Consonants & Vowels Flashcards
1
Q
Articulatory Phonetics
A
- Production of sounds
- Speech organs
2
Q
Acoustic Phonetics
A
- Transmission of sounds
- Physical qualities: e.g. volume, duration, frequency
3
Q
Auditive Phonetics
A
- Perception of sounds; intake through the ear
- Processing in the brain
4
Q
What is a phoneme?
A
- “smallest meaning-distinguishing units of a language”
- Notation: slashes //; e.g., /pɪt/
5
Q
How do I know if it distinguishes meaning? (phoneme)
A
- Minimal pair test
e.g. bit-pit; dog-dock
6
Q
What is an Allophone?
A
- Different realizations of the same phoneme
- Notation: angled brackets [ ]; e.g. [ɫ]
7
Q
What is a Grapheme?
A
- Smallest functional unit of a writing system
- Notation: angled brackets < >; e.g., <pit></pit>
- Pronunciation: as the letters of the alphabet (e.g. /pi:/)
8
Q
Consonants
A
- Obstruction of the air stream
- Noise element
- Cannot be the centre of a syllable (exceptions)
9
Q
Vowels
A
- Air stream is not obstructed
- Harmonic vibrations
- can be the centre of a syllable
10
Q
Description of consonants - Distinctive features
A
- Place of articulation
- Manner of articulation
- voicing
11
Q
Which of the English phonemes do not occur in German? (no German sounds)
A
- /θ, ð/
- /ʒ, dʒ/
- /w, r/ > appear with a different sound
12
Q
Consonants - Places of Articulation
A
Describes the exact place where the airstream is obstructed.
13
Q
Places of Articulation - Name all of them (8)
A
a. bilabial
b. labiodental
c. dental
d. alveolar
e. post-alveolar
f. palatal
g. velar
h. glottal
14
Q
Manner of Articulation
A
Describes the type or degree of closure of the speech organs, i.e. how the airstream is modified in the vocal tract
15
Q
Manner of Articulation - Name all of them (6)
A
- plosive
- fricative
- affricate
- nasal
- lateral
- approximant
16
Q
State of glottis
A
voiced
voiceless
17
Q
Voiced
A
Vibration of the vocal folds (vocal folds are close together)
18
Q
Voiceless
A
No vibration of vocal folds (vocal folds are far apart)
19
Q
/d/
A
plosive, alveolar, voiced
e.g.: dog
20
Q
/p/
A
plosive, bilabial, voiceless
e.g.: pull
21
Q
/b/
A
plosive, bilabial, voiced
e.g.: burn
22
Q
/t/
A
plosive, alveolar, voiceless
e.g.: take
23
Q
/k/
A
plosive, velar, voiceless
e.g.: king
24
Q
/g/
A
plosive, velar, voiced
e.g.: get
25
/f/
fricative, labiodental, voiceless
e.g.: fish
26
/v/
fricative, labiodental, voiced
e.g.: vain
27
/θ/
fricative, dental, voiceless
e.g.: thin
28
/ð/
fricative, dental, voiced
e.g.: there
29
/s/
fricative, alveolar, voiceless
e.g.: sin
30
/z/
fricative, alveolar, voiced
e.g.: zoo
31
/ʃ/
fricative, postalveolar, voiceless
e.g.: shine
32
/ʒ/
fricative, postalveolar, voiced
e.g.: rouge
33
/h/
fricative, glottal, voiceless
e.g.: high
34
/tʃ/
affricate, postalveolar, voiceless
e.g.: chair
35
/dʒ/
affricate, postalveolar, voiced
e.g.: job/bridge
36
/m/
nasal, bilabial, voiced
e.g.: mouse
37
/n/
nasal, alveolar, voiced
e.g.: noise/nose
38
/ŋ/
nasal, velar, voiced
e.g.: king
39
/l/
lateral, alveolar, voiced
e.g.: long
40
/w/
approximant, bilabial, voiced
e.g.: warn
41
/r/
approximant, postalveolar, voiced
e.g.: red
42
/j/
approximant, palatal, voiced
e.g.: yes
43
Vowels -distinctive features
- Vowel quality (position of the tongue in the mouth; openness of the mouth)
- Vowel quantity (length (long/short) ; duration)
- Monophthongs/Diphthongs
44
Lexical sets
