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                     1-Definitions of:

• Consonant: Originally a sound or letter that had to be accompanied by a vowel: hence the term (Latin consonans ‘sounding with’). Now generally of phonological units which form parts of a syllable other than its nucleus ⁽²⁾, or whose primary role, at least, is to do so. E.g. [n] is a consonant in English, whose primary roles are as the onset of a syllableno) or as its coda (e.g. in on): its role as a nucleus (e.g. in ridden ['rd]) can be seen as secondary.

In phonetic terms, most consonants are sounds in whose production the flow of air is obstructed at some point in the mouth, throat, or larynx, at least sufficiently to cause audible friction: i.e. they are produced with a degree of stricture greater than open approximation. But no phonetic definition will quite match the phonology of all languages; hence a distinction, in many accounts, between consonants as units in phonology, and contoids. (e.g. in

• Vowel: A speech sound, almost invariably forming the main part of a syllable, that involves no significant obstruction of the airstream through the vocal tract. Various features distinguish the sound of one vowel from another, notably whether the front, central part, or back of the tongue is raised, leading to front vowels, central vowels, and back vowelsclose vowels, mid vowels, and open vowels. These features are often portrayed on a vowel quadrilateral representing the mouth schematically (see illustration). Compare consonant, semivowel. [French voyelle, from Latin vox a voice] respectively, and how high the tongue is raised towards the roof of the mouth, leading to