consonant [Lat. consonare ‘to sound together’]

Phonetically, a speech sound that is not an approximant and, therefore, is either a stop or a fricative. Consonants are initiated with (a) pulmonic (as a rule, expiratory), (b) pharyngeal, or (c) oral air. A corresponding distinction is drawn between (a) expiratory sounds, (b) ejectives and implosives, and (c) clicks. While some approximants are formed with the pulmonic airstream mechanism (vowels and semivowels), no approximants are formed with pharyngeal or oral air. Ejectives are found, for example, in Georgian and in Kera, spoken in Chad, and clicks in, for example, the Khoisan language Nama. In European languages consonants are, as a rule, voiced or voiceless ( voiced vs voiceless). Murmured consonants are found in Miao of Weining ( Miao-Yao), and laryngeal consonants in Lango (language spoken in Nigeria). Consonants are divided into subclasses according to their manner of articulation

(stop, fricative, approximant, median, lateral, flap, tap, vibrant), their place of articulation. and any secondary articulation. In order to resolve some of the ambiguity surrounding the term ‘consonant,’ Pike introduced the term ‘contoid’ ( contoid vs vocoid) for these phonetic entities.