vowellike

Akin to A

Vowellike describes sounds or letters that share qualities with vowels—open, resonant, produced without obstruction in the vocal tract.

Certain consonants like *l*, *r*, *w*, and *y* are vowellike because they can function as syllable centers: The second syllable of "bottle" has a vowellike l.

articulation

glide

Move with effortless continuity

semivowelConsonant articulated like vowel
liquidFree-flowing substance
lateralOf the side

rhotic · resonant · syllabic · voiced · palatal · labial · velar · oral · central · back

phonology

diphthong

Complex vowel gliding between positions

monophthongSteady, ungliding vowel sound
phonemeMinimal distinctive sound unit
allophoneNon-distinctive sound variation

nucleus · onset · coda · mora · elision · assimilation · vocalization · sonority · schwa · reduction

acoustics

resonance

Amplified oscillation at natural frequency

formantSpectral concentration in speech
timbreSound's distinctive character
pitchFrequency of sound

voicing · phonation · harmonic · sonorous · tone · frequency · amplitude · spectrogram · waveform · fundamental

speech

intonation

Pitch variation in speech

prosodyStudy of verse rhythm
stressPressure, mental or vocal
accentRegional speech pattern

inflection · cadence · elocution · diction · articulate · pronounce · enunciate · fluency · modulation · rhythm

Opposites

phonetic quality

vowellikeconsonantal

Of obstructed speech sounds

plosive · fricative · guttural · hard · occluded

Family

like, vowel, vowels, vocalize, vocalized, vocalic, vocalizer, vowelless

Familiarity: Top 1,000,000
Profile: Used worldwide · Timeless · Abstract · Rated G