Midterm 1 Key Terms Flashcards
Linguistics
The scientific study of the nature and use of language
Grammatical
A term used to describe a sentence that is in accordance with the descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules
Ungrammatical
Not in accordance with the descriptive grammatical rules of some language, especially syntactic rules
Competence
What we know when we know a language; the unconscious knowledge that a speaker had about his/her native language
Performance
The observable use of language
Grammar
A system of linguistic elements and rules
Descriptive Grammar
Objective description of a speakers or a group of speakers knowledge of a language based on their use of the language
Prescriptive Grammar
A set of rules designed to give instructions regarding the socially embedded notion of the “correct” or “proper” way to speak or write
Phonetics
The study of the minimal units of language (ex-the sounds of spoken language)
Linguistic Context
The linguistic environment in which an utterance is uttered; specifically the discourse that has immediately preceded the utterance in question
Co-articulation
The adjustment of articulation of a segment due to the influence of a neighbouring sound
IPA
Stands for International Phonetic Alphabet
- transcript all human speech sounds unambiguously
- provides exact one to one mapping between speech sounds
Articulation
The motion or positioning of some part of the vocal tract. (Often but not always a muscular part such as the tongue or lips) with respect to some other surface of the vocal tract on the product of speech sound
Consonant
Speech sound produced with a construction somewhere in the vocal tract that impedes airflow
Diacritic
Extra mark in written symbol, meaning some other character of its pronunciation or a vowel
Three part articulatory descriptions of consonants
1) voicing
- is the sound voiced or voiceless
2) place of articulation
- where the airstream is constricted
3) Manner of articulation
- how is the airstream constricted
must be listed in this order
Bilabial
Place of articulation
- sound produced by bringing both lips together
[p] [b] [m] [w] [wo]
Labiodental
Place of articulation
- sound produced by making contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth
[f] [v]
Interdental
Place of articulation
- sound produced by positioning the top of the tongue between the upper and lower teeth
[θ] [ð]
Alveolar
Sound produced by raising the front of the tongue towards the upper alveolar ridge
[t] [d] [s] [z] [n] [I] [ɹ]
Post Alveolar
Place of articulation
Sound produced by raising the tongue towards the front part of the hard palate, just behind the alveolar ridge
[tʃ] [ʃ] [ʒ] [dʒ]
Palatial
Place of articulation
- sound made by raising the body of the tongue toward the hard part of the roof of the mouth
[j]
Velar
Place of articulation
- sound produced by raising the back of the tongue toward the velum
[k] [g] [ɳ]
Glottal
Place of articulation
- sounds produced at the larynx
[h] [ʔ]
Stops
Manner of articulation
- sound produced by completely obstructing the airstream in the oral cavity and then quickly releasing the constriction to allow the air to escape
[p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g] [ʔ]
Fricatives
Manner of articulation
- sound made by forming a nearly complete obstruction of the airstream so that when air passes through the small passage, turbulent airflow (ie friction) is produced
[f] [v] [θ] [ð] [s] [z] [ʃ] [ʒ] [h]
Affricates
Manner of articulation
- sound produced by complete obstruction of the airflow followed by a straight release of the obstruction, allowing friction. (can be thought of as a combination of a stop and a fricative)
[tʃ] [dʒ]
Nasal
Manner of articulation
- sound produced by making a complete obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity and lowering the velum to allow air to pass through the nasal cavity
[m] [n] [ɳ]
Liquids
Manner of articulation
- sound produced with slightly more construction than a glide and in which the quality changes depending on where it occurs in a word
lateral liquid [I]
retreoflec liquid [ɹ]
Glides
Manner of articulation
- sound produced with only a slight closure of the articulators and that requires some movement (or gliding) of the articulators during production
[w] [j] [w] - with o under
Flap
Maner of articulation
- sound produced by bringing two articulations together very quickly
[r]
vowel articulation
a speech sound produced with at most only a slight narrowing somewhere in the vocal tract, allowing air to flow freely through the oral cavity
Syllable
a unit of speech made up of an unset and rhyme
Syllabic Consonant
