<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonority_hierarchy" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Sonority</a> refers to the amplitude of the sound signal; ie the louder a sound is, the higher it ranks. Vowels are loudest, as they are voiced and generally less constricted than most consonants. Within the vowels, the open ones (eg /a/),  are louder than the closed ones (/i/, /u/). Then laterals, nasals, fricatives, and finally plosives. Within each of these groups (where applicable) the voiced variant is higher than the voiceless one (eg /g/ > /k/, and /d/ > /t/).</p>

<p>This matches the ranking in your image, so I would say it is correct.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-26T14:09:35.613Z
2019-06-26T14:09:35.613Z
Oliver Mason
<p><a href="https://i.sstatic.net/M9AiM.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/M9AiM.png" alt="first pass at defining the hierarchy"></a></p>

<p>I need to sort these phonemes properly before I get into clusters and making syllables, but I'm not sure I did it right.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-24T10:25:59.777Z
Looks alright to me.
Oliver Mason
<phonotactics>
Is this sonority hierarchy correct?
# Is this sonority hierarchy correct?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-06-24)

[![first pass at defining the hierarchy](https://i.sstatic.net/M9AiM.png)](https://i.sstatic.net/M9AiM.png)

I need to sort these phonemes properly before I get into clusters and making syllables, but I'm not sure I did it right.

**Tags:** phonotactics

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Looks alright to me.  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2019-06-26. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

[Sonority](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonority_hierarchy) refers to the amplitude of the sound signal; ie the louder a sound is, the higher it ranks. Vowels are loudest, as they are voiced and generally less constricted than most consonants. Within the vowels, the open ones (eg /a/), are louder than the closed ones (/i/, /u/). Then laterals, nasals, fricatives, and finally plosives. Within each of these groups (where applicable) the voiced variant is higher than the voiceless one (eg /g/ > /k/, and /d/ > /t/).

This matches the ranking in your image, so I would say it is correct.


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