Meaning & use
Sonorants
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Speech sounds, such as nasals, liquids, and glides, produced with a relatively open vocal tract and continuous, non-turbulent airflow, allowing them to be sung or sustained.
See it in a sentence
In English, the sonorants include sounds like /m/, /n/, /l/, and /r/.
Linguists group sonorants separately from obstruents, which involve a fuller blockage of airflow.
A note on using this word
The term comes from Latin 'sonare,' to sound, reflecting how these sounds carry more inherent resonance than consonants like /p/ or /t/.
Words with an opposite meaning
obstruents
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