Linguistics Ch 2

Front 1

Refers to schwa. It’s the lax vowel that is characterized by briefer duration than any of the other vowels.

Back 1

(Vowel) reduction

Front 2

An approach to phonetics that is concerned with measuring and analyzing the physical properties of sound waves produced when we speak.

Back 2

Acoustic phonetics

Front 3

Non-continuant consonants that show a slow release of the closure (e..g. [tʃ, dʒ]).

Back 3

Affricates

Front 4

The small ridge that protrudes from just behind the upper front teeth.

Back 4

Alveolar ridge

Front 5

The area just behind the alveolar ridge where the roof of the mouth rises sharply (also called palatoalveolar).

Back 5

Alveopalatal (area)

Front 6

An approach to phonetics that studies the physiological mechanisms of speech production.

Back 6

Articulatory phonetics

Front 7

Two small cartilages in the larynx that are attached to the vocal folds, enabling the vocal folds to be drawn together or apart.

Back 7

Arytenoids

Front 8

The lag in the onset of vocalic voicing, accompanied by the release of air, that is heard after the release of certain stops in English (e.g., the first sound of top is aspirated).

Back 8

Aspiration

Front 9

The influence of one segment on another, resulting in a sound becoming more like a nearby sound in terms of one or more of its phonetic characteristics (e.g., in English, vowels become nasal if followed by a nasal consonant).

Back 9

Assimilation

Front 10

A line linking a symbol that represents a sound segment with a symbol that represents a tone or feature.

Back 10

Association line

Front 11

a dorsal feature that characterizes sounds articulated behind the palatal region in the oral cavity.

Back 11

Back

Front 12

the part of the tongue that is hindmost but still lies in the mouth.

Back 12

Back (of the tongue)

Front 13

A vowel that is made with tongue positioned in the back of the oral cavity (e.g., the vowel sounds in hoot and board).

Back 13

Back vowel

Front 14

sounds involving both lips

Back 14

Bilabial

Front 15

the area of the tongue just behind the tip.

Back 15

Blade (of the tongue)

Front 16

the main mass of the tongue

Back 16

Body (of the tongue)

Front 17

A group of sounds that shares certain phonetic properties (e.g., all voiced sounds).

Back 17

Class

Front 18

One sound influencing the articulation of the other in a sequence of phonetic segments—e.g., in the sequence [pl], the tongue tip will start to move towards the alveolar ridge before the lips separate; more than one articulator is active.

Back 18

Coarticulation

Front 19

Sounds that are produced with a narrow or complete closure in the vocal tract.

Back 19

Consonants

Front 20

Sounds that are produced with a continuous airflow through the mouth.

Back 20

Continuants

Front 21

Moving pitches on a single segment that signal meaning differences.

Back 21

Contour tones

Front 22

The ring-shaped cartilage in the larynx on which the thyroid cartilage rests.

Back 22

Cricoid cartilage

Front 23

A process that removes a segment from certain phonetic contexts (e.g., the pronounciation of fifths as [fifs]).

Back 23

Deletion

Front 24

Sounds made with the tongue placed against or near the teeth.

Back 24

Dentals

Front 25

Voicing assimilation in which a sound becomes voiceless because of a nearby voiceless sound (e.g., the l in place is devoiced because of the voiceless stop preceding it).

Back 25

Devoicing

Front 26

A mark added to a phonetic symbol to alter its value in some way (e.g. a circle under a symbol to indicate voicelessness).

Back 26

Diacritic

Front 27

The large sheet of muscle that separates the chest cavity from the abdomen and helps to maintain the air pressure necessary for speech production.

Back 27

Diaphragm

Front 28

A vowel that shows a noticeable change in quality during its production (e.g., the vowel sounds in house and ride).

Back 28

Diphthong

Front 29

A process whereby one segment becomes less like another segment in its environment (e.g., in words ending with three consecutive fricatives such as fifths, many speakers dissimilate the final [fɵs] sequence to [fts], apparently to break up the sequence of three fricatives with a stop).

Back 29

Dissimilation

Front 30

The body and back of the tongue.

Back 30

Dorsum (of the tongue)

Front 31

The maintenance of a distinction amongst the pitch registers of an utterance even as the overall pitch of the utterance falls.

Back 31

Downdrift

Front 32

A process that inserts a segment into a particular environment (e.g., the insertion of a schwa in the pronunciation of athlete as [æɵəlijt]).

Back 32

Epenthesis

Front 33

The smallest unit of analysis of phonological structure, combinations of which make up segments (e.g., [nasal], [continuant]).

