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glossary terms Flashcards

1
Q

affricate

A

a stop followed by a fricative

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2
Q

airstream

A

the flow of air through the vocal tract

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3
Q

alveolar

A

articulated in the region behind the upper front teeth

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4
Q

approximant

A

a sound in which the vocal tract is only slightly narrowed

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5
Q

articulation

A

a gesture of the vocal organs

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6
Q

aspirated

A

having a period of voicelessness after the release of a closure

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7
Q

assimilation

A

the change of one sound into another, due to the influence of a neighboring sound

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8
Q

back (of the tongue)

A

the part of the tongue blow the soft palate (velum)

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9
Q

bilabial

A

an articulation with the two lips coming together

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10
Q

blade (of the tongue)

A

the part of the tongue below the alveolar region

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11
Q

bottom up processing

A

interpreting speech sounds primarily by attention to the acoustic input

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12
Q

breathy voice

A

a voice quality produced when the vocal folds are held together loosely, allowing a greater than usual airflow

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13
Q

categorial perception

A

hearing sounds in distinct categories, so that when one sound is change by equal steps into another, some of the steps are readily perceived as different and others are hard to tell apart

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14
Q

central

A

a term with two meanings: 1)made with the center of the tongue (the section below the highest part of the roof of the mouth) 2) made with an articulation in the midline of the vocal tract, allowing air to escape over the sides of the tongue so that the articulation is central (not lateral)

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15
Q

confusion matrix

A

a table showing how sounds are confused with one another

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16
Q

consonant

A

a speech sound produced with a partial or complete obstruction of the vocal tract

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17
Q

creaky voice

A

a voice quality produced when the vocal folds are held together so that only a part of their length is moving. Such vibrations allow a comparatively small airflow.

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18
Q

dental

A

an articulation with the tip of the tongue near the upper front teeth.

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19
Q

diphone synthesis

A

synthesizing speech by joining together prerecorded pieces going from the middle of one speech sound to the middle of another

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20
Q

diphthong

A

a vowel sound forming the center of a single syllable, but including a change from one vowel quality to another.

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21
Q

ejective

A

a sound (usually a stop) produced by releasing a closure after holding the vocal folds together and moving them upward so as to compress the air in the vocal tract

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22
Q

epiglottis

A

the flap of cartilage at the root of the tongue that can be lowered so as to help direct food into the esophagus

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23
Q

formant

A

a resonating frequency of the air in the vocal tract. The articulation of a particular sounds will cause a group of overtones to resonate in a way that is characteristic of that sound. Each of these overtones/formants is represented on a sound spectrogram as a dark, horizontal band of energy.

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24
Q

frequency

A

the rate at which part of a sound wave is repeated. Frequency is measured in Hertz (Hz) indicating the number of repetitions that occur in a second.

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25
fricative
a rather noisy sound made by air being pushed through a narrow constriction in the vocal tract.
26
fundamental frequency
the rate of repetition of the longest piece of a sound wave that's repeated. This corresponds in general to the perceived pitch of the sound
27
gestural economy
the tendency of languages to use the same gestures in many different sounds. For example, languages that use movements of the tongue to produce t often use the same movements to produce d and n as well
28
gesture (of the vocal organs)
a controlled movement of the vocal organs that will make a particular sound.
29
glottal stop
complete closure of the vocal folds
30
glottis
the space between the vocal folds. This is considered to be the boundary between the lungs and the vocal tract
31
hard palate
the part of the roof of the mouth with a bony structure
32
homographs
words that are spelled the same (like wind noun and wind verb) but have different meanings and often different pronunciations
33
homophones
words that sound the same (like mail and male) but have different meanings
34
implosive
a stop in which the vocal folds move downward, thus expanding the vocal tract and decreasing the pressure of the air in it.
35
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
and internationally recognized set of symbols for designating the phonetic characteristics of (theoretically) all the distinct sounds in the world's languages.
36
intonation
the pattern of pitch changes in a group of words that may affect the meaning of the whole
37
labiodental
an articulation with the lower lip near the upper lip
38
labiovelar
an articulation with the two lips approaching one another and the back of the tongue raised towards the soft palate
39
larynx
a structure within the neck made up of cartilages, the front of which can be discerned as the Adam's apple. Stretched between the components of the larynx are the vocal folds.
40
later
an articulation in which there is an obstruction in the midline but in which one or both sides of the tongue do not make a complete closure, as in an l sound (L)
41
monophthong
a vowel sound, in the course of which there is no appreciable change in phonetic quality. An example of such a steady-state vowel is the [ɑ] in father
42
nasal
a sound in which the air in the vocal tract is prevented from going out of the mouth, but is allowed to escape through the nose.
43
nasalized
a sound in which part of the air in the vocal tract escapes through the nose and part of the mouth.
44
oral
a sound produced with the velum raised, so as to prevent air in the vocal tract from escaping through the nose.
45
overtones
regular variations of air pressure at a higher rate than the fundamental rate of repetition of a sound wave
46
palatal
an articulation in the region near the highest part of the upper surface of the mouth, where this surface is hard, with a bony structure.
47
palatoalveolar
an articulation with the blade of the tongue near the forward part of the hard palate just behind the alveolar ridge
48
parametric synthesis
synthesizing speech by stating the values of components (parameters) such as the formant frequencies at each moment in time.
49
pharynx
the region of the mouth near the root of the tongue
50
phoneme
loosely speaking, a distinctive sound that can change the meaning of a word in a language. more precisely, a group of sounds that cannot, separately, distinguish words in a given language.
51
pitch
the auditory property of a sound, ranging from high to low, that corresponds in general to its fundamental frequency.
52
resonance
the way in which an object (eg the body of air in the vocal tract) will vibrate when it's been set in motion.
53
root (of the tongue)
the lowest part of the back of the tongue, immediately above the epiglottis.
54
soft palate (velum)
the part of the upper surface of the mouth where this surface is soft and movable. raising the soft palate blocks air from going out the nose.
55
spectrogram
a picture of a sound showing how the component frequencies change with time, and their relative loudness.
56
speech recognition
systems for turning the sounds of human speech into written text
57
stop
a sound in which the air in the vocal tract is completely blocked
58
spectrum
the component frequencies that make up a sound during a given (usually fairly short) interval of time.
59
stress
the use of a greater amount of respiratory energy (an, usually, increased tension of vocal folds) on a syllable
60
text-to-speech (TTS)
systems for turning written material (texts) into the sounds of synthesized speech
61
tip (of the tongue)
the most forward part of the tongue, in front of the blade.
62
tone
a particular pitch that affects the meaning of a word.
63
uvula
the small appendage that hangs down from the back of the soft palate
64
velar
an articulation in the region of the mouth corresponding to the under side of the soft palate
65
vocal folds
two small, multilayered folds of tissue, stretching from the front to near the back of the larynx
66
vocal tract
the air passage between the vocal folds and the lips.
67
voiced
made with the vocal folds vibrating
68
voiceless
made with the vocal folds not vibrating
69
VOT (voice onset time)
the interval between the release of a stop (eg the coming apart of the lips for [p]) and the start of vocal fold vibration
70
vowel
a sound at the center of a syllable in which there is no obstruction of the vocal tract
71
vowel quality
the timbre that distinguishes one vowel from another
72
waveform
the graphic representation of a (sound) wave, along axes of amplitude and time

phonetics (5 decks)

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