Consonant

{{dablink|Not to be confused with the musical concept of [[Consonance and dissonance|consonance]]}} {{for|the alternative rock group|Consonant (band)}} {{Place of articulation}} In [[articulatory phonetics]], a '''consonant''' is a [[speech sound]] that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the [[vocal tract]]. Examples are {{IPA|[p]}}, pronounced with the lips; {{IPA|[t]}}, pronounced with the front of the tongue; {{IPA|[k]}}, pronounced with the back of the tongue; {{IPA|[h]}}, pronounced in the throat; {{IPA|[f]}} and {{IPA|[s]}}, pronounced by forcing air through a narrow channel ([[fricative]]s); and {{IPA|[m]}} and {{IPA|[n]}}, which have air flowing through the nose ([[nasal consonant|nasals]]). Contrasting with consonants are [[vowel]]s. Since the number of possible sounds in all of the world's languages is much greater than the number of letters in any one [[alphabet]], [[Linguistics|linguists]] have devised systems such as the [[help:IPA|International Phonetic Alphabet]] (IPA) to assign a unique and unambiguous [[symbol]] to each attested consonant. In fact, the [[Latin alphabet]], which is used to write English, has fewer consonant letters than English has consonant sounds, so [[Digraph (orthography)|digraph]]s like "ch", "sh", "th", and "zh" are used to extend the alphabet, and some letters and digraphs represent more than one consonant. For example, the sound spelled "th" in "this" is a different consonant than the "th" sound in "thin". (In the IPA they are transcribed {{IPA|[ð]}} and {{IPA|[θ]}}, respectively.) ==Terminology== The word ''consonant'' comes from [[Latin]] oblique stem ''cōnsonant-,'' from ''cōnsonāns (littera)'' "sounding-together (letter)", a [[calque]] of Greek σύμφωνον ''sýmphōnon'' (plural ''sýmphōna''). [[Dionysius Thrax]] calls consonants ''sýmphōna'' "pronounced with" because they can only be pronounced with a vowel. He divides them into two subcategories: ''hēmíphōna'', semivowels (''half-pronounced''), which correspond to modern [[continuant]] consonants, not [[semivowel]]s, and ''áphōna'', mute or silent consonants (''unvoiced''), which correspond to modern [[stop consonant|stops]] or plosives, not to modern unvoiced or [[voiceless]] consonants. This description does not apply to some [[Natural language|human languages]], such as the [[Salishan languages]], in which stop consonants sometimes occur without vowels (see [[Nuxálk language|Nuxálk]]), and the modern conception of consonant does not require cooccurrence with vowels. ==Letters== {{main|Writing system}} The word '''consonant''' is also used to refer to a [[Letter (alphabet)|letter]] of an [[alphabet]] that denotes a consonant sound. Consonant letters in the English alphabet are [[B]], [[C]], [[D]], [[F]], [[G]], [[H]], [[J]], [[K]], [[L]], [[M]], [[N]], [[P]], [[Q]], [[R]], [[S]], [[T]], [[V]], [[X]], [[Z]], and usually [[W]] and [[Y]]: The letter Y stands for the consonant {{IPA|[j]}} in "yoke", the vowel {{IPA|[ɪ]}} in "myth" and the vowel {{IPA|[i]}} in "funny", for example; W is almost always a consonant except in rare words (mostly [[loanword]]s from [[Welsh language|Welsh]]) like "crwth" "cwm". There are 21 letters that are consonants. ==Consonants versus vowels== Consonants and vowels correspond to distinct parts of a [[syllable]]: The most sonorous part of the syllable (that is, the part that's easiest to sing), called the ''syllabic peak'' or ''[[syllable nucleus|nucleus]],'' is typically a vowel, while the less sonorous margins (called the ''[[syllable onset|onset]]'' and ''[[syllable coda|coda]]'') are typically consonants. Such syllables may be abbreviated CV, V, and CVC, where C stands for consonant and V stands for vowel. This can be argued to be the only pattern found in most of the world's languages, and perhaps the primary pattern in all of them. However, the distinction between consonant and vowel is not always clear cut: there are syllabic consonants and non-syllabic vowels in many of the world's languages. One blurry area is in segments variously called ''[[semivowel]]s, semiconsonants,'' or ''glides''. On the one side, there are vowel-like segments that are not in themselves syllabic but that form [[diphthong]]s as part of the syllable nucleus, as the ''i'' in English ''boil'' {{IPA|[ˈbɔɪ̯l]}}. On the other, there are [[approximant]]s that behave like consonants in forming onsets