Choose Your Vocab

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

the study and classification of speech sounds

Question 2

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Answer 2

a set of symbols that linguists use to describe the sounds of spoken languages

Question 3

Vocal tract

Answer 3

the passage above the larynx where speech sounds are made

Question 4

Articulators

Answer 4

any of the vocal organs above the larynx, including the tongue, lips, teeth, and hard palate

Question 5

Manner of articulation

Answer 5

describes how the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs are involved in making a sound make contact. Often the concept is only used for the production of consonants.

Question 6

Vowel frontness

Answer 6

the position of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel relative to the front of the mouth.
front
near-front
central
near-back
back

Question 7

Vowel height

Answer 7

refers to the vertical position of either the tongue or the jaw relative to either the roof of the mouth or the aperture of the jaw.
close (high)
near-close (near-high)
close-mid (high-mid)
mid (true-mid)
open-mid (low-mid)
near-open (near-low)
open (low)

Question 8

‘Received Pronunciation’ (RP)

Answer 8

sounds that occur in the standard accent of British English

Question 9

frequency

Answer 9

number of vibrations occurring in a sound

Question 10

affricate

Answer 10

a phoneme which combines a plosive with an immediately following fricative or spirant sharing the same place of articulation

Question 11

affricate

Answer 11

a phoneme which combines a plosive with an immediately following fricative or spirant sharing the same place of articulation

Question 12

vocal cords/vocal folds

Answer 12

dual bands of smooth muscle tissue in the larynx

Question 13

vocal cords/vocal folds

Answer 13

dual bands of smooth muscle tissue in the larynx

Question 14

plosive

Answer 14

consonant that is produced by stopping the airflow using the lips, teeth, or palate, followed by a sudden release of air. The basic plosives in English are t, k, and p (voiceless) and d, g, and b (voiced).

Question 15

fricative

Answer 15

a type of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening, producing a turbulent air flow. f and th

Question 16

nasal

Answer 16

the voice resonating in the nose, e.g., m, n, ng

Question 17

approximant

Answer 17

Approximants are speech sounds that involve the articulators approaching each other but not narrowly enough nor with enough articulatory precision to create turbulent airflow. Therefore, approximants fall between fricatives, which do produce a turbulent airstream, and vowels, which produce no turbulence.

Question 18

rounded

Answer 18

the position (rounding) of the lips in some vowels

Question 19

unrounded

Answer 19

the position (spreading) of the lips in some vowels

Question 20

diphthong

Answer 20

a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another (as in coin, loud, and side ). “Gliding vowel”

Question 21

monophthong

Answer 21

a pure vowel sound, one whose articulation at both beginning and end is relatively fixed, and which does not glide up or down towards a new position of articulation (as in teeth).