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In phonetics, a vowel is a sound in spoken language that is characterized by an open configuration of the vocal tract, in contrast to consonants, which are characterized by a constriction or closure at one or more points along the vocal tract. Vowels usually form the peak or nucleus of a syllable, whereas consonants form the onset and coda. Some languages allow sounds that wouldn't normally be classified as vowels to form the nucleus of a syllable, such as the sound of m in the English word prism, or the sound of r in the Czech word vrba (="willow"). Sometimes vowels are defined by the criterion of whether they form the nucleus of a syllable, and by that criterion these sounds are vowels, but usually the sounds that can form the nucleus of a syllable are called sonorants. (more...)
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