but are articulated very much like vowels, as the ''y'' in English ''yes'' {{IPA|[ˈjɛs]}}. Some phonologists model these as both being the underlying vowel {{IPA|/i/}}, so that the English word ''bit'' would [[phoneme|phonemically]] be {{IPA|/bit/}}, ''beet'' would be {{IPA|/bii̯t/}}, and ''yield'' would be phonemically {{IPA|/i̯ii̯ld/}}. Likewise, ''foot'' would be {{IPA|/fut/}}, ''food'' would be {{IPA|/fuu̯d/}}, ''wood'' would be {{IPA|/u̯ud/}}, and ''wooed'' would be {{IPA|/u̯uu̯d/}}. However, there is a (perhaps allophonic) difference in articulation between these segments, with the {{IPA|[j]}} in {{IPA|[ˈjɛs]}} ''yes'' and {{IPA|[ˈjiʲld]}} ''yield'' and the {{IPA|[w]}} of {{IPA|[ˈwuʷd]}} ''wooed'' having more constriction and a more definite place of articulation than the {{IPA|[ɪ]}} in {{IPA|[ˈbɔɪ̯l]}} ''boil'' or {{IPA|[ˈbɪt]}} ''bit'' or the {{IPA|[ʊ]}} of {{IPA|[ˈfʊt]}}. The other problematic area is that of syllabic consonants, segments articulated as consonants but occupying the nucleus of a syllable. This may be the case for words such as ''church'' in [[rhotic]] dialects of English, although phoneticians differ in whether they consider this to be a syllabic consonant, {{IPA|/ˈtʃɹ̩tʃ/}}, or a rhotic vowel, {{IPA|/ˈtʃɝtʃ/}}: Some distinguish an approximant {{IPA|/ɹ/}} that corresponds to a vowel {{IPA|/ɝ/}}, for ''rural'' as {{IPA|/ˈɹɝl/}} or {{IPA|[ˈɹʷɝːl̩]}}; others see these as a single phoneme, {{IPA|/ˈɹɹ̩l/}}. Other languages use fricative and often trilled segments as syllabic nuclei, as in [[Czech language|Czech]] and several languages in [[Democratic Republic of the Congo]], and [[China]], including [[Mandarin Chinese]]. In Mandarin, they are historically allophones of {{IPA|/i/}}, and spelled that way in [[Pinyin]]. Ladefoged and Maddieson call these "fricative vowels" and say that "they can usually be thought of as syllabic fricatives that are allophones of vowels." That is, phonetically they are consonants, but phonemically they behave as vowels. Many [[Slavic languages]] allow the trill {{IPA|[r̩]}} and the lateral {{IPA|[l̩]}} as syllabic nuclei (see [[Words without vowels]]). In languages like [[Nuxálk language|Nuxalk]], it is difficult to know what the nucleus of a syllable is, or if all syllables even have nuclei. If the concept of 'syllable' applies in Nuxalk, there are syllabic consonants in words like {{IPA|/sx̩s/}} 'seal fat'. ==Features== {{Manner of articulation}} Each spoken consonant can be distinguished by several phonetic ''[[Distinctive feature|features]]'': * The [[manner of articulation]] is how air escapes from the vocal tract when the consonant or [[approximant]] (vowel-like) sound is made. Manners include stops, fricatives, and nasals. * The [[place of articulation]] is where in the vocal tract the obstruction of the consonant occurs, and which speech organs are involved. Places include [[bilabial consonant|bilabial]] (both lips), [[alveolar consonant|alveolar]] (tongue against the gum ridge), and [[velar consonant|velar]] (tongue against soft palate). In addition, there may be a simultaneous narrowing at another place of articulation, such as [[palatalisation]] or [[pharyngealisation]]. * The [[phonation]] of a consonant is how the [[vocal cords]] vibrate during the articulation. When the vocal cords vibrate fully, the consonant is called [[voiced]]; when they do not vibrate at all, it is [[voiceless]]. * The [[voice onset time]] (VOT) indicates the timing of the phonation. [[Aspiration (phonetics)|Aspiration]] is a feature of VOT. * The [[airstream mechanism]] is how the air moving through the vocal tract is powered. Most languages have exclusively [[pulmonic egressive]] consonants, which use the lungs and diaphragm, but [[ejective]]s, [[click consonant|click]]s, and [[implosive]]s use different mechanisms. * The [[gemination|length]] is how long the obstruction of a consonant lasts. This feature is borderline distinctive in English, as in "wholly" {{IPA|[hoʊlli]}} vs. "holy" {{IPA|[hoʊli]}}, but cases are limited to morpheme boundaries. Unrelated roots are differentiated in various languages such as Italian, Japanese, and Finnish, with two length levels, "single" and "[[geminate]]". [[Estonian language|Estonian]] and some [[Sami languages]] have three phonemic lengths: short, geminate, and long geminate, although the distinction between the geminate and overlong geminate