#consonant

• Aphonic — Relating to aphonia; characterized by the total or partial absence of voice or articulated sound. In medicine, it describes a person who can only whisper due to physical or psychological laryngeal conditions. In acoustics, it applies to voiceless sounds produced without vocal cord vibration.
• To alliterate — To use or repeat the same consonant or consonant cluster at the beginning or within several successive words in a verse, phrase, or rhythmic structure, aiming to achieve a musical, sound-imitative, or symbolic effect (alliteration).
• Alliterative — Pertaining to alliteration, based on the symmetrical repetition of consonants or sound clusters; characterized by consonantal harmony designed to increase textual musicality. In structural analysis, it describes a device or text built around this type of phonetic correlation.
• Alveolar — Pertaining to alveoli, relating to alveoli, having the shape of alveoli, or provided with alveoli; formed by a network of small structural cavities. In linguistics, it describes sounds (consonants) articulated by touching the alveoli of the upper teeth with the tip of the tongue (such as 'd', 't', 'n', 's', 'z').
• Alveolar structures — The act of forming cellular structures or cavities; as a plural noun, it denotes the totality of small natural cavities within an organ or material (such as pulmonary or dental alveoli). In linguistics, it refers to the class of consonants whose articulation takes place at the ridge of the upper teeth, defining a major structural category in phonetics.
• Alveolo-palatal — Pertaining to the region between the upper alveolar ridge and the hard palate, relating to this anatomical zone, or articulated in this space. In phonetics, it describes consonants produced by placing the body of the tongue close to the hard palate and the tip of the tongue behind the alveolar ridge, such as the sibilant fricatives or affricates found in languages like Mandarin, Polish, or Russian.
• Apical — Pertaining to the apex (tip), relating to it, or located at the terminal zone of a structure. In phonetics, it describes sounds (consonants) articulated by touching or bringing the tip of the tongue close to the teeth or alveoli; in botany, it refers to elements positioned at the tip of the stem or root (e.g., apical bud, apical meristem), and in medicine, it indicates localization at an organ's extremity.
• Apico-alveolar — Pertaining to the tip of the tongue and the alveoli of the upper teeth; a consonant or sound articulated by placing or bringing the tip of the tongue close to the upper alveolar ridge (e.g., certain variants of the consonants t, d, or s across various languages).
• Assibilate — To transform or become transformed (said of a consonant, usually a plosive like 't' or 'd') into a sibilant fricative or affricate consonant (such as 'ț' or 'z'), under the influence of a neighboring palatal vowel; to undergo the process of assibilating. This phonetic structural phenomenon is essential in the evolution of Romance languages, explaining the delicate transition from classical Latin forms to modern Romanian.
• Assibilation — A phonetic process through which a plosive consonant transforms into a sibilant consonant (fricative or affricate) under the influence of a palatal vowel or a semivocalic element. In a structural sense, this historical phenomenon explains the evolution of certain sounds from Latin into Romance languages, such as the transition from dental plosives to affricates.
• Assibilated — Having undergone the process of assibilation; a sound, phoneme, or consonant that has acquired a sibilant character (hissing or buzzing) following a phonetic evolution. In a technical sense, it describes the final state of a structurally modified sound due to the approximation of the articulating organs during vocal delivery.
• Assibilation — A structural phonetic process through which a plosive consonant (usually a dental like 't' or 'd') transforms into a sibilant consonant (affricate or fricative, such as 'ț' or 'z') under the influence of a preceding palatal vowel or a semivocalic 'i'. This linguistic evolution phenomenon played a key role in the transition from Latin to Romanian, explaining the morphonological modifications of many verbal and nominal roots.
• Aspirated — Having been absorbed through an air current or drawn into the lungs through breathing; a sound or consonant pronounced with a strong emission of breath (aspiration); the liquid or solid product extracted from a body cavity via a medical suction pump. In a figurative sense, it describes a grand ideal or goal that a person eagerly aimed for.
• Aspirated consonant — A consonant whose pronunciation involves an additional and audible emission of breath, specific to many Germanic or Oriental languages; as an adjective, it describes a feminine entity, a surface (such as a carpet), or a liquid or gaseous substance that has undergone pneumatic absorption.