Sonority scale

A sonority scale is a ranking of sounds by how how much 'sound' they produce. For example, if you say the vowel [a], you will produce much more sound than if you say the stop [t]. Sonority scales are especially important when analyzing syllable structure; many rules about what segments may appear in onsets or stops

1. fricatives
2. nasals
3. liquids
4. high vowels
5. non-high vowels