What is consonant definition?

A consonant is a speech sound that is produced by obstructing or partially obstructing the airflow in the vocal tract. Unlike vowels, which are formed through the open vocal tract, consonants involve the use of different parts of the mouth, such as the lips, teeth, tongue, palate, and throat. Consonants can be classified according to various characteristics, such as their place and manner of articulation, voicing, nasalization, and aspiration. The English language has 24 consonant sounds, represented by the letters B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, and Z. However, some of these letters have multiple pronunciations, and some consonant sounds are represented by letter combinations or digraphs, such as CH, GH, SH, TH, and PH. Different languages have different consonant inventories, and some may have clusters of two or more consonant sounds in a single syllable.