Questions tagged [consonants]

Do we have a scientific theory explaining why the click consonants were developed, and why they are used almost exclusivly in praerie regions? I've watched a BBC documentary about the evolution of humans, and the speaker noticed when hunting with…

In languages like Hokkien that use all of the following consonants: /p/, /b/, and /ph/, how do you tell apart /p/ and /b/? Someone once taught me a trick where you say, "spy" and "buy" over and over again, but I still can't hear a difference. I read…

What is the name of a sound shift law under which the German consonant "c" changes to the English "g", e.g. Macht -> might; Nacht -> night; Tochter -> daughter; fechten -> fight; recht -> right; Licht -> light; Sicht -> sight; Pflicht ->…