Consonant letters are concepts opposite to vowel letters. All non-vowel letters are generally consonants. Simply put, all non-vowel letters are consonants except semi-vowel letters.
There are 26 letters in English, and vowels only include the five letters A, E, I, O and U, and the rest are consonants. Y is a semi-vowel and semi-consonant, but it is regarded as a consonant in English.
Extended data:
trait
1. Pronunciation method: the mechanism of consonant pronunciation, such as nasal sound (through the nasal cavity), stop sound (air flow is completely blocked) and near sound (approximate vowel).
2. Pronunciation part: the part of the vocal tract where the airflow is blocked, involving the vocal organs, such as lips, gums, soft jaws, etc. A consonant may sometimes involve more than one pronunciation site, such as voiced or guttural.
3. Voiced voice: the vibration mode of vocal cords when consonants are pronounced. When making sound, the sound has sufficient vibration; When vocalizing, the vocal cords do not vibrate at all.
VOT (Vot): The time between the consonant being removed and the vocal cords starting to vibrate. Whether gas is supplied or not is related to VOT.
5. Airflow mechanism: the mechanism of airflow passing through the sound channel. In most languages, all consonants use the lung exhalation mechanism, but some languages use consonants with different airflow mechanisms, such as tight throat, inner sonic boom and clicks.
6. Length: In the pronunciation of consonants, the duration of blocking. In Japanese, Italian, Finnish and other languages, general consonants and double consonants (with long blocks) represent different phonemes. In Estonian and a few other languages, there are even three different consonant lengths, although the pronunciation differences involved are more complicated.
7. Pronunciation intensity: a feature that has not been fully established, because it has not been observed that any language distinguishes different consonants by intensity.
References:
Baidu Encyclopedia-Consonant Letters