Vowel

A speech sound produced without a constriction that blocks airflow through the vocal tract. Vowels typically form syllable nuclei and vary in tongue position, lip shape, and vocal-tract resonance.

Vowel space: A representation of vowel contrasts by tongue height and frontness, often with lip rounding added. It maps the articulatory dimensions that distinguish vowel qualities.
Vocal tract: The air passages above the larynx that shape speech sounds through their configuration and resonance. Its changing shape filters sound into different vowel qualities.
Consonant: A speech sound made with a constriction or closure that impedes airflow in the vocal tract. Consonants involve a stronger oral obstruction than vowels.
International Phonetic Alphabet: A standardized alphabet for representing speech sounds across languages. Its vowel chart organizes symbols by tongue position and lip rounding.
Phonetics: The study of speech sounds, including their production, acoustic properties, and perception. Vowels are examined as physical speech sounds within this field.
Formant: A resonance frequency of the vocal tract, visible as a concentration of acoustic energy. Formants provide measurable acoustic cues to vowel quality.
Acoustic phonetics: The study of the physical properties of speech sounds and their transmission. It describes vowel quality through measurable sound patterns.
Semivowel: A vowel-like approximant that functions as a consonant in a syllable, such as English /j/ or /w/. Semivowels resemble vowels acoustically but occupy nonsyllabic positions.
Vowel harmony: A phonological pattern in which vowels within a word agree in selected features. It shows vowel features governing patterns across whole words.
Phonology: The study of how languages organize speech sounds into systems and patterns. It explains how vowel contrasts function within particular languages.

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