Ch. 3 Phonology Key Vocabulary Flashcards
Spectrogram
A graphic representation of the frequency distribution of sound waves.
Phonology
The study of the abstract sound categories that organize a sound system of a language.
Phoneme
A speech sound that has multiple physical realizations despite representing the same sound.
Phone
A physical realization of a speech sound.
Allophones of the phoneme
Phones with an alternate physical realization of the same phoneme.
Narrow Transcription
Additional symbols that are added to phonemes to represent different allophones
Distribution
The different positions a speech sound can or cannot occur in.
Complementary Distribution
Two sounds that are distributed in a mutually exclusive way.
Minimal Pairs
a pair of words that only differ in one sound, but have different meanings.
released consonant
A stop consonant that has a release of air with the stop.
un-released consonant
A consonant that ends with a stop that has no release burst at the end of the sound.
Free variation
Speakers can choose which allophone they use to pronounce a word without changing the meaning.
Neutralisation
When the contrast between phonemes becomes invisible.
Final Devoicing
When the final sound in a voiced phoneme is a voiceless allophone.
Velarised/dark l
When the alveloar sound of L is modified with a raised tongue.
Aspirated stop/Aspiration
When the final stop of a word if produced with an extra breath of air.
t/d flapping
when the t and d phonemes are neutralized in a particular phonetic context.
non-rhotic
Varieties of English where r-sounds do not occur in the word-final position of a word that ends with r.
rhortic
English varieties where r-sounds can occur in the word-final position.
constituents
The elements that make up a syllable.
syllabic consonants
Consonants that occupy the central part of the syllable.
nucleus
The ‘slot for vowel’ of a syllable. Can contain vowel, diphthong, or syllabic consonant.
coda
The postvocalic ‘slot of consonants’ in a syllable
onset
The prevocalic ‘slot of consonants’ in a syllable
vowel epenthesis
The insertion of vowels into syllables.
syllabification
Assigning syllable structure to words.
Maximal Onset Principle
Syllabification occurs so that as many consonants as possible end up in an onset.
sonority
The acoustic impression of ‘clear audibility’.
Sonority Sequencing
Principle
Sonority peaks at the nucleus and is less intense during the onset and coda.