Vowels can be described using lexical sets (Wells, 1982)
- each word (lexical set) stands for a vowel and a specific sound environment
- pronounciation of the vowel can differ in different accents
- lexical sets ensure clarity in communication across different accents
45
Monophthong
No change in quality during articulation
e.g.: /fɪt/ (fit)
/ʃuːt/ (shoot)
46
/iː/
front, closed, long
monophthong
e.g.: seat
47
/ɪ/
front, between closed and half-closed, short
monophthong
e.g.: sit
48
/ʊ/
back, between closed and half-closed, short
monophthong
e.g.: foot, put
49
/uː/
back, closed, long
monophthong
e.g.: food, boot
50
/e/
front, half-closed ; half-open, short
monophthong
e.g.: set, pet
51
/ɜ:/
central, half-closed, long
monophthong
e.g.: bird, heard
52
/ə/
central, half-open, short
monophthong
e.g.: mother
53
/ɔ:/
back, between half-closed and half-open, long
monophthong
e.g.: law
54
/æ/
front, open, short
monophthong
e.g.: sat, pat
55
/ʌ/
central, open, short
monophthong
e.g.: some, cut
56
/ɑ:/
back, open, long
monophthong
e.g.: father
57
/ɒ/
back, open, short
monophthong
e.g. dog
58
Diphthong
Change of quality within one syllable
> both elements merge
/meɪk/ (make)
/ðeə/ (there)
1. Closing Diphthong
2. Centring Diphthong
59
/eɪ/
front, between half-open and half-closed > front, closed, long
closing diphthong
e.g.: mate, they, place
60
/ʊə/
back, closed > central, long
centring diphthong
e.g.: sure, poor
> strong tendency to replace diphthong with the long monophthong /ɔ:/
61
/əʊ/
central, between half-closed and half-open > back, closed, long
closing diphthong
e.g.: home, so
62
/aɪ/
central, open > front, closed, long
closing diphthong
e.g.: my, time
63
/aʊ/
back, open > back, closed, long
closing diphthong
e.g.: house, town
64
/ɔɪ/
back, half-open > front, closed, long
closing diphthong
e.g.: boy, oil
65
/ɪə/
front, closed > central, long
centring diphthong
e.g.: here, dear
66
/eə/
front, half-open > central, long
centring diphthong
e.g.: there, air
67
Closing Diphthong
> end in /ɪ, ʊ/
68
Centring Diphthong
> end in /ə/
69
Lexical Morphemes
Carry an independent meaning
e.g.: {-er} {un-} {dog}
70
Grammatical Morphemes
Express grammatical relations
e.g.: {the} {-ed} {-s}
71
Free lexical Morpheme
- can stand alone
- content words
e.g.: {fair} {dog}
72
Bound lexical Morpheme
- bound to a word
- derivational morpheme
- indicates where it is bound (prefix or suffix)
e.g.: {un-} {-er} {-ly}
73
Free grammatical Morpheme
- function word
e.g.: {the} {but}
74
Bound grammatical Morpheme
- inflectional morpheme
e.g.: {-s} in dogs
75
Minimal Pair
Words that differ/are distinguished in just one sound in the same position
e.g.: /b,ɪ,t/ /hɪt/ differ in one phoneme
76
Plosive
Blocking the airstream completely, releasing air in a burst (explosive)
77
Fricative
Restricting the airstream at different places (friction)
78
Affricate
Moving from plosive to fricative (explosion then friction)
79
Nasal
Airstream is not moving out of your mouth but out of your nose
80
Lateral
Airstream passes trough the sides of your tongue
81
Approximant
Least consonant like sounds, approximating vowels
82
Final Obstruent Devoicing/Auslautverhärtung
- Obstruent = collective term for plosives, fricatives and affricates
- in English: Syllable-final obstruents constitute minimal pairs
> it can help to lengthen the preceding vowel when pronouncing the word
