Language Structure Flashcards
Phonology
Listening and deciphering literal sounds in language
Phoneme
the smallest meaningful unit of sound
ex. In English, “bad” and “pad” mean different things so /b/ and /p/ are different phonemes
Phonotactics
rules within a language about what types of sounds can occur in a syllable
What are Fixed Articulators in terms of speech production?
things we cant move around to make sound
ex. teeth, alveolar ridge, and our hard palate
The sounds we use in language can be put into three main classes, which are:
- Vowels
- Consonants
- Glides
Vowel sounds are created based on four things in the mouth, they are:
- Tongue height
- Tongue Fronting
- Lip rounding
- Tongue Tension
Characteristics of Vowel sounds include:
- voiced with little to no obstruction in airflow
- can hold the sound for a long time (sonorant)
- Perceived to be louder and longer lasting (ACOUSTIC CHARACTERISTIC)
- SYLLABIC SOUND
Characteristics of consonant sounds include:
- can be voiced or voiceless
- Made with a narrow or complete obstruction of the vocal tract
- Based on three criteria: state of the glottis, place of articulation, and the manner of articulation)
What are three features of a constanant sound?
Hint: S, P,M
- State of the glottis (opening of the larynx)
- Place of Articulation
- Manner of Articulation
Characteristics of Glide sounds are:
(Semi-vowels or Semi-consonants)
- Sounds that have characteristics of both consonants and vowels
- Produced like vowels, but CANNOT the the “heart of the syllable”
Define Morphology
The study of word building/creation
What is a morpheme
the smallest meaning of function in a word, can be free or bound
What is an Allomorph
A varied form of a morpheme, that means the same thing
ex. in English, two determiners that refer to something “indefinitely” would be “an” and “en”
What does Derivation mean?
To build new words via affixation (adding prefixes, suffixes)
Compounding in linguistic terms means:
building new words by conjoining two existing words
