Ch. 4 - Phonology Flashcards
What is Phonology?
The description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language
What’s a Phoneme?
The smallest meaning-distinguishing sound unit in the abstract representation of the sound of a language
What’s a “natural class” ?
A set of sounds with phonetic features in common, such as /p/ , /t/ , and /k/ in English.
All three of these are voiceless stops
What’s the name for a physically produced speech sound, representing one version of a Phoneme?
Phone
How are “Phones” symbolized?
In square brackets
ex: [k]
What’s the crucial distinction between Phonemes and Allophones?
Substituting one phoneme for another will result in a word with a different meaning. (the Thai example of forest vs. split)
Substituting one allophones only results in a different pronunciation
What’s an “Aspiration”?
A puff of air that sometimes results from the pronunciation of a STOP
(ex: saying “Tar” has an aspiration; saying “Star” does not)
What is Complementary Distribution?
Two different pronunciations of a phoneme always used in different places in words
(ex: the phoneme [t] is pronounced differently in the words “tar” and “star”).
The places where [t] occurs with or without aspiration never overlap, thus making it complementary distribution.
What are Phonotactics?
Constraints on the permissible combination of sounds in a language. They vary between languages
What are the basic elements of a Syllable?
Onset
Rhyme
Nucleus
Coda
“Up” “Cup” “At” “Hat” are examples of what kind of syllables?
Closed syllables; because they contain a coda (a consonant after a vowel)
“Me” “To” and “No” are examples of what kind of syllable?
Open syllables; because they have no coda, only a nucleus and an onset.
What’s a Consonant Cluster?
Two or more consonants in sequence
ex: /st/ the words “stop” or “post”
What are Coarticulation Effects?
The process of making one sound virtually at the same time as the next.
Coarticulation isn’t seen as speech laziness
What’s a Coda?
The part of a syllable after the vowel.
ex: the word “salts” has three coda’s, which are “l” “t” and “s” which come after the vowel “a”.
What’s a Nucleus?
The vowel in a syllable
ex: “a” in al-, and “o” in -most; in the word “almost”
What’s a “Rhyme/Rime”?
The part of a syllable containing the vowel, plus any following consonants
(ex: In swim, “sw-“ is the Onset, and “-im” is the rime)
What’s a Minimal Pair?
When two words are identical in form, except for a contrast in one phoneme
(ex: Fan & Van, Bat & Beat, Myth & Mick, Math & Myth)
What’s a Minimal Set?
A group of words with a differentiation in a single phoneme which is in the same position in each word
(ex: Big, Pig, Rig, Dig, Wig)
What’s an assimilation?
The process whereby feature of one sound becomes part of another during speech production
What’s Nasalization?
Pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose, typically before a nasal consonant
How are Nasal’s represented?
With a ~ symbol, called a “tilde”, over the vowel symbol.
What’s the phonological rule regarding nasalization in English language?
Any vowel becomes a nasal whenever it immediately precedes a nasal
What’s an Elision?
The process of leaving out a sound segment in the pronunciation of a word.
(ex: saying “you and me”, but it sounds like “you n me”)
This refers to the process of making a sound segment more similar to the next one…
Assimilation
This refers to adding a nasal quality sound to a segment before a nasal sound
Nasalization
This refers to leaving out a sound segment
Elision
