Chapter 4 Flashcards
Phoneme
The smallest meaning distinguishing sound unit in the abstract representation of the sounds of a language
Phonology
The study of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in languages
Phone
A physically produced speech sound representing one version of a phoneme
Allophone
One of a closely related set of speech sounds or phones (e.g. the [t] sound in tar and the [t] sound in star
Or: different pronunciation of the same phonemes in different phonetic environments
Aspiration
A puff of air that sometimes accompanies the pronunciation of a stop (e.g. the puff of air accompanying [t] in tar)
Minimal pair (set)
Two (or more) words that are identical in form except for contrast in one phoneme in the same position in each word(e.g. Bad, mad)
Closed syllable
A syllable that ends with a consonant or coda
Coda
The part of a syllable after the vowel
Nucleus
The vowel in a syllable
Onset
The part of the syllable before the vowel
Open syllable
A syllable that ends with a vowel or nucleus and has no coda
Phonotactics
Constraints on the permissible combination of sounds in a language
Rhyme
The part of the syllable containing the vowel plus any following consonant(s), also called “rime”
Syllable
A unit of sound consisting of a vowel and optional consonants before or after the vowel
Or: a sound unit that must contain a vowel or a vowel-like sound, including diphthongs
Coarticulation
The process of making one sound virtually at the same time as the next sound
Consonant cluster
Two or more consonants in sequence
Assimilation
The process whereby the feature of one sound becomes part of another during speech production (e.g. “have to” pronounced as “haf to”)
OR: making a sound segment more similar to the next one
Nasalization
Pronunciation of a sound with air flowing through the nose, typically before a nasal consonant
OR: adding a nasal quality to a sound segment before a nasal sound
Elision
The process of leaving out a sound segment in the pronunciation of a word (e.g. prisoner pronounced as prisner or must be pronounced as musbe)
Natural class
Group of phonemes that share some features (e.g. /p/: -voice, +bilabial, +stop & /k/: -voice, +velar, +stop)
Complementary distribution
When two different allophones of a phoneme are used in different places in words
