What's an consonant?

http://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/linking-1.htm

the letters that is not a vowel

A consonant is a speech sound produced by obstructing the airflow in some way. In English, there are 21 consonant phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound that can make a difference in meaning. These include sounds like /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, /m/, /n/, /ŋ/, /l/, /r/, /j/, /w/, and /θ/.

To understand consonants further, you can follow these steps:

1. Identify the sound: Listen carefully to the speech sound you are interested in and try to identify it. For example, for the word "cat," the initial sound is /k/.

2. Determine the airflow obstruction: Observe how the sound is produced by analyzing the airflow obstruction. For the consonant /k/, the back of the tongue makes contact with the soft part of the roof of the mouth, creating an obstruction.

3. Practice pronunciation: If you want to learn how to pronounce specific consonants, try practicing them in isolation. You can find pronunciation guides online or use a dictionary that provides audio pronunciations.

Remember that the recognition and production of consonant sounds can be influenced by various factors such as accents, dialects, and language variations.