1086: Sonority and Syllables Nov 29, 2017

Sounds are not created the same way physically, and this not only—though most obviously—changes the way the sound (phoneme) sounds, but also it changes how loud it will be on average. Vowels, for instance, are the loudest while stops (such as [t] or [b] are the least sonorous. All phonemes can be placed on the sonority hierarchy which goes, from loudest to quietest: vowels, approximates (like [l] or [r]), nasals (like ([m] and [n]), fricatives (like [f]), affricates (like [d͡ʒ], or the J in 'jump') and the last category is stops. Aside from simply being an amusing fact that some sounds are generally louder than others, it is because of this hierarchy that syllables exist, because when one speaks, as the sounds decrease and then increase in volume, more or less accidentally or at least coincidentally, this creates—simply put—the rhythm of syllables. This is a rich topic, and this hardly at all scratches the surface, so expect more in the future soon.