Continuant

Article summary

In phonetics, a continuant is a speech sound that is produced without a complete closure in the oral cavity, resulting in a continuous stream of airflow (regardless of the turbulence of the airflow). By one definition, continuant is a distinctive feature [+cont] that refers to any sound produced with an incomplete closure of the vocal tract, thus encompassing all sounds (including vowels) except nasals, plosives and affricates. By another definition, it refers exclusively to consonantal sounds produced with an incomplete closure of the oral cavity, prototypically approximants and fricatives, but sometimes also trills. In either case, this set of sounds contrasts with occlusives. Compare sonorants (also known as resonants), a class of speech sounds which includes vowels, approximants, and nasals (and in some perspectives, vibrants), but excludes fricatives, and contrasts with obstruents.

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