Vowel Sounds

Inphonetics, avowelis asoundin spoken

language, such as anEnglish
ah![]oroh![o], pronounced with an
openvocal tractso that there is no build-up
of air pressure at any point above theglottis
.

A vowel is also understood to besyllabic: an

equivalent open but non-syllabic sound is
called asemivowel.

Consonant Sounds

Definition

Aspeechsound that's not avowel; aletter

of thealphabetthat represents a speech
sound produced by a partial or complete
obstruction of the air stream by a
constriction of the speech organs.

Inarticulatory phonetics, aconsonantis a

speech soundthat is articulated with
complete or partial closure of thevocal tract
.

Examples are[p], pronounced with the

lips;[t], pronounced with the front of the
tongue;[k], pronounced with the back of
the tongue;[h], pronounced in the
throat;[f]and[s], pronounced by forcing air
through a narrow channel (fricatives);
and[m]and[n], which have air flowing
through the nose (nasals).