consonant
a phoneme produced with a constriction in the vocal tract; usually found at the beginning and end of a syllable; generally shorter in duration and having higher frequency spectra than vowels
sonorant consonants (sonorants)/resonant consonants (resonants)
a class of sounds produced with resonance throughout the entire vocal tract, e.g., the nasals, glides, and liquids' they are produced with little constriction in the vocal tract and are therefore produced without much turbulence in the airstream coming fr
obstruent consonants/non-resonant consonants
a class of sounds (with a noise source) including the stops, fricative, and affricates; produced with a constriction in the oral cavity that results in turbulence in the airstream coming from the larynx
prevocalic consonant
a consonant preceding a vowel
postvocalic
a consonant following a vowel
intervocalic
a consonant located between two vowels
syllabic consonant
a consonant that serves as the nucleus of a syllable
manner of production
the way in which the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract in production of consonants; English manners of production include
place of articulation
refers to the specific articulators employed in the production of a particular phoneme; the location of the constriction in the vocal tract in production of a consonant
voicing
the participation of the vocal folds during phoneme production; all vowels are, whereas only certain consonants are
cognates
phonemes that differ only in voicing
stop
a consonant characterized by: (1) a complete obstruction of the outgoing airstream by the articulators, (2) a build-up of intraoral air pressure, and (3) a release; also referred to as a plosive
intraoral pressure
the air pressure within the oral cavity, created by a constriction of the articulators during production of stop consonants
aspiration
the production of a frictional noise following the release of a voiceless stop consonant
stop gap
the time (in msec.) on a spectrogram that reflects increasing intraoral pressure prior to the release of a stop
voice bar
a low-frequency energy band as seen on a spectrogram (due to the vibrating vocal folds) that occurs during the stop gap phase of voiced stop consonants in non-initial position of words
nasal plosion
the release of a stop consonant through the nasal cavity, as opposed to the oral cavity
tap
a manner of consonant production involving a rapid movement of the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge resulting in the creation of a ver brief phoneme
glottal stop
an allophonic variation of /t/ or /d/, produced when the release of the stop is at the level of the vocal folds instead of at the alveolar ridge
homorganic
two consonants sharing the same place of articulation
nasal murmur
radiation of acoustic energy outward through the nasal cavity (due to a lowered velum) during production of nasal consonants
damping
the reduction in amplitude of energy (intensity) of a vibrating system
antiresonance
a negative resonance (brought about when the velum lowers during production of nasal sounds) that cause a decrease in the intensity of nasal and vowel formants
fricative
a consonant produced by forcing the breath stream through a narrow channel formed by two separate articulators in the vocal tract
sibilant
the alveolar and palatal fricatives which are perceived as being louder than the other fricatives
non-silibant consonants
the fricatives perceived as being less intense when compared to the sibilant consonants
postalveolar/palatoalveolar
a consonant produced with a constriction formed by the tongue blade and the hard palate, slightly posterior to the constriction formed during production of alveolar consonants
affricate
a consonant characterized as having both a fricative and a stop manner of production
approximant
a consonant, such as a glide or liquid, produced with an obstruction in the vocal tract, less than that associated with the obstruents or nasals but greater than that associated with the vowels
glide
a consonant characterized by a continued, gliding motion of the articulators into the following vowel; also referred to as a semi-vowel
liquid
a generic label used to classify two English approximant consonants
bunched/retroflexed
one method of /r/ production in which the tongue apex is lowered as the tongue blade is raised to form one constriction with the palate, while the tongue root forms a second pharyngeal constriction
lateral
a manner of production in which the airstream is directed over the sides of the tongue