Definizioni

Question 1

Phonemes

Answer 1

They are sounds which occur in English as represented by RP, they have meanings so if you change a single phoneme you get a different word (minimal pairs).

Question 2

Minimal pairs

Answer 2

Are words that differ by only one sound, it’s easy to identify when the sound is a consonant, it’s not easy when the sound is a vowel

Question 3

Grapheme

Answer 3

Is a letter or a number of letters that represent a sound in a word. It spells a sound in a word.
We can have a phoneme for more than a grapheme and viceversa

Question 4

Silent letters

Answer 4

Some letters may present no sound at all

Question 5

Phonetics

Answer 5

The study of characteristics of speech sound. It involves: how they are produced, how they are used in spoken language, how we hear and recognise them, how we can record them using written symbols

Question 6

Phonology

Answer 6

The study of speech sound in relation to meaning

Question 7

Phoneme inventory

Answer 7

The complete set of phonemes in a language or in a particular accent. They are represented by using a transcription, no letters, we use phonetic alphabet —> IPA, that’s used to transcribe sounds, not spelling.
Phonetic symbols are written in slant brackets, letters are written in angle brackets

Question 8

Articulatory phonetics

Answer 8

Deals with how we produce phoneme. We produce sounds in the vocal tract.
Flow of air= airstream
Air into lungs= ingressive airstream
Out of lungs= egressive airstream
Consonants= narrow, partial or complete closure
Vowels= no closure or contact between parts of the mouth

Question 9

Consonants

Answer 9

A speech sound which is produced through a temporary closure of the vocal tract. 24 consonants in the English RP, symbols: Roman alphabet, Greek or Anglo-Saxon orthography.
We distinguish them: place of articulation, manner of articulation, absence/essence of voice

Question 10

Place of articulation

Answer 10

The location in which two speech organs touch each other and produce a speech sound: lips, upper teeth, alveolar ridge, hard palate, soft palate, glottis

Question 11

Articulators

Answer 11

The part of the mouth involved in making speech sounds. Passive ones do not move, active ones do move

Question 12

Voicing

Answer 12

Vibration of the vocal cords in the articulation of a speech sound

Question 13

Vowels

Answer 13

There are 20 vowels in the English RP, mouth open and no friction. All voiced

Question 14

Classification of vowels

Answer 14

1. Distance between tongue-palate —> close, open
2. The part of the tongue that is raised: front, central, neutral, back —> back, front
3. The position and shape of lips —> rounded, neutral, unrounded

Question 15

Primary cardinal vowels

Answer 15

Abstract sounds; they are: i (close, front), e (half close, front), ɜ (half open, front), a (open, front), a: (open, back), ɔː (half open, back), o (half close, back), u (close, back)

Question 16

English vowels

Answer 16

They aren’t pronounced exactly in the same places as the primary vowels, we have monophthongs (a single vowel sound in which the position of articulators doesn’t move from one to another) and diphthongs (start from a sound and finish with another)

Question 17

Closing diphthongs

Answer 17

Reduce the distance between the tongue and the palate moving from the first sound to the second one