Myths + Phonetics

Question 1

How do linguists distinguish between different languages?

Answer 1

Mutual intelligibility
- when speakers of two varieties can understand each other, they are considered dialects of the same language

Question 2

Modality

Answer 2

the medium that is used in communication

Question 3

Modality of spoken language vs signed language

Answer 3

spoken: oral-auditory
sign: visual-gestural

Question 4

Language family

Answer 4

languages grouped together because of an ancestral common language

Question 5

What is linguistics?

Answer 5

• scientific study of the unconscious knowledge that language users possess
• descriptive!

Question 6

what are some myths / misconceptions about languages?

Answer 6

1. it’s easy to tell what is considered a language
2. Sign languages were invented by hearing people based on spoken languages
3. linguistics is about telling people the “right” way to use language

Question 7

phonetics

Answer 7

study of language production and reception (modality)

• how we make / comprehend possible speech sounds

Question 8

syntax

Answer 8

how sentences are formed

Question 9

semantics

Answer 9

how meaning derives from words and sentences

Question 10

pragmatics

Answer 10

how meaning derives from contexts

Question 11

sociolinguistics

Answer 11

relationship between language and culture

Question 12

historical linguistics

Answer 12

how languages change over time

Question 13

articulatory vs practical phonetics

Answer 13

articulatory: how language is produced
practical: how to produce, perceive and transcribe

Question 14

speech sounds

Answer 14

sounds used in human language
- different from inhaling or hiccuping

Question 15

How is sound produced?

Answer 15

1. air supply
2. sound source
3. filters / resonance chambers

Question 16

Air supply

Answer 16

lungs

Question 17

Sound source

Answer 17

vocal folds

Question 18

types of voicing and position of vocal folds

Answer 18

1. voiceless
   - vocal folds spread apart
   - no vibration, air pass freely
2. voiced
   - drawn together but not tightly
   - vibration
3. stops
   - tightly closed
   - no air passes
   - ex/ glottal stop

Question 19

Filters / resonance chambers

Answer 19

pharynx
oral and nasal cavity

Question 20

Pulmonic

Answer 20

using the lungs
- egressive and ingressive

Question 21

pulmonic egressive

Answer 21

pushing air out
- most sounds in languages

Question 22

pulmonic ingressive

Answer 22

inhale
- exist, but usually for social meaning
ex/ gasp

Question 23

glottalic

Answer 23

moving the closed glottis up or down

egressive: ejectives
ingressive: implosives

Question 24

What are some airstream mechanisms?

Answer 24

• pulmonic
• glottalic
• velaric

Question 25

velaric

Answer 25

creating suction with back of tongue

ingressive: clicks

Question 26

What are the parameters for consonants?

Answer 26

voicing
place
manner

Question 27

Nasal vs oral sounds

Answer 27

nasal: lowered velum
oral: raised velum

air passes only through one or the other

Question 28

Stops

Answer 28

refers to both plosives and nasals

• produced with complete closure then suddenly open passage

Question 29

fricatives

Answer 29

produced with narrowing in mouth but air passes continuously

Question 30

affricates

Answer 30

plosives + fricatives

complete closure then a passage is opened slowly

Question 31

vowels

Answer 31

produced with no obstacles in mouth, free air flow

acoustically powerful

Question 32

How do we describe vowels

Answer 32

height
backness
roundness

Question 33

tenseness

Answer 33

tense
- advanced tongue root
- ex/ beat
- usually high vowels

lax
- retracted tongue root
- ex/ bit
- usually low vowels

Question 34

dipthongs

Answer 34

single vowel that involves two places of articulation

Question 35

articulators of sign language

Answer 35

manual
- arms, hands, fingers

non-manual
- torso, head, face

Question 36

Sign language parameters

Answer 36

1. handshape
2. orientation
3. location
4. movement

Question 37

handshape

Answer 37

knuckles and finger configuration
ex/ fingers extended

Question 38

orientation

Answer 38

direction the palm of hand is facing
ex/ towards chest

Question 39

location

Answer 39

place of articulation
ex/ shoulders

Question 40

movement

Answer 40

how the manual articulators move
ex/ upwards