Asonants

Asonants is a term that appears in some linguistic discussions to designate a class of consonantal sounds defined by their relationship to sonority, contrasted with sonorants. The exact definition is not standardized, and the term is not widely adopted in mainstream phonology. In different accounts, asonants have been described in ways that range from a synonymy with obstruents (stops, fricatives, and affricates) to a more tentative category for non-sonorant consonants whose contribution to syllable structure or phonotactics differs from that of typical obstruents. Because of the inconsistent usage, many scholars avoid the label or use more established terms such as obstruents or non-sonorant consonants.

Definitions and usage vary. Some researchers propose asonants as the non-sonorant segmental class that lacks the sustained voicing or sonority associated with vowels, liquids, nasals, and glides. Others treat asonants as a theoretical device within specific phonological frameworks to mark a contrast with sonorants, without committing to a single phonetic realization. This results in competing definitions across studies and languages, with some authors explicitly equating asonants with obstruents and others differentiating them from obstruents.

Typological and theoretical implications are largely speculative due to the term’s unsettled status. If adopted, asonants could influence analyses of syllable structure, cluster formation, and voice/aspiration phenomena in ways that differ from conventional sonority-based accounts. In practice, however, researchers generally rely on standard categories (sonorants versus obstruents) rather than a distinct asonant class.

See also: sonorant, obstruent, phonology, phonetics.