Chapter 2

Question 1

What are written letters, like also called?

Answer 1

Orthographic symbols

Question 2

What are phonetic symbols?

Answer 2

They represent spoken sounds

Ex. [foto]

Question 3

What are homophones? And some examples of mergers?

Answer 3

Words that sound the same; an example would be right, rite, write (they used to be pronounced the same)
Mergers: cot/caught or pin/pen (a distinction is no longer made between these words for some)

Question 4

What is the social meaning of sounds?

Answer 4

It concerns what social traits are attributed to sounds; an example would be [w] and [m] upside down w With upside down w it is seen as pretentious and [w] is seen as younger; this variation didn’t create any of the social connotations but simply allowed for social attributes to be attached to fluctuating forms.

Question 5

What is reference meaning and how is it distinguished from social meaning?

Answer 5

It results from sounds being associated to concepts of objects, ideas, and actions in our minds; often the reference meaning is the dictionary meaning. (Difference between reference and social meaning is that every word has a reference meaning but not all have a distinguishable social meaning.)

Question 6

What is the scientific study of vowels called?

Answer 6

Phonetics

Question 7

What is the branch of phonetics that deals with how sounds are produced in the mouth?

Answer 7

Articulately phonetics (most basic category is the divide between consonants and vowels)

Question 8

Describe the place, manner, and voice of articulation.

Answer 8

Place: where the consonant is produced
Manner: how the consonant is produced
Voice: whether the vocal folds are vibrating

Question 9

How do vowels and consonants differ?

Answer 9

They differ in their degree of constriction in the vocal tract, which includes the mouth and the throat. Vowels have a less restricted passageway than consonants.

Question 10

What are stops? Provide examples.

Answer 10

To produce stops you must stop the air completely and release it, similar to consonants. ( [t], [d], [p], [b], [k], [g] )

Question 11

What are sonorants and obstruents?

Answer 11

Sonorants are sounds that ring like [l], [n], [w]; obstruents do not ring, such as [t], [tf], [s]; sonorants include vowels and consonants

Question 12

Describe bilabial, labiodental, and interdental sounds.

Answer 12

Bilabial: involve both lips (bat, pat)
Labiodental: involve top teeth and bottom lip (fee, vee)
Interdental: involve sticking tongue between teeth and blowing air over it (thick, there)

Question 13

Describe the alveolar and palatal regions.

Answer 13

Alveolar: area from the back of upper teeth to the palatal region; used to form the first sounds in tea, dee, sea, zee, knee
Palatal: area where you would produce the first sounds in she and chap

Question 14

Describe the velar and glottal region, along with the glottal stop.

Answer 14

Velar: further back than the palatal region and include sounds like the first one in key and Guy
Glottal: last area down the vocal tract for English; the space between your vocal folds in your larynx is the glottis; (hot, how, hope or [h])
Ex. Glottal stop is when the glottis snaps shut, stopping the air; uh-oh has one in the middle

Question 15

For manner of articulation, describe stops, fricatives, and affricates. All three of which are obstruents.

Answer 15

Stop: airflow stops fully (pea, bee)
Fricative: airflow crashes against teeth, tongue, and lips to create turbulence ( [f], [v], [ø])
Affricate: combines stops and fricatives ([tf], [dz])

Question 16

Describe nasals, liquids, and glides, all three of which are sonorants.

Answer 16

Nasals: air moves out of nose rather than mouth ([m], [n], [n +g])
Liquids: sounds flow over the tongue and out of the mouth ([l] and [r])
Glides: extremely fluid and sometimes lose construction completely; ([w], [j])

Question 17

What are good examples of voiced and voiceless sounds?

Answer 17

Bath, the is voiceless, while the in bathe is voiced because the vocal folds in the larynx vibrate.

Question 18

Where do linguist position vowels to remember them?

Answer 18

On a map called vowel space.

Question 19

What are monophthongs?

Answer 19

Vowels in one place in the mouth; diphthongs are in two, as in my [mai] and boy [boi] and house [haus]; monophthongs are stable whereas diphthongs are moving articulation

Question 20

What is advancement in vowels? And peripherality?

Answer 20

Whether a vowel is said in the front, central, or back of the mouth; whether vowels are tense or lax ( tense closer to the edge of the map and lax further)

Question 21

What is the height of vowels?

Answer 21

High: [i], [I], [u], and other u
Mid: [e], [3], flipped e, flipped c, and [o]
Low: [æ], [a]

Question 22

What are minimal pairs? Aspiration?

Answer 22

Two different words that differ by one sound; a burst of air t^h or p^h like or