Back 33

Feature (phonetic)

Front 34

The semantic components that make up a word’s intension.

Back 34

Features (semantic)

Front 35

A sound commonly identified with r in some languages and produced when the tongue tip strikes the alveolar ridge as it passes across it (e.g. in North American English, the medial consonant in bitter and bidder).

Back 35

Flap

Front 36

Consonants produced with a continuous airflow through the mouth, accompanied by a continuous audible noise (e.g., [f], [ʃ]).

Back 36

Fricatives

Front 37

A vowel that is made with the tongue positioned in the front of the oral cavity (e.g. the vowel sounds in seal and bat).

Back 37

Front vowel

Front 38

Sounds that are produced with an articulation like that of a vowel, but move quickly to another articulation (e.g., [j], [w]).

Back 38

Glides

Front 39

Sounds produced by using the vocal folds as the primary articulators (e.g., [h], [ʔ]).

Back 39

Glottals

Front 40

The space between the vocal folds.

Back 40

Glottis

Front 41

A dorsal feature that characterizes sounds produced with the tongue body raised.

Back 41

High

Front 42

The muscles between the ribs that help to maintain the air pressure necessary for speech production.

Back 42

Intercostals

Front 43

Sounds made with the tongue placed between the teeth (e.g., [θ], [ð]).

Back 43

Interdentals

Front 44

The universal system for transcribing the sounds of speech, which has been developing since 1888.

Back 44

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Front 45

Pitch movement in spoken utterances that is not related to differences in word meaning.

Back 45

Intonation

Front 46

A place feature that characterizes sounds articulated with one or both lips.

Back 46

Labial

Front 47

Sounds involving the lower lip and upper teeth (e.g., the initial sounds of freedom and vintage).

Back 47

Labiodentals

Front 48

Sounds made with the tongue raised near the velum and the lips rounded at the same time (e.g., the initial sound of wound).

Back 48

Labiovelar

Front 49

The box-like structure located in the throat through which air passes during speech production, commonly known as the voicebox.

Back 49

Larynx

Front 50

Sounds made with the sides of the tongue lowered (e.g. varieties of l).

Back 50

Laterals

Front 51

A vowel that is made with a placement of the tongue that results in relatively less vocal tract constriction (e.g., the vowel sounds in hit and but).

Back 51

Lax vowel

Front 52

The auditory property of a sound that enables us to place it on a scale that ranges from short to long.

Back 52

Length

Front 53

The auditory property of a sound that enables us to place it on a scale that ranges from soft to loud.

Back 53

Loudness

Front 54

A dorsal feature that characterizes vowels made with the tongue body distinctly lowered from a central position in the oral cavity.

Back 54

Low

Front 55

The various configurations produced by positioning the lips, tongue, velum, and glottis in different ways (e.g., nasal, fricative, liquid).

Back 55

Manners of articulation

Front 56

A process that reorders a sequence of segments (e.g., in child language, pronouncing ask as [æks]).

Back 56

Metathesis

Front 57

A vowel that is made with the tongue neither raised nor lowered (e.g., the vowel sounds in set and Coke).

Back 57

Mid vowel

Front 58

The glottal state that produces voiced sounds with the vocal folds relaxed enough to allow enough air to escape to produce a simultaneous whispery effect.

Back 58

Murmur/breathy voice

Front 59

A manner feature that characterizes any sound made with the velum lowered.

Back 59

Nasal

Front 60

Rising or level intonation at the end of an utterance, often signalling that the utterance is incomplete.

Back 60

Non-terminal (intonation) contour

Front 61

A vocalic element that forms the core of a syllable (e.g., the vowel [æ] is the nucleus of the first syllable of Patrick).

Back 61

Nucleus (N)

Front 62

Sounds produced with the velum raised and the airflow through the nasal passage cut off.

Back 62

Oral sounds

Front 63

Sounds produced with the tongue on or near the palate (e.g., [j]).

Back 63

Palatals

Front 64

The highest part of the roof of the mouth.

Back 64

Palate

Front 65

Sounds made through the modification of airflow in the pharynx by retracting the tongue or constricting the pharynx.

Back 65

Pharyngeals

Front 66

The area of the throat between the uvula and the larynx.

Back 66

Pharynx

Front 67

Any sound used in human language.

Back 67

Phone/speech sound

Front 68

The branch of linguistics that examines the inventory and structure of the sounds of language.

Back 68

Phonetics

Front 69

The auditory property of a sound that enables us to place it on a scale that ranges from low to high.

Back 69

Pitch

Front 70

The points at which the airstream can be modified to produce different sounds.

