Concepts and terminology for describing language: PHONOLOGY

Question 1

Connected speech

Answer 1

Spoken language in which the words join to form a connected stream of sounds. In connected speech some sounds in words may be left out or may be pronounced in a weak way,

e.g. Is he busy —> /ɪziːbɪziː/

See linking, stress, weak forms.

Question 2

consonant

Answer 2

A sound in which the air is partly blocked by the lips, tongue, teeth etc.

Any letter of the English alphabet which represents these sound:

d ——-> /d/
c——–>/c/
See vowel

Question 3

Contrast

Answer 3

To compare the differences between two things.

Question 4

Contrastive stress

Answer 4

is used to express an unusual or emphatic meaning in a sentence. It involves stressing the important word according to the different meanings,

e.g.

-It was my AUNT who bought the car (not my uncle)

• My aunt bought the CAKE (not the biscuits)!

Question 5

Contraction

Answer 5

A shorter form of a group of words, which usually occurs in auxiliary verbs, e.g. you have = you’ve; it is = it’s.

Question 6

Diphthong

Answer 6

A vowel combination which is pronounced by moving from one vowel to another, e.g. / aɪ/ as in my is pronounced by moving from / æ / to /ɪ/.

Question 7

Discriminate, distinguish

Answer 7

To identify the difference between two or more things, e.g. sound discrimination is hearing the differences between sounds, particularly minimal pairs, e.g. not/lot.

Question 8

Emphasis (noun), emphasise (verb), emphatic (adjective)

Answer 8

When special force or attention is given to a word or information because it is important, e.g. I want to start the lesson at SIX o’clock not seven o’clock.

Question 9

Feature (e.g. of connected speech)

Answer 9

A feature of something is an interesting or important part or characteristic of it,

e.g. in *I can play tennis *

can is pronounced /kən/ the weak form /ə/ is a feature of this sentence.

Question 10

Identification (noun), identify (verb)

Answer 10

To recognize something.

Question 11

Intonation

Answer 11

The way the level of a speaker’s voice changes, to show meaning such as how they feel about something, e.g. if they are angry or pleased or to make speech sound polite in English. Intonation can be rising or falling or both.

Question 12

Linking

Answer 12

The way different sounds can link into each other in connected speech,

e.g. it’s a good day

/itsəgudeɪ/.

Main stress: see stress.

Question 13

Minimal pair

Answer 13

Two words which are different from each other by only one meaningful sound,

e.g. hit / hɪt / ; heat /hiːt /.

Question 13

Phoneme

Answer 13

The smallest sound unit which can make a difference to meaning

e.g. /p/ in pan, /b/ in ban.

Phonemes have their own symbols (phonemic symbols), each of which represents one sound.

Words can be presented in phonemic script (usually International Phonetic Alphabet or IPA), e.g. / dɒktə/ – doctor.

Phonemic transcription is used in dictionaries to show pronunciation.

Question 14

Rhyme

Answer 14

1. Words that sound similar because they have the same ending, e.g. hat, cat.
2. A song or poem with words that sound the same at the end of each line :

I believe I can fly .
I believe I can touch the sky .

Question 15

Rhythm

Answer 15

The rhythm of speech is the way that some words in a sentence are emphasised or stressed to produce a regular pattern, e.g. If I were YOU , I’d GO by BUS .

Question 16

Schwa

Answer 16

The / ə / sound is called the schwa. It is a feature of weak forms,

e.g. / kən / in I can play tennis.

Question 17

Stress

Answer 17

1. Primary, main stress The main stress on a word,
   e.g. DIFFicult, indiVIDual.

The primary stress on a word is marked in the dictionary as follows ‘difficult.

2. Secondary stress Stress on a syllable or word in a sentence that is less strong than the primary (main) stress,
   e.g. /ˌKɒntrəˈvɜːʃəl/ which has the primary or main stress on /vɜː/ and the secondary stress on / Kɒn/.

**Sentence stress **

-refers to the way some words in a sentence are stressed.
In English these are usually the information-carrying words. In the sentence It was a lovely evening, and the temperature was perfect, the main stress, when spoken, is probably on the word perfect. Stress can therefore be used to show meaning, to emphasise a particular point or feeling.

Word stress is the pronunciation of a syllable with more force or emphasis than the surrounding syllables which are said to be unstressed,

e.g. umbrella /ʌmˈbrelə/.

Question 18

Strong form

Answer 18

If a word is important, then the strong form is used, and the pronunciation changes,

e.g. I can /kaen/ speak a little Spanish in an emergency. See weak form.

Question 19

Syllable

Answer 19

A part of a word that usually contains a single vowel sound,

e.g.
-pen = one syllable;
-teacher = two syllables – teach/er; -umbrella = three syllables -um/brell/a.

Question 20

Unvoiced sound

Answer 20

To produce an unvoiced sound, no voice is used,
e.g.
/p/ in pad,
/t/ in tomorrow.

No movement or vibration can be felt in the throat.

Question 21

Voiced sound

Answer 21

To produce a voiced sound, the voice is used,
e.g.

/b/ in bad,
/d/ in dentist.

Movement or vibration can be felt in the throat. Vowels in English are voiced.

Question 22

Vowel

Answer 22

A sound in which the air is not blocked by the tongue, lips, teeth etc.

Movement or vibration is felt in the throat because the voice is used.

The letters a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y are used to represent these sounds.

Question 23

Weak forms

Answer 23

If a word is unstressed, the weak form of vowels may be used,

e.g.
I can (/ kən /) speak Italian, French, English and Spanish.

The sound / ə / is called schwa. See strong form.

Question 24

Word boundary

Answer 24

Where one word ends and the next one begins, especially in connected speech.

Space Boundary: In English, words are often separated by spaces. For instance:
“apple” and “banana” are separate words.
“I love chocolate” consists of three separate words.
Hyphen Boundary: Hyphens can connect parts of compound words or prefixes. For example:
“self-esteem” (compound word)
“re-enter” (prefix + word)
Morphological Boundary: Morphemes (the smallest units of meaning) can be combined to form words. For instance:
“unhappiness” (prefix “un-” + root “happy” + suffix “-ness”)
“unbelievable” (prefix “un-” + root “believe” + suffix “-able”)