File 3 - Phonology Flashcards
Phonology
The study of the sound system of a language, how the particular sounds contrast in each language to form an integrated system for encoding information, and how such systems differ from one language to another.
Phonotactic Constraints
Restriction on possible combinations of sounds, often in particular environments.
Sound Substitution
A process whereby sounds that already exist in language are used to replace sounds that do not exist in the language when borrowing or when a speaker is trying to pronounce a foreign word.
Allophone
One of a set of noncontrastive realizations of the same phoneme; an actual phonetic segment.
Phoneme
A class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound; a mental entity related to various allophones by phonological rules. Phonemes are written between slashes, for example, /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
The set of phonetic environments in which a sound occurs.
Contrastive Distribution
The occurrence of sounds in a language such that their use distinguishes between the meanings of the words in which they appear, indication that those sounds are phonemes of the language in question. Sounds that are in contrastive distribution are allophones of different phonemes.
Minimal Pair
Two words that differ only by a single sound in the same position and that have different meanings.
Alternation
In phonology, a difference between two or more phonetic forms that one might expect to be related. In morphology, the morphological process that uses morpheme-internal modifications to make new words or morphological distinctions.
Complementary Distribution
The occurrence of sounds in a language such that they are never found in the same phonetic environment. Sounds that are in complementary distribution are 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.
Phonological Rule
The description of a relationship between a phoneme and its allophones and the conditioning environment in the which the allophone appears.
Conditioning Environment
Neighboring sounds of a given sound that cause it to undergo a change.
Assimilation
A process by which a sound becomes more like a nearby sound in terms of some feature(s).
Palatalization
A process wherein a sound takes on a palatal place of articulation, usually in assimilation to high or mid front vowels like [i] or [e].
Vowel Harmony
Long-distance assimilation between vowels.
Metathesis
Switching of the order of two sounds, each taking the place of the other.
Aspiration
A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant when there is a delay in the onset of voicing.
Weakening
A process through which sounds are made “weaker” according to some criterion.
Implication Law
Observation about language universals that takes the form of an implication (e.g., if A then B, meaning that if a language has feature A, then we can expect it to have feature B).
Obstruent
A natural class of sounds produced with an obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off. Includes oral stops, fricatives, and affricates.
Basic Allophone
The allophone of a phoneme that is used when none 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
An allophone of a phoneme that appears in a more limited set of phonetic environments.
