Obstruent

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Airstreams
Manners of articulation
Obstruent Stop Affricate Fricative Sibilant Sonorant Nasal Flap/Tap Approximant Liquid Vowel Semivowel Lateral Trill
Pulmonic Ejective Implosive Lingual (clicks) Linguo-pulmonic Linguo-ejective
Related
Alliteration Assonance Consonance
v t e

An obstruent is a consonant sound such as [k], [d͡ʒ], or [f] that is formed by obstructing airflow, causing a strong gradient of air pressure in the vocal tract. Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction.

Obstruents are subdivided into stops, such as [‏p, t, k, b, d, ɡ], with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed by a release burst; fricatives, such as [f, s, ʃ, x, v, z, ʒ, ɣ], with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent; and affricates, which begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release. Obstruents are prototypically voiceless, though voiced obstruents are common. This contrasts with sonorants, which are prototypically voiced and only rarely voiceless.

References

Ian Maddieson (1984). Patterns of Sounds. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-26536-3.
Ladefoged, Peter; Maddieson, Ian (1996). The Sounds of the World's Languages. Oxford: Blackwell. ISBN 0-631-19814-8.

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Obstruent

See also

References