File 2 Phonetics

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

Study of the minimal units that make up language

Question 2

phone

Answer 2

A speech sound. Phones are written in square brackets.

Question 3

co-articulation

Answer 3

The adjustment of articulation of a segment due to the influence of a neighboring sound.

Question 4

segment

Answer 4

The individual units of the speech stream; segments can be further divided into consonants and vowels.

Question 5

suprasegmental

Answer 5

A phonetic characteristic of speech sounds, such as length, intonation, tone, or stress, that rides on top of segmental features. Must usually be identified by comparison to the same feature on other sounds or strings of sounds.

Question 6

nucleus

Answer 6

The core element of a syllable, carrying stress, length, and pitch. It usually consists of a vowel or a syllabic consonant.

Question 7

coda

Answer 7

In a syllable, any consonants that occur in the rhyme, after the nucleus.

Question 8

articulation

Answer 8

The motion or positioning of some part of the vocal tract with respect to some other surface of the vocal tract in production of a speech sound.

Question 9

subglottal system

Answer 9

The part of the respiratory system located below the larynx.

Question 10

spectogram

Answer 10

The three dimensional representation of a sound in which the vertical axis represents frequency, the horizontal axis represents time, and the darkness of shading represents amplitude.

Question 11

stop

Answer 11

Sound produced by completely obstructing the airstream in the oral cavity and then quickly releasing the constriction to allow the air to escape. Also called an oral stop when made with the velum raised so that no air escapes through the nose.

Question 12

fricative

Answer 12

Sound made by forming a nearly complete obstruction of the airstream so that when air passes through the small passage, turbulent airflow is produced.

Question 13

affricate

Answer 13

Sound produced by complete obstruction of the airflow followed by a slight release of the obstruction, allowing
frication. An affricate can be thought of as a combination of a stop and a fricative.

Question 14

nasal

Answer 14

Sound produced by making a complete obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity and lowering the velum to allow air to pass through the nasal cavity, unlike oral stops.

Question 15

approximant

Answer 15

Consonant sound produced by constriction of the vocal tract that is not narrow enough to block the vocal tract or cause turbulence; can be subdivided into liquids and glides.

Question 16

liquid

Answer 16

Sound produced with slightly more constriction than a glide, and in which the quality changes depending on where it occurs in a word.

Question 17

retroflex

Answer 17

Sound produced by curling the tip of the tongue back behind the alveolar ridge, usually to the top of the mouth.

Question 18

glide

Answer 18

Sound produced with only a slight closure of the articulators and that requires some movement of the articulators during production.

Question 19

harmonic

Answer 19

Overtone of the fundamental frequency of the vocal tract; multiple of the fundamental frequency.

Question 20

fundamental frequency

Answer 20

The rate at which the vocal folds vibrate during voicing. The frequency of repetition of a periodic wave. Closely related to pitch.