chapter 3 phonology key vocab

Question 1

Phonetic inventory

Answer 1

The set of sounds that are produced as part of the grammar of a language.

Question 2

Phonotactic constraints

Answer 2

Restriction on possible combinations of sounds, often in particular environments.

Question 3

sound substitution

Answer 3

A process whereby sounds that already exist in a language are used to replace sounds that do not exist in the language when borrowing or when a speaker is trying to pronounce a foreign word.

Question 4

meaningful

Answer 4

having a serious, important, or useful quality or purpose.

Question 5

allophone

Answer 5

One of a set of non-contrastive realizations of the same phoneme.

Question 6

phoneme

Answer 6

A class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound.

Question 7

aspiration

Answer 7

A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant when there is a delay in the onset of voicing.

Question 8

phonetic environment

Answer 8

The sounds that come before and after a particular sound in a word.

Question 9

minimal pair

Answer 9

Two words that differ only by a single sound in the same position and that have different meanings.

Question 10

Contrastive

Answer 10

A term used to describe two sounds that can be used to differentiate words in a language.

Question 11

Allomorph

Answer 11

One of a set of non-distinctive realizations of a particular morpheme that have the same function and are phonetically similar.

Question 12

overlapping distribution

Answer 12

The occurrence of sounds in the same phonetic environments.

Question 13

free variation

Answer 13

Term used to refer to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words.

Question 14

conditioning environment

Answer 14

Neighboring sounds of a given sound that cause it to undergo a change.

Question 15

obstruents

Answer 15

A natural class of sounds produced with an obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off.

Question 16

sonorants

Answer 16

Sound produced with a relatively open passage of airflow.

Question 17

oral

Answer 17

Relating to the mouth.

Question 18

assimilation

Answer 18

A process by which a sound becomes more like a nearby sound in terms of some features.

Question 19

nasalized

Answer 19

Vowel produced while lowering the velum to allow air to pass through the nasal cavity.

Question 20

deletion

Answer 20

In phonology, a process by which a sound present in the phonemic form is removed from the phonetic form in certain environments.

Question 21

metathesis

Answer 21

Switching of the order of two sounds, each taking the place of the other.

Question 22

Diphthong

Answer 22

A complex vowel, composed of a sequence of two different configurations of the vocal organs.

Question 23

strengthening

Answer 23

A process through which sounds are made stronger according to some criterion.

Question 24

palatalization

Answer 24

A process wherein a sound takes on a palatal place of articulation, usually in assimilation to high or mid front vowels like [i] or [e].

Question 25

obligatory rule

Answer 25

Phonological, morphological, or syntactic rule that applies in the speech of all speakers of a language or dialect, regardless of style or rate of speech.