IPA Phonetics

Question 1

English sound inventory

Answer 1

The pool of sounds which English speakers use to construct words of their language.

Question 2

Phonetics

Answer 2

A subdiscipline of linguistics that deals with muscle movements that make sound. How to describe the sounds, which languages use which sounds, how can we distinguish a criteria for sounds etc.

Question 3

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Answer 3

The most well-known and most standardised transcription system - the transcription system is what phoneticians have established to represent sounds exactly with symbols.

< > = letters [ ] = sounds

Question 4

Received Pronunciation (RP)

Answer 4

British English accent symbols

Question 5

General American

Answer 5

North American accent symbols

Question 6

Pulmonic agressive airstream mechanism

Answer 6

English sounds produced with air being pushed out from lungs, mouth, or nose.

Question 7

Sound

Answer 7

Air vibration

Question 8

Frequency

Answer 8

A greater number of vibrations AKA more cycles of variation in air pressure causes a higher frequency.

Higher frequencies = higher pitched sounds

Question 9

Vocal tract

Answer 9

The entire passage above the larynx where speech sounds are shaped.

*Dimensions of everyone’s vocal tracts are different & airstreams are modified accordingly.

Question 10

Active articulators

Answer 10

Articulators that move such as tongue, lips, and lower jaw.

*Where is the sound produced?

Question 11

Articulators

Answer 11

All parts of the vocal apparatus which are involved in speech production.

Question 12

Passive articulators

Answer 12

Articulators with a permanent positioning like upper teeth and hard palate.

Question 13

Articulation manner

Answer 13

HOW is a sound produced?

Question 14

Place of articulation

Answer 14

Linguists will use the “point of closest constriction” in the vocal tract as a criterion for description and classification of consonants.

Question 15

Bilabial sounds

Answer 15

Sounds like [b] which are characterized by a constriction at the lips.

Question 16

Alveolar ridge

Answer 16

The roof of your mouth, just behind your upper front teeth.

Question 17

Alveolar sounds

Answer 17

Sounds like [d] where the obstruction is at the alveolar ridge. (Tongue goes up and behind the upper teeth).

Question 18

Labio-dentals

Answer 18

Sounds that involve only the lower lip and upper teeth movement.

Question 19

Dental place of articulation

Answer 19

When the lips do not play a role at all in the production of sounds. These sounds are produced with the tongue.

AKA inter-dental

Question 20

Palato-Alveolar sounds

Answer 20

When the constriction is between the hard palate and the alveolar ridge.

Hard palate = roof of mouth.

Question 21

Palatal sound

Answer 21

When the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.

Question 22

Velar sound

Answer 22

An obstruction at the velum (AKA soft palate = back of the roof of the mouth)

Question 23

Glottal place

Answer 23

When airstream is obstructed at the glottis (in the middle of the larynx, at the voice box, behind an Adam’s apple)

Question 24

Stops

Answer 24

A complete stop of the airflow followed by a release.

Question 25

Plosives

Answer 25

Another form of a stop but with a burst of air at the moment of release.

Question 26

Fricatives

Answer 26

Leaving only a narrow passage through which air can escape and when the air passes through that narrow space, the result is an audible friction.

Question 27

Affricates

Answer 27

A stoppage of the air flow, followed by a prolonged release with only a narrow opening and therefore, audible friction.

Question 28

Approximants

Answer 28

Sounds in which the articulators approach each other but do not cause a strong constriction in the vocal tract.

There are 4 sounds in the English language like this.

Question 29

Nasals

Answer 29

The velum is lowered with an open passage from the oral to the nasal cavity so that the air can escape through the nose.

These sounds differ ONLY in their place of articulation.

Question 30

Voiceless

Answer 30

When the vocal cords are apart, and the air can pass relatively freely into the vocal tract, no vibration of the vocal cords is caused.

Question 31

Voiced

Answer 31

Sounds which are produced by vibration.

Vibration = cycles of opening and closing at the vocal folds/cords.

Question 32

What are the criterion used for articulatory properties (consonants)?

Answer 32

1. Voicing (is it voiced or voicelss?)
2. Place of articulation
3. Manner of articulation