An obstruent () is a speech sound such as , , or that is
formed by ''obstructing'' airflow. Obstruents contrast with
sonorant
In phonetics and phonology, a sonorant or resonant is a speech sound that is produced with continuous, non-turbulent airflow in the vocal tract; these are the manners of articulation that are most often voiced in the world's languages. Vowels ar ...
s, which have no such obstruction and so resonate. All obstruents are
consonant
In articulatory phonetics, a consonant is a speech sound that is articulated with complete or partial closure of the vocal tract. Examples are and pronounced with the lips; and pronounced with the front of the tongue; and pronounced ...
s, but sonorants include
vowel
A vowel is a syllabic speech sound pronounced without any stricture in the vocal tract. Vowels are one of the two principal classes of speech sounds, the other being the consonant. Vowels vary in quality, in loudness and also in quantity (l ...
s as well as consonants.
Subclasses
Obstruents are subdivided into
plosives (oral stops), such as , with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed by a release burst;
fricative
A fricative is a consonant manner of articulation, produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two Place of articulation, articulators close together. These may be the lower lip against the upper teeth, in the case of ; the ba ...
s, such as , with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent; and
affricates, which begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release, such as .
[Zsiga, Elizabeth. ''The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology''. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.]
Voicing
Obstruents are often prototypically
voiceless
In linguistics, voicelessness is the property of sounds being pronounced without the larynx vibrating. Phonologically, it is a type of phonation, which contrasts with other states of the larynx, but some object that the word phonation implies v ...
, but voiced obstruents are common. This contrasts with sonorants, which are prototypically voiced and only rarely voiceless.
See also
*
List of phonetics topics
References
*
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Obstruents
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