Consonant

For "consonant" in a musical sense see Consonance and dissonance

All the letters in the alphabet are either consonants or vowels. A consonant is a speech sound in which the air is at least partly blocked, and any letter which represents this. Consonants may come singly or in clusters, but must be connected to a vowel to form a syllable.

Consonants have friction when they are spoken, mostly using the position of the tongue against the lips, teeth and roof of the mouth. b and p are plosives, using the lips to produce a tiny sharp sound. Phonetics texts give more details, with diagrams. Consonants may be voiced or unvoiced. The th in the is voiced, but in breath is not.

• There are 21 consonant letters in English, for 24 consonant sounds in most English accents.^p242 Because of the history of the English language, there is no neat one-to-one relationship between letter and sound. th and ch each stand for a single sound, and x in fox stands for two sounds (ks). All these letters are consonants:

B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, (sometimes Y), and Z. "Y" is often used as a consonant, but it is sometimes used as a vowel. For example, in the word yellow, y is a consonant. But in the word happy, y is a vowel.

• The rest of the letters of the alphabet are called vowels. Vowels are underdone, for there are about 20 vowel sounds in most English accents.^p237 The vowels are:

A, E, I, O, U (and sometimes Y)

References

IPA pulmonic consonants chartchart image • audio

Where the sound is made →

Labial (Lips)

Coronal (Tip of Tongue)

Dorsal (Middle of Tongue)

Radical (Base of Tongue)

Glottal (Throat)

↓ How the sound is made

Bila​bial (Both Lips)

Labio​dental (Lips and Teeth)

Den​tal (Teeth)

Alve​olar (Against Ridge behind Teeth)

Post​alv. (Back of Ridge behind Teeth)

Retro​flex (Roof of Mouth)

Pal​a​tal (Roof of Mouth)

Ve​lar (Back Roof of Mouth)

Uvu​lar (Uvula)

Pha​ryn​geal (Pharynx)

Epi​glot​tal {Epiglottis}

Glot​tal (Glottis)

Nasal

m

ɱ

n̪

n

ɳ

ɲ

ŋ

ɴ

Plosive

p

b

p̪

b̪

t̪

d̪

t

d

ʈ

ɖ

c

ɟ

k

ɡ

q

ɢ

ʡ

ʔ

Fricative

ɸ

β

f

v

θ

ð

s

z

ʃ

ʒ

ʂ

ʐ

ç

ʝ

x

ɣ

χ

ʁ

ħ

ʕ

ʜ

ʢ

h

ɦ

Approximant

ʋ

ɹ

ɻ

j

ɰ

Trill

ʙ

r

• *

ʀ

я *

Flap or tap

ⱱ̟

ⱱ

ɾ

ɽ

ɢ̆

ʡ̯

Lateral Fric.

ɬ

ɮ

ɭ˔̊

ʎ̥˔

ʟ̝̊

Lateral Appr.

l

ɭ

ʎ

ʟ

Lateral flap

ɺ

ɺ̢ *

ʎ̯

Non-pulmonic consonants

Clicks	ʘ	ǀ	ǃ	ǂ	ǁ
Implosives	ɓ	ɗ	ʄ	ɠ	ʛ
Ejectives	pʼ	tʼ	kʼ	qʼ	sʼ
	tsʼ	tɬʼ	tʃʼ	kxʼ	kʼ

Affricates

p̪f		ts	dz	tʃ	dʒ	tɕ	dʑ	ʈʂ	ɖʐ
		tɬ	dɮ	cç	ɟʝ

Co-articulated consonants

Fricatives	ɕ	ʑ	ɧ
Approximants	ʍ	w	ɥ	ɫ
Stops	k͡p	ɡ͡b	ŋ͡m

These tables contain phonetic symbols, which may not display correctly in some browsers. [Help]

Where symbols appear in pairs, left—right are the voiceless—voiced consonants.

Shaded areas show the pulmonic consonants which are impossible to pronounce.

* Symbol not in IPA.