The daunting IPA charts can be simplified by listing only sounds that occur in common English (General American and British RP) and translating linguistic terms to plain English.
Vocal cords are normally vibrated while making consonant sounds (voiced). The exceptions are the left symbol in a halved cell, and glottal consonants. These consonants are unvoiced and are white to denote that. By coupling the voiced/unvoiced aspect, and refering to the column and row of a consonant, one may find its phonological name.
For example, the "b" sound is called voiced bilabial plosive, because you voice your vocal cords while using both your lips to make a pop.
| Bilabial | Labiodental | Dental | Alveolar | Postalveolar | Palatal | Velar | Labial-velar | Glottal | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| both lips touch | bottom lip touches top teeth | tongue tip touches top teeth | tongue touches inner gums | tongue behind gums | mid-tongue touches hard palate | mid-tongue touches soft palate | lips pursed, then retracted | throaty | ||||||||
| Plosive
(pop) |
p | b | t | d | k | ɡ | ʔ | |||||||||
| Nasal
(air thru nose) |
m | n | ŋ | |||||||||||||
| Tap or Flap | ɾ | |||||||||||||||
| Fricative
(turbulent exhale) |
f | v | θ | ð | s | z | ʃ | ʒ | ʍ | h | ||||||
| Approximant
(smooth exhale) |
ɹ | j | w | |||||||||||||
| Lateral Approximant
(side-tongue exhale) |
l | |||||||||||||||
Unlike consonants, a vowel is a sustainable sound that occurs when the oral cavity is unrestricted and the vocal chords are vibrated. The IPA vowel chart is a trapezoid. Upwards, the oral cavity is narrowed; downwards it is opened. Leftwards, the top of the tongue is moved toothwards; rightwards it is moved towards the back of the throat. In the rightmost row, vowels right of the line indicate that the lips are rounded.