Editing Consonant (section)

==Examples==
The recently extinct [[Ubykh language]] had only 2 or 3 vowels but 84 consonants;<ref>Georges Dumézil and Tevfik Esenç, 1975, ''Le verbe oubykh: études descriptives et comparatives''. Adrien Maisonneuve: Paris.</ref> the [[Taa language]] has 87 consonants under [[consonant cluster|one analysis]], 164 under [[linguo-pulmonic|another]], plus some 30 vowels and tone.<ref>Naumann, Christfied (2008). "The Consonantal System of West !Xoon". ''3rd International Symposium on Khoisan Languages and Linguistics''. Riezlern.</ref> The types of consonants used in various languages are by no means universal. For instance, nearly all [[Australian languages]] lack fricatives; a large percentage of the world's languages lack voiced stops such as {{IPA|/b/}}, {{IPA|/d/}}, {{IPA|/ɡ/}} as phonemes, though they may appear phonetically. Most languages, however, do include one or more fricatives, with {{IPA|/s/}} being the most common, and a [[liquid consonant]] or two, with {{IPA|/l/}} the most common. The approximant {{IPA|/w/}} is also widespread, and virtually all languages have one or more [[nasal consonant|nasals]], though a very few, such as the Central dialect of [[Rotokas language|Rotokas]], lack even these. This last language has the smallest number of consonants in the world, with just six.

===Most common===
In rhotic American English, the consonants spoken most frequently are {{IPA|/n, ɹ, t/}}. ({{IPA|/ɹ/}} is less common in non-rhotic accents.)<ref>[https://thelanguagenerds.com/most-common-sounds-in-spoken-english/ The most common sounds in spoken English] The Language Nerds.</ref>
The most frequent consonant in many other languages is {{IPA|/p/}}.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vistawide.com/languages/language_statistics.htm|title=World Language Statistics and Facts|website=www.vistawide.com|access-date=2019-01-13|archive-date=2019-01-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190114100501/https://www.vistawide.com/languages/language_statistics.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>

The most universal consonants around the world (that is, the ones appearing in nearly all languages) are the three voiceless stops {{IPA|/p/}}, {{IPA|/t/}}, {{IPA|/k/}}, and the two nasals {{IPA|/m/}}, {{IPA|/n/}}. However, even these common five are not completely universal. Several languages in the vicinity of the [[Sahara Desert]], including [[Arabic language|Arabic]], lack {{IPA|/p/}}. Several languages of North America, such as [[Mohawk language|Mohawk]], lack both of the labials {{IPA|/p/}} and {{IPA|/m/}}. The [[Wichita language]] of [[Oklahoma]] and some West African languages, such as [[Ijo languages|Ijo]], lack the consonant {{IPA|/n/}} on a phonemic level, but do use it phonetically, as an [[allophone]] of another consonant (of {{IPA|/l/}} in the case of Ijo, and of {{IPA|/ɾ/}} in Wichita). A few languages on [[Bougainville Island]] and around [[Puget Sound]], such as [[Makah language|Makah]], lack both of the nasals {{IPA|[m]}} and {{IPA|[n]}} altogether, except in special speech registers such as baby-talk. The 'click language' [[Nǁng language|Nǁng]] lacks {{IPA|/t/}},{{efn|Nǀu has {{IPA|/ts/}} instead. [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] is often said to lack {{IPA|/t/}}, but it actually has a consonant that varies between {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[k]}}.}} and colloquial [[Samoan language|Samoan]] lacks both alveolars, {{IPA|/t/}} and {{IPA|/n/}}.{{efn|Samoan words written with the letters ''t'' and ''n'' pronounce them as {{IPA|[k]}} and {{IPA|[ŋ]}} except in formal speech. However, Samoan does have another alveolar consonant, {{IPA|/l/}}.}} Despite the 80-odd consonants of [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]], it lacks the plain velar {{IPA|/k/}} in native words, as do the related [[Adyghe language|Adyghe]] and [[Kabardian language|Kabardian]] languages. But with a few striking exceptions, such as [[Xavante language|Xavante]] and [[Tahitian language|Tahitian]]—which have no dorsal consonants whatsoever—nearly all other languages have at least one velar consonant: most of the few languages that do not have a simple {{IPA|/k/}} (that is, a sound that is generally pronounced {{IPA|[k]}}) have a consonant that is very similar.{{efn|The Niʻihau–Kauaʻi dialect of [[Hawaiian language|Hawaiian]] is often said to have no {{IPA|[k]}}, but as in other dialects of Hawaiian it has a consonant that varies between {{IPA|[t]}} and {{IPA|[k]}}.}} For instance, an areal feature of the [[Pacific Northwest]] coast is that historical *k has become palatalized in many languages, so that [[Saanich language|Saanich]] for example has {{IPA|/tʃ/}} and {{IPA|/kʷ/}} but no plain {{IPA|/k/}};<ref>Ian Maddieson and Sandra Ferrari Disner, 1984, ''Patterns of Sounds.'' Cambridge University Press</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://wals.info/feature/18 |title=The World Atlas of Language Structures Online: Absence of Common Consonants |access-date=2008-10-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090601070340/http://wals.info/feature/18 |archive-date=2009-06-01 |url-status=dead }}</ref> similarly, historical *k in the [[Northwest Caucasian languages]] became palatalized to {{IPA|/kʲ/}} in extinct [[Ubykh language|Ubykh]] and to {{IPA|/tʃ/}} in most [[Circassian languages|Circassian]] dialects.<ref>Viacheslav A. Chirikba, 1996, ''Common West Caucasian: the reconstruction of its phonological system and parts of its lexicon and morphology'', p. 192. Research School CNWS: Leiden.</ref>