This chapter focuses on how to develop consonant inventories in conlanging. It describes consonant pronunciation, their classification and how they are organized in contrastive sets in languages. This chapter offers suggestions on how to choose consonants for a conlang, including a consideration of phono-aesthetics. It also includes a set of guided questions to facilitate this task and provides conlanging practice. In addition, this chapter describes the consonants of the Salt language.

Speech sounds can be subdivided into vowels and consonants. This chapter will explain the articulation of consonants in general and of English consonants in particular. The chapter is grouped into the different kinds of consonants and their manner of articulation. The full IPA consonant table is quite extensive. However, the chapters are arranged in a logical order, making it easier to remember them. Many consonants can actually be felt, and it is fun to produce them as you read along. At the end, the chapter deals with letter-to-sound correspondences and provides guidelines for when matching a letter to a consonant sound is not straightforward.

The word consonant means 'with a sonant' or vowel. Consonants are one of two main types of speech sounds, the other being vowels. In the production of consonants, the vocal tract is blocked, the vocal tract is seriously constricted, or the airflow is diverted through the nasal passage. The term articulation is used for the movements and adjustments required to produce an individual speech sound. Consonants are classified by (1) whether the vocal folds are vibrating, (2) where in the vocal tract articulation takes place, and (3) the manner of articulation (the type of articulation). Manners of articulation include plosives, nasals, fricatives, and approximants, the latter of which can be broken down into laterals and glides. Other manners of articulation include trills. Consonants may be produced with a secondary articulation in addition to the primary articulation.