Chapter 3 - The Phonological Component: Phonology

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

The study of the sound system of a language; that is, what sounds are in a language and what the rules are for combining those sounds into larger units.

Question 2

Phone or phonetic unit or segment

Answer 2

An actual speech sound produced by the vocal tract that is perceived as an individual and unique sound, different from other such sounds

Question 3

Phoneme

Answer 3

A perceived unit of language that signals a difference in meaning when contrasted to another phoneme

Question 4

Allophone

Answer 4

A variation of a phoneme: different allophones of a phoneme occur in different and predictable phonetic environments

Question 5

Distinctive

Answer 5

Refers to units that contrast; that is change meaning when substituted for each other.

Question 6

Etic

Answer 6

Refers to a study done by a cultural outsider using categories and concepts that might not have meaning to the people being studied

Question 7

Emic

Answer 7

Refers to categories and concepts that have meaning to the people being studied

Question 8

Utterance

Answer 8

A stretch of speech between two periods of silence or a potential (perceived) silence

Question 9

Corpus

Answer 9

A collection of linguistic information used to discover linguistics rules and principles

Question 10

Minimal pair

Answer 10

Made up of two forms (words, phrases, sentences) that differ in meaning, contain the same number of sound segments, and display only one phonetic difference, which occurs at the same place in the form

Question 11

Minimal set

Answer 11

Made up of more than two forms (words, phrases, sentences) that differ in meaning, contain the same number of sound segments, and display only one phonetic difference, which occurs at the same place in the form

Question 12

Complementary distribution

Answer 12

Means that each of a series of sounds occurs in different phonetic contexts and these sounds never contrast with each other.

Question 13

Overlapping distribution

Answer 13

Characteristic of different phones that appear in most of the same phonetic environments.

Question 14

Substitution frame

Answer 14

A form that has a “slot”that can be filled in with different items, and is used to identify different phonemes

Question 15

Free variation

Answer 15

A condition in which phonetically different sounds (phonemes or allophones) may occur in the same environment without changing meaning

Question 16

Narrow transcription (phonetic transcription)

Answer 16

Represents the actual sounds that a person utters in as much detail as possible

Question 17

Broad transcription (phonemic transcription)

Answer 17

Represents the idealized sounds, which are actually classes of sounds (the class being made up of allophones) rather than physically real speech sounds

Question 18

Distinctive feature

Answer 18

Any trait that distinguishes one phoneme from another

Question 19

Binary system

Answer 19

A classification system in which a feature is either present or absent.

Question 20

Feature matrix

Answer 20

Lists sound segments (or other phenomena) along the horizontal axis, and features on the vertical axis.

Question 21

Natural class

Answer 21

A subset of the total set of phonemes that shares a small number of phonetic (distinctive) features, which distinguishes itself from others.

Question 22

Phonotactics

Answer 22

An area of phonology that studies the combinations of phonemes that are allowed (or conversely restricted) in the formation of syllables, consonant clusters, and sequences of vowels.

Question 23

Obligatory phonological process

Answer 23

A rule that most native speakers of a specific language apply to make a string of phonetic units easier to pronounce and perceive.

Question 24

Optional phonological process

Answer 24

A pattern that is applied by individuals or groups of individuals and is not necessarily characteristic of most native speakers of a language; it is stylistic.

Question 25

Assimilation

Answer 25

The obligatory phonological process that makes it easier to pronounce combinations of sounds by making those sounds share a distinctive feature that in other environments one of the sounds would not have.

Question 26

Manner assimilation

Answer 26

Involves making a string of sounds easier to pronounce by making one of them conform to the manner of articulation of the other.

Question 27

Voice assimilation

Answer 27

Occurs when a sound coming to agree with a surrounding sound in its voicing.

Question 28

Devoice

Answer 28

When a sound loses its voiced feature because of a voiceless sound or sounds in its phonetic environment.

Question 29

Place assimilation

Answer 29

When adjacent sounds are made to agree in their place of articulation.

Question 30

Change in syllabicity

Answer 30

Involves an alternative pronunciation of a syllable from an idealized pronunciation.

Question 31

Redundancy

Answer 31

When more information is present than necessary under ideal conditions.

Question 32

Markedness

Answer 32

A contrast in complexity and rarity of sounds (and other phenomena).

Question 33

Unmarked sounds

Answer 33

More basic, more common in the language, and learned by children earlier than marked sounds.

Question 34

Marked sounds

Answer 34

More complex, less common in the language, and learned by children later than unmarked sounds.