consonantssounds

Consonant sounds are speech sounds produced with constriction or closure in the vocal tract, creating obstruction to airflow. In contrast, vowels are produced with an open vocal tract. Together, consonants help shape syllables, word meanings, and the rhythmic structure of languages.

Consonants are classified by place of articulation as bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, and glottal, among others. They are also classified by manner of articulation: stops or plosives (p, b, t, d), fricatives (f, s, ʃ, z), affricates (t͡s, d͡ʒ), nasals (m, n, ŋ), liquids (l, r), and glides or approximants (w, j).

Voicing contrasts pair consonants as voiced and voiceless, and many languages further differentiate aspirated from unaspirated stops in word-initial positions. Consonant sounds can also undergo allophonic variation and assimilation, where pronunciation changes in context without creating a new phoneme.

Consonants interact with neighboring sounds and influence syllable structure. It is common to find consonant clusters at word beginnings or endings, and languages differ in which sequences are allowed. For example, some languages permit syllable codas with multiple consonants, while others restrict them.

In phonology, consonants exist as phonemes, units of contrast, or as allophones, contextual realizations of a phoneme. Coarticulation means that the articulation of one consonant is influenced by adjacent sounds. In writing systems, most alphabets map symbols to consonantal and vowel sounds, but the exact correspondences vary widely.