An ELT Glossary : Homorganic consonants



Definition : The term homorganic is used to describe speech sounds which have the same place of articulation - that is,  they are made in the same place in the mouth. For example,  /n/ and /t/ are homorganic - they are both alveolar consonants - ie made by placing the the tongue on the alveolar ridge.

Other Examples : 
  • Assimilation of place makes words easier to pronounce by changing a phoneme to one which is homorganic with the one adjacent to it. Eg white bag will be pronounced /waɪp bæg/ - the alveolar /t/ changes to bilabial /p/ which is homorganic with the following /b/ (also bilabial).