• Consonant: A basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed and which can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable. Contrasted with vowel.
• Vowel: A term in general use and in phonetics both for a SPEECH sound that is distinct from a CONSONANT (also vowel sound) and the letter of the alphabet that represents such a speech sound (also vowel letter).
• Diphthong: A sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (as in coin, loud, and side ). Often contrasted with monophthong, triphthong.
• Philology: The branch of knowledge that deals with the historical, linguistic, interpretative, and critical aspects of literature; literary or classical scholarship.

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