includes suprasegmental features. * The articulatory force is how much muscular energy is involved. This has been proposed many times, but no distinction relying exclusively on force has ever been demonstrated. All English consonants can be classified by a combination of these features, such as "voiceless alveolar stop consonant" {{IPA|[t]}}. In this case, the airstream mechanism is omitted. Some pairs of consonants like ''p::b'', ''t::d'' are sometimes called [[fortis and lenis]], but this is a [[phonology|phonological]] rather than phonetic distinction. Consonants are scheduled by their features in a number of IPA charts: {{IPA consonant chart}} ==Examples== The extinct [[Ubykh language]] had only 3 vowels but had 80 or 81 native consonants; the [[Taa language]] has 77 consonants. The types of consonants used in various languages are by no means universal. For instance, nearly all [[Australian languages]] lack fricatives; a large percentage of the world's languages, for example [[Mandarin Chinese]], lack voiced stops such as {{IPA|[b]}}, {{IPA|[d]}}, and {{IPA|[ɡ]}}. Most languages, however, do include one or more fricatives, with {{IPA|[s]}} being the most common, and a [[liquid consonant]] or two, with {{IPA|[l]}} the most common. The approximant {{IPA|[w]}} is also widespread, and virtually all languages have one or more [[nasal consonants]], though a very few, such as the Central dialect of [[Rotokas language|Rotokas]], lack even these. ===Most common=== The most common consonants around the world are the three voiceless plosives {{IPA|[p]}}, {{IPA|[t]}}, {{IPA|[k]}}, and the two nasals {{IPA|[m]}}, {{IPA|[n]}}. However, even these common five are not universal. Several languages in the vicinity of the [[Sahara Desert]], including [[Arabic language|Arabic]], lack {{IPA|[p]}}. Several languages of North America, such as [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]], lack both of the labials {{IPA|[p]}} and {{IPA|[m]}}. The [[Wichita language|Wichita]] language of [[Oklahoma]] and some West African languages such as [[Ijo languages|Ijo]] lack the consonant {{IPA|/n/}} on a phonemic level, but do use it as an [[allophone]] of another consonant (of {{IPA|/l/}} in the case of Ijo, and of {{IPA|/ɾ/}} in Wichita). A few languages on [[Bougainville Island]] and around [[Puget Sound]], such as [[Makah language|Makah]], lack both of the nasals {{IPA|[m]}} and {{IPA|[n]}}. The 'click language' [[Nǁng language|Nǁng]] lacks {{IPA|[t]}}, and colloquial [[Samoan language|Samoan]] lacks both alveolars, {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[n]}}. Despite the 80-odd consonants of [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]], it lacks the plain velar {{IPA|/k/}} in native words, as do the related [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]] and [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]] languages. But with a few striking exceptions, such as [[Xavante language|Xavante]] and [[Tahitian language|Tahitian]] - which have no dorsal consonants whatsoever - nearly all other languages have at least one velar consonant: the few languages that do not have a simple {{IPA|[k]}} usually have a consonant that is very similar. For instance, an areal feature of the [[Pacific Northwest]] coast is that historical } has become palatalized in many languages, so that [[Saanich language|Saanich]] for example has {{IPA|[tʃ]}} and {{IPA|[kʷ]}} but no plain {{IPA|[k]}}; similarly, historical } in the [[Northwest Caucasian languages]] became palatalized to {{IPA|/kʲ/}} in [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] and {{IPA|/ʧ/}} in most [[Circassian languages|Circassian]] dialects. The most ''frequent'' consonant (that is, the one appearing most often in speech) in many languages is {{IPA|[k]}}.{{citation needed|date=December 2010}} ==Audio samples== {{Wide template|IPA chart pulmonic consonants with audio|100%}}{{clear}} {{IPA chart non-pulmonic consonants with audio|position=left}} {{IPA chart affricate consonants with audio}} {{IPA chart co-articulated consonants with audio}}{{clear}} ==See also== *[[Articulatory phonetics]] *[[List of consonants]] *[[List of phonetics topics]] *[[Words without vowels]] ==External links== {{Spoken Wikipedia|Consonant.ogg|2005-07-20}} *[http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html interactive manner and place of articulation]