An obstruent ( ) is a speech sound such as , , or that is formed by obstructing airflow. Obstruents contrast with , which have no such obstruction and so resonate.[Gussenhoven, Carlos; Haike, Jacobs. Understanding Phonology, Fourth Edition, Routledge, 2017] All obstruents are , but sonorants include as well as consonants.
Subclasses
Obstruents are subdivided into:
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stop consonant (oral stops), such as , with complete occlusion of the vocal tract, often followed by a release burst;
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, such as , with limited closure, not stopping airflow but making it turbulent;
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, which begin with complete occlusion but then release into a fricative-like release, such as .
[Zsiga, Elizabeth. The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology. Wiley-Blackwell, 2013.]
Voicing
Obstruents are often prototypically voiceless, but voiced obstruents are common. This contrasts with sonorants, which are prototypically voiced and only rarely
phoneme voiceless.
See also