Back 70

Places/points of articulation

Front 71

The most prominent stress of a word.

Back 71

Primary stress

Front 72

Assimilation in which a sound influences a following segment (e.g., liquid-glide devoicing in English).

Back 72

Progressive assimilation

Front 73

Level tones that signal meaning differences.

Back 73

Register tones

Front 74

Assimilation in which a sound influences a preceding segment (e.g., nasalization in English).

Back 74

Regressive assimilation

Front 75

The r made by either curling the tongue tip back into the mouth or by bunching the tongue upward and back in the mouth.

Back 75

Retroflex

Front 76

The part of the tongue that is contained in the upper part of the throat.

Back 76

Root (of the tongue)

Front 77

Sounds made with the lips protruding (e.g., [ow], [ɔ]).

Back 77

Rounded (sounds)

Front 78

The lax vowel that is characterized by briefer duration than any of the other vowels (also called a reduced vowel).

Back 78

Schwa

Front 79

The second most prominent stress in a word.

Back 79

Secondary stress

Front 80

Individual speech sounds.

Back 80

Segments

Front 81

Vowels that do not show a noticeable change in quality during their production (also called monophthongs) (e.g., the vowel sounds of cab and get).

Back 81

Simple vowels

Front 82

Sounds made with a complete and momentary closure of airflow through the vocal tract (e.g., the initial sounds of pleasure and grab).

Back 82

Stops

Front 83

Vowels that are perceived as relatively more prominent due to the combined effects of pitch, loudness, and pitch.

Back 83

Stressed vowels

Front 84

A place feature that characterizes the “noisy” fricatives and affricates (in English, [s z ʃ ʒ tʃ dʒ]).

Back 84

Strident/Sibilant

Front 85

Those properties of sounds that form part of their makeup no matter what their place or manner of articulation: pitch, loudness, and length.

Back 85

Suprasegmental/Prosodic properties

Front 86

Liquids that function as syllabic nuclei (e.g., the l in bottle).

Back 86

Syllabic liquids

Front 87

Nasals that function as syllabic nuclei (e.g., the n in button).

Back 87

Syllabic nasals

Front 88

A unit of linguistic structure that consists of a syllabic element and any segments that are associated with it.

Back 88

Syllable

Front 89

A major class feature that characterizes vowels.

Back 89

Syllabic

Front 90

A dorsal feature that captures the tense-lax distinction among vowels.

Back 90

Tense (feature)

Front 91

Falling intonation at the end of an utterance, signalling that the utterance is complete.

Back 91

Terminal (intonation) contour

Front 92

The cartilage that forms the main portion of the larynx, spreading outward like the head of a plow.

Back 92

Thyroid cartilage

Front 93

The narrow area at the front of the tongue.

Back 93

Tip (of the tongue)

Front 94

Pitch movement in spoken utterances that is related to differences in word meaning.

Back 94

Tone

Front 95

A language in which differences in word meaning are signalled by differences in pitch.

Back 95

Tone language

Front 96

The tube below the larynx through which air travels when it leaves the lungs; commonly known as the windpipe.

Back 96

Trachea

Front 97

The small fleshy flap of tissue that hangs down from the velum.

Back 97

Uvula

Front 98

Sounds made with the tongue near or touching the uvula.

Back 98

Uvulars

Front 99

Sounds made with the tongue touching or near the velum (e.g., [ŋ], [k]).

Back 99

Velars

Front 100

The soft area towards the rear of the roof of the mouth.

Back 100

Velum

Front 101

A set of muscles inside the larynx that may be positioned in various ways to produce different glottal states.

Back 101

Vocal folds/vocal cords

Front 102

The oral cavity, nasal cavity, and pharynx.

Back 102

Vocal tract

Front 103

The glottal state in which the vocal folds are brought close together, but not tightly closed, causing air passing through them to vibrate (e.g., [æ], [z], [m] are voiced).

Back 103

Voiced

Front 104

The glottal state in which the vocal folds are pulled apart, allowing air to pass directly through the glottis (e.g., [t], [s], [f] are voiceless).

Back 104

Voiceless

Front 105

A historical process in which a voiceless sound becomes voiced.

Back 105

Voicing

Front 106

Assimilation in which one segment becomes more like a nearby segment in terms of voicing (e.g., liquid-glide devoicing in English).

Back 106

Voicing assimilation

Front 107

Sounds that are produced with little obstruction in the vocal tract and that are generally voiced.

Back 107

Vowels

Front 108

The glottal state in which the vocal folds are adjusted so that the front portions are pulled close together, while the back portions are apart.

Back 108

Whisper