sonorant
/səˈnɔrənt/
noun
- A speech sound that is produced with continuous, resonant airflow, such as a vowel, nasal, or liquid consonant.
- The word 'rain' begins with a sonorant, the /r/ sound.
- In English, the sounds /m/, /n/, and /l/ are all sonorants.
- Linguists classify vowels as sonorants because they are produced with an open vocal tract.
Antonyms
adjective
- Relating to or being a sonorant sound.
- The teacher explained that sonorant sounds are louder than obstruents.
- The sonorant quality of the letter 'l' makes it easy to sing.
- In phonetics class, we studied sonorant consonants like /w/ and /j/.