Chapter 14: Speaking and Listening - Speech Sounds

Question 1

Speech chain

Answer 1

A series of speech sounds a speaker communicates.

Question 2

Phonetics

Answer 2

The sub-discipline of linguistics that studies the physical process of speaking and listening, as well as the physical properties of the speech signal.

Question 3

Pharynx

Answer 3

Upper part of the throat.

Question 4

Oral cavity

Answer 4

Inside the mouth.

Question 5

Nasal cavity

Answer 5

Inside the nose.

Question 6

Vocal tract

Answer 6

The pathway that the air passes through in speech production.

Question 7

Vocal folds

Answer 7

The lower pair of the vocal cords which are used to produce vocal sounds.

Question 8

Auricle

Outer ear

Answer 8

The outside of the ear.

Question 9

External auditory canal

Answer 9

The part of the ear though which sound vibrations are channeled.

Question 10

Tympanic membrane

Answer 10

Eardrum.

Question 11

Middle ear

Answer 11

Consists of three hearing bones: hammer, anvil and stirrup.

Question 12

Oval window

Answer 12

The part of the ear though which sound vibrations are conducted by the stirrup.

Question 13

Cochlea

Answer 13

Part of the inner ear where frequency analysis takes place.

Question 14

Acoustic nerve

Answer 14

The part of the ear though which results are conveyed to the brain for further interpretation.

Question 15

Phonetic transcription

Answer 15

Representing sounds and sound strings in written form.

Question 16

Vowels

Answer 16

Speech sounds that are produced without any narrowing of the vocal tract.

Question 17

Consonant

Answer 17

Speech sounds that are produced by creating some type of narrowing somewhere in the vocal tract.

Question 18

Pulmonic consonants

Answer 18

Consonants for which the airstream that is used to pronounce them is produced in the lungs.

Question 19

Non-pulmonic consonants

Answer 19

Consonants that are produced by using an airstream produced by the larynx or the tongue.

Question 20

Manner of articulation

Answer 20

The degree and nature of the narrowing involved in the production of consonants.

Question 21

Place of articulation

Answer 21

Concerns the part of the roof of the mouth where the narrowing occurs.

Question 22

Plosives

Answer 22

Consonants produced by building up air pressure inside the mouth though complete closure and letting the air escape in one go.

Question 23

Fricatives

Answer 23

Consonants produced by an almost complete narrowing of the vocal tract and then an expulsion of air though the narrow passage.

Question 24

Affricates

Answer 24

Consonants that start out as a plosives and end as a fricative.

Question 25

Nasals

Answer 25

Consonants that are produced by letting the air escape though the nose.

Question 26

Laterals

Answer 26

Consonants produced by letting the air flow along the sides of the tongue instead of the center.

Question 27

Trills

Answer 27

Consonants that are produced by vibration of part of the tongue against a place of articulation.

Question 28

Taps

Flaps

Answer 28

Consonants that are produced by a single short closure.

Question 29

Approximants

Answer 29

Consonants that are produced with almost no narrowing of the vocal tract.

Question 30

Voicing

Answer 30

Whether consonants are produced by letting the vocal folds vibrate.

Question 31

Glottis

Answer 31

The space between the vocal folds.

Question 32

Voiced consonants

Answer 32

Consonants produced with vibration of the vocal folds.

Question 33

Voiceless consonants

Answer 33

Consonants that are produced without vibration of the vocal folds.

Question 34

Clicks

Answer 34

Sounds that are produced by sucking air into the mouth.

Question 35

Voiced implosives

Answer 35

Sounds that are produced by combining a closure of the vocal tract with a lowering of the larynx.

Question 36

Ejectives

Answer 36

Sounds that are produced by combining a closure of the vocal tract with rapid raising of the larynx.

Question 37

Diphthongs

Answer 37

The combination of two vowels.

Question 38

Diphones

Answer 38

Units the size of two half sounds.

Question 39

Speech synthesis

Answer 39

When speech is generated by a computer.

Question 40

Grapheme-to-phoneme conversion

Answer 40

When written text is being converted to speech sounds.

Question 41

Automatic speech recognition

Answer 41

The interpretation of spoken text by a computer.

Question 42

Speech signal

Answer 42

Sounds that a speaker communicates.