a consonant that is the nucleus of a syllable and takes on the function of the vowel in that syllable
Monophthong
a simple vowel, composed of a single configuration of the vocal orgins
Dipthongs
a complex vowel, composed of a sequence of two different configurations of the vocal organs
Tense
vowel sound that has a more peripheral position in the vowel space
lax
vowel sound that has a less peripheral position in the vowel space
Nasalized
vowel produced while lowering the velum to allow air to pass through the nasal cavity
Segmental Feature
a phonetic character of speech sounds, such as voicing, place of articulation, rounding, etc
Suprasegmental feature
a phonetic characteristic of s[eech sounds such as length, intonation, tone, or stress that “rides on top of” segmental features. Must usually be identified by comparison of the same feature on other sounds or strings of sounds
- stress, length, tone, intonation
Stress
a property of syllables; stressed syllable is more prominent than an unstressed one, due to having greater loudness, longer duration, different pitch or full vowels
suprasegmental feature
length
the duration of a segment
suprasegmental feature
tone
pitch at which the syllable of a word is pronounced; can make difference in meaning
suprasegmental feature
Intonation
commonly refers to the pattern of pitch movements across a stretch of speech such as a sentence. The meaning of a sentence can depend in part on the intonation contour of the sentence
Suprasegmental feature
Four-Part articulatory descriptions of vowels
(1) tongue height (high, mid, low)
(2) tongue advancement (front, central, back, front)
(3) Lip rounding (rounded, unrounded)
(4) tenseness (tense, lax)
Aspiration
a puff of air that follows the release of a consonant when there is a delay in the onset of voicing
symbolized by a superscript <h></h>
Allophone
one of a set of noncontrastive relizations of the same phoneme; an actual phonetic segment
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
Contrastive
a term used to describe two sounds that can be used to differentiate words in a language
replacing one sounds in the words changes the words meaning
Noncontrastive
a term used to describe two sounds that are not used to differentiate words in a language
interchanging the 2 sounds does not result in a change in the meaning of the word
Phone
a speech sound, Phones are written in square brackets
ex - [t]
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
ex - /p/
Minimal Pair
Two words that differ only by a single sound in the same position and that have different meanings
Contrastive distribution
the occurrence of sounds in a language such that their use distinguishes between the meaning of the words in which they appear, indicating that those sounds are phonemes of the language in question.
Sounds that are in contrastive distribution are allophones of the same phonemes
phonetic environment
the sounds that come before and after a particular sound in a word
Phonological Rule
the description of a relationship between a phoneme and its 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 sound that cause it to undergo a change
Natural Class
group of sounds in a language that satisfy a given description to the exclusion of other sounds in that language
Sibilant
a member of the natural class of sounds that are characterized by a high-pitched hissing quality
[s,z,ʃ, ʒ, tʃ, dʒ]
labial
a member of the natural class of sounds produced with the lips; includes both bilabial and labiodental sounds
[p,b,f,v,m,w,w]
Obstruenet
a natural class of sounds produced with obstruction of airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off. Includes oral stops, fricatives, and affricates
[p,b,t,d,k,g,ʔ, f,v, θ, ð, s,z,ʃ, ʒ, h, tʃ, dʒ]
Sonorant
Sound (usually voiced) is produced with a relatively open passage of airflow. Nasals, Liquids, glides, and vowels are all sonorants
Obstruenet
a natural class of sounds produced with obstruction of airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off. Includes oral stops, fricatives, and affricates
[p,b,t,d,k,g,ʔ, f,v, θ, ð, s,z,ʃ, ʒ, h, tʃ, dʒ]
Contrastive Distribution
the occurrence of sounds in a language such that their use distinguishes between the meanings of the words in which they appear, indicating that those sounds are phonemes of the language in question. Sounds that are in contrastive distribution are allophones of different phonemes
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
Minimal pair
a pair of words whose pronunciation differs by exactly one sound (ie one phone) and that have a different meanings
The components of a phonological rule
(1) the sound affected by the rule
(2) the environment where the rule applies
(3) the result of the rule
