Pronunciation GB: ˈkɒntɔɪd, GA: ˈkɑntɔɪd
A term introduced by Kenneth Pike to act as the phonetic equivalent of the term consonant. Contoids are sounds articulated with a complete closure in the vocal tract or with a stricture narrow enough to cause friction. See also vocoid, which is the opposite of contoid. The rationale behind the introduction of these terms was to avoid confusion between the phonological use of the term consonant and its use as a phonetic term. Certain sounds, for example, w j are phonetically vowel-like, but are used as consonants in the phonological systems of many languages. Using Pike’s terminology, we can say that these sounds are vocoids not contoids, but are consonants in a particular language (English, for example).