obstruent vs vocal

obstruent

noun
  • A consonant sound formed by obstructing the airway, causing turbulence; a plosive, fricative, or affricate. 

  • Hypernym: consonant 

  • Anything that obstructs, especially in the passages of the body. 

adj
  • Causing obstruction; blocking up. 

vocal

noun
  • A vocal sound; specifically, a purely vocal element of speech, unmodified except by resonance; a vowel or a diphthong; a tonic element; a tonic. 

  • A part of a piece of music that is sung. 

  • A musical performance involving singing. 

  • A man in the Roman Catholic Church who has a right to vote in certain elections. 

adj
  • Relating to, composed or arranged for, or sung by the human voice. 

  • Of, pertaining to, or resembling the human voice or speech. 

  • Consisting of, or characterized by, voice, or tone produced in the larynx, which may be modified, either by resonance, as in the case of the vowels, or by obstructive action, as in certain consonants, such as v, l, etc., or by both, as in the nasals m, n, ng. 

  • Used in the production of speech sounds. 

  • Synonym of expressive. 

  • Uttered or modulated by the voice; expressed in words. 

  • Full of voices. 

  • Expressing opinions or feelings freely, loudly, or insistently. 

  • Having or exercising the power of producing voice, speech, or sound. 

  • Synonym of vocalic. 

How often have the words obstruent and vocal occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )