View source for Consonant (definition)

A consonant is a sound that involves a significant occlusion (closure or constriction) of the vocal tract. These sounds are traditionally characterized by voicing (e.g. +voice), place of articulation (e.g. bilabial), and manner of articulation (e.g. fricative) features. Such features are used to distinguish between consonantal segments and help define the phonotactics of a language. Consonants contrast with vowels which are articulated with an unobstructed vocal tract. For a complete description of Gaelic consonants see the main article at [[consonants]].

==See Also==
*[[Vowel (definition)]]
*[[Sounds of Scottish Gaelic]]

==External Links==
*http://akerbeltz.org/index.php?title=Consonants
*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consonant

==References==
*Crystal, D. (2008) ''Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics''. 6th Edition. Wiley-Blackwell.
*Ladefoged, D. (2010) ''A Course in Phonetics''. 6th Edition. Wadsworth Publishing.
*Matthews, P. H. (1997) ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press. 

[[Category:Technical Definitions]]
[[Category:Phonetics]]