Consonants - General characteristics

Question 1

What are consonants?

Answer 1

Consonants are speech sounds, voiced or voiceless, pronounced with or without vibration of the vocal cords, in the pronunciation of which there is either a complete or partial obstruction of the breathing passage.

Question 2

Distribution

Answer 2

Mostly marginal (initial or final) and they form consonantal clusters

Question 3

Sonority

Answer 3

Cons. have a different degree of sonority determined by how they’re produced and the vibration of the vocal cords.
Approximants, glides, nasals and laterals are the most sonorous, and are voiced and can be prolonged as much as possible. They’re called frictionless continuants and they’re lenis.
Plosives, fricatives and affricates have less inherent sonority. They are voiceless and known as fortis.

Question 4

Grouping

Answer 4

There are 3 groups:

1. Voiced or voiceless pronounced with complete obstruction
2. Voiced cons. possising most of the vowel characteristics but of very short duration
3. Voiced consonants possessing some of the vowel characteristics.

Question 5

Change of quality

Answer 5

Most of them have more than 1 allophone due to their distribution or the neighbouring sound