Obstruent
In phonetics, an obstruent (/ˈɒb.stru.ənt/, OB-stroo-ənt) is a speech sound that is formed by obstructing airflow, such as [d] (plosives/oral stops), [ʒ] (fricatives), or [d͡ʒ] (affricates). Obstruents contrast with sonorants, which have no such obstruction and therefore "resonate".[1] All obstruents are consonants, but sonorants include vowels as well as consonants. As a distinctive feature, obstruents are denoted as [−son].
Compare occlusives, a class of speech sounds which includes both oral and nasal stops as well as affricates, but excludes fricatives, and contrasts with continuants.
Subclasses
[edit]Obstruents are subdivided into:
- plosives (oral stops), such as [p, b], with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed by a release burst;
- fricatives, such as [s, z], with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent;
- affricates, which begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release, such as [t͡s] and [d͡z].[2]
Voicing
[edit]Obstruents are often prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents are common. This contrasts with sonorants, which are prototypically voiced and only rarely phonemically voiceless.[3]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ↑ Gussenhoven, Carlos; Haike, Jacobs. Understanding Phonology, Fourth Edition, Routledge, 2017
- ↑ Zsiga, Elizabeth. The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.
- ↑ Blevins, Juliette (2018). "Evolutionary phonology and the life cycle of voiceless sonorants". Typological Studies in Language. 121: 31–58. doi:10.1075/tsl.121.01ble.
Bibliography
[edit]- 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 0-631-19815-6.
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