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In most languages, the minimum units of communication in orality are phonemes: sounds that are represented in writing by graphemes or letters.
Types of letters
According to the way in which the mouth must be moved to produce such sounds (for which we use the tongue, teeth and lips), in the Spanish language the letters have been subdivided into two groups:
- Consonants. They are the sounds produced with the mouth semi-closed, and produce a total or partial interruption of the air flow, combining specific movements of the tongue, lips and front teeth. For example: t, b, g.
- Vowels. They are the sounds that are produced when the mouth acts as a resonance box for what the vocal cords emit. Are: a e i o u.
The discipline that studies in detail the pronunciation of consonants (and phonemes in general) is called phonology.
According to the point and mode of articulation, as well as the action of the soft palate and the intervention of the vocal cords, consonants are subdivided into several classes (bilabial, stop, vibrating, nasal, etc.).
- It can serve you: Consonant rhyme
Here consonants are listed with examples, arranged alphabetically and with words that include them in different positions.
- B. For example: barbto, banana, tobreason.
- C. For example: cwalked, empacar, pocor.
- D. For example: domingo, danddor, todbye
- F. For example: Felicitation, Feasy, toFiche.
- G. For example: galpongua, grite.
- H. For example: hhang up, hto sinkhnow.
- J. For example: jueves, agujero, jfire.
- K. For example: koala, kilo, killometer.
- L. For example: lbright, llamp, tolguien.
- M. For example: mar, moto, tomigo.
- N. For example: novedad, nacer, toneighth.
- P. For example: pisada, pastoplastar.
- Q. For example: whatuitar, whatuerer, towhatcomplain.
- R. For example: receta, torco singr.
- S. For example: sI allude tosget out beds.
- T. For example: tbreak, tornillo, gator.
- V. For example: vI feel, vendervion.
- X. For example: xEnophobia, andxageration, hexito.
- Y. For example: Yerba, toYer, Yto.
- Z. For example: zgold, zapatheticzul.
Characteristics of consonants
Many different languages are spoken in the world, and some of them share the same alphabet. The most widely used alphabet in the West is Latin. This alphabet has 27 graphemes or letters, of which 22 are consonants and 5 are vowels.
There are quite a few differences in the pronunciation of some consonants and digraphs in Latin America, and in turn there are differences when compared to Spain.
The sonority of the consonants is fundamental in the aesthetic criteria for the arts that are based on the word, such as poetry or sung music.
In these cases, it should be noted that words with sharper pronunciation consonants, which include sounds like p, f or r, often have greater expressive power than others with a weaker sound. However, vowels are also central elements in poetry, as rhymes prove.
Previously, two consonant combinations were included as such in dictionaries because they generated a different sound than each one of them has separately. Those two combinations were: "ch" and "ll", graphemes that today are known as ‘digraphs’ and are not included in dictionaries.
Each of the consonants has its own sound, except the letter h, which lacks sound (that's why it is called "silent letter"). There is no fixed rule to know which words carry h and which ones are not, or in what position they are located (the most common is the initial one).
Another quite special consonant is Y (called "Greek i" or "ye"). This consonant has two possible sounds: one equivalent to ‘i’ (that is, vowel) and the other consonant, something similar to that of digraphs like ‘ll’ or ‘sh’.
When it is at the end of the word, it is pronounced as a semivowel (example: law).
