File 3-Phonology Flashcards
Phonology
the study of distribution of sounds in language and the interactions between those different sounds
Phonotactic Constraints
restriction on possible combinations of sounds, often in particular environments
Sound Substitution
process by which sounds that exist in a language a speaker knows are used to replace sounds that do not exist in that language when pronouncing words in a foreign language
Allophone
one set of noncontrastive realizations of the same phoneme
Phoneme
a class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound; a mental entity (or category) related to various allophones by phonological rules. Phonemes are written between slashes (/t/)
Noncontrastive
a term used to describe two sounds that are not used to differentiate words in a language
Contrastive
a term used to describe two sounds that can be used to differentiate words in a language
Distribution
a case in which two sounds occur in the same phonetic environment, and using one rather than the other changes the meaning of the word
Minimal Pair
a pair of words whose pronunciations differ by exactly one sound and that have different meanings
Alternation
a difference between two (or more) phonetic forms that you might otherwise expect to be related
Contrastive Distribution
a case in which two sounds occur in the same phonetic environment, and using one rather than the other changes the meaning of the word
Complementary Distribution
sounds that are considered to be allophones of the same phoneme
Free variation
term used to refer to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words
Overlapping Distribution
the occurrence of sounds in the same phonetic environments
Phonological Rules
the description of relationships between phonemes and their allophones and the conditioning environment in which the allophone appears
Underlying Form
the phonemic form of a word or morpheme before phonological rules are applied
Conditioning Environment
neighboring sounds of a given sounds that cause it to undergo a change
[Rules of} Assimilation
cause a sound (or gesture) to become more like a neighboring sound (or gesture) with respect to some phonetic property
Implicational law
presence of of the less common sound implies that the more common sound will also be used in the language
Environment
the sounds/contexts that immediately precede and follow a sound
Basic Allophone
the allophone of a phoneme that is used when non of the change-inducing conditions are fulfilled. Of a set of allophones, it is generally least limited in where it can occur; also termed the elsewhere allophone
Restricted Allophone
the allophone of a phoneme that appears in a more limited set of phonemic environments
Near-Minimal Pair
similar to minimal pairs, but whereas the words in a minimal pair are identical apart from the contrastive sounds, the words in a near-minimal pair are only almost identical, apart from the contrastive sounds
Palatalizaton
refers to a special type of assimilation in which consonant becomes like a neighboring palatal
