include F, H, S, SH, and TH- (without voice).

Class 4 - Plosive Continuants

Plosives are are produced by a momentary stopping of the air flow through the vocal tract, followed by an (explosive) burst of air. These bursts can be either accompanied by voice, or not. These include B, D, G, K, P, and T. 

User

The Phonemes exercise provides the chance to use techniques like stretch syllables, gentle onsets and full articulative motion for a range of sounds.

The selection spinner allows the choice of 4 settings, Class of phonemes, number of sounds, the duration of stretch or onset, and the number repetitions of each sounds. The Start button will select a number of random sounds, and be ready to begin the exercise.

Once the Exercise loop has begun, the timer for each sound can be started with the Begin Timer button. During the loop, the phoneme will be displayed (JA in the example above) along with an example word (jail) to indicate how it should be pronounced. The progress bar will show the amount of time used until the End Timer button is hit.