> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://lang.gitbook.io/en/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://lang.gitbook.io/en/conlangs/ideas/sonorant-only-phonology.md).

# Sonorant-only phonology

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## What are sonorants?

[*Sonorants*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonorant) are one of two primary superclasses of sounds produced in speech.

The other is [*Obstruents*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obstruent) — [plosives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plosive) (p, b, t, d, k, g, etc), [fricatives](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fricative) (f, v, θ, ð, s, z, ʃ, ʒ, etc), [taps & flaps](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tap_and_flap_consonants) (), and others.

Sonorants include:

<table><thead><tr><th width="219.3046875">Class</th><th width="165.07421875">common examples</th><th>IPA</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>V — Vowels</td><td>i, e, a, o, u, ʌ</td><td>i, ɪ, y, e, ə, ɜ, ɛ, æ, a, ɑ, ɒ, ʌ, ɔ, o, ʊ, ɵ, u</td></tr><tr><td>N — Nasals</td><td>m, n, ñ, ŋ</td><td>m, n, ɲ, ɳ, ŋ </td></tr><tr><td>Y — Semi-vowels — liquids, approximants, glides</td><td>w, y, l, r</td><td>w, β̞, ʋ, ð̞, l, ɫ, ɹ, j, ʎ, ɰ</td></tr></tbody></table>

As you can see, there are a lot of available phones to choose from! And this is not an exhaustive list. So by no means would it be a challenging language to create.

It would most likely feature a lot of diphthongs, and probably some pronunciation­—grammar morphology by which certain sounds are metastasised in order to produce word mutations, due to the smaller range of available consonants.

## Syllable structures:

#### Monophthongs

|     | -   | -N   | -Y   | -YN   |
| --- | --- | ---- | ---- | ----- |
| V   | a   | an   | ay   | ayn   |
| N-  | na  | nan  | nay  | nayn  |
| Y-  | ya  | yan  | yay  | yayn  |
| NY- | nya | nyan | nyay | nyayn |

#### Diphthongs

|     | -    | -N    | -Y    | -YN    |
| --- | ---- | ----- | ----- | ------ |
| VV  | oa   | oan   | oay   | oayn   |
| N-  | noa  | noan  | noay  | noayn  |
| Y-  | yoa  | yoan  | yoay  | yoayn  |
| NY- | nyoa | nyoan | nyoay | nyoayn |

## Available phones

### Vowels

i  ɪ  y  e  ə  ɜ  ɛ  æ  a  ɑ  ɒ  ʌ  ɔ  o  ʊ  ɵ  u

### Nasals

m  n  ɲ  ɳ  ŋ  ɴ

n͡m  ɳ͡m  ŋ͡m

### Liquids

l  ɫ  ɭ  ʎ  ʟ  ʟ̠

### Approximants

w  β̞  ʋ  ð̞  ɹ  ɹ̠  ɻ  j  ɥ  ɰ&#x20;