sonority
Rich sound quality
Sonority is the quality of being resonant and full-sounding.
In linguistics, it refers to how much sound a speech segment carries—vowels have high sonority, stops like *p* and *t* have low sonority.
The term appears in discussions of poetry, music, and phonetics: the sonority of church bells, the sonority hierarchy in syllable structure.
Prolonged reflected sound
- echoReflected sound wave
- vibrationRapid oscillating movement
- timbreSound's distinctive character
- overtonesImplicit secondary meanings
sustain · richness · fullness · depth · warmth · brilliance · ringing · carrying
Science of language sounds
- syllableUnit of pronunciation
- vowelUnobstructed speech sound
- consonantIn agreement with
- phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
prosody · intonation · stress · articulation · nasal · liquid · glide · nucleus
Large instrumental ensemble
- symphonyExtended composition for orchestra
- ensembleUnified group or outfit
- brassCopper-zinc metal mixture
- stringsThin flexible lines
woodwinds · chamber · tutti · fortissimo · crescendo · pianissimo · orchestration · scoring
reverberation
Prolonged reflected sound
overtones · sustain · richness · fullness · depth · warmth · brilliance · ringing · carrying · projection
phonology
Science of language sounds
phoneme · prosody · intonation · stress · articulation · nasal · liquid · glide · nucleus · onset
orchestra
Large instrumental ensemble
- symphonyExtended composition for orchestra
- ensembleUnified group or outfit
- brassCopper-zinc metal mixture
strings · woodwinds · chamber · tutti · fortissimo · crescendo · pianissimo · orchestration · scoring · tonal
voice
Sound from throat
operatic · choral · aria · cantata · oratorio · vocalize · register · tessitura · coloratura · legato
- timbretimbre, tone color, quality, overtones, harmonics
- phoneticsphonemes, phoneme, vocal folds, vowels, vibration
- Triosstring trio, piano trio, vocal trio, jazz trio, guitar trio
- material propertieshardness, elasticity, ductility, strength, durability
- phonologyphonemes, phoneme, vowels, allophone, allophones
- musical texturemonophony, homophony, polyphony, counterpoint, thick texture
sonorityshrillness
Harsh high pitch
tinniness · stridency · harshness · reediness · squeakiness
sonorityfaintness
Verge of swooning
inaudibility · mutedness · weakness · quietness · feebleness