Phonetics Flashcards
What is phonetics?
study of sounds of a language (phones)
Segments
individual sounds
Inventory
Segments found in a language
Transcription
how speech sounds can be written
Articulatory Phonetics
how sounds are produced
Acoustic Phonetics
physical properties of sound waves produced in speech
Vowels
are pronounced with no major obstruction in the vocal tract (air can flow relatively freely through the mouth
Consonants
are produced with some constriction in the vocal tract (some obstruction in the flow of air through the mouth)
What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
a way to represent every possible phone in human language; every symbol = only one sound, every sound = only one symbol
Conventions in IPA
sounds are written between [ ], letters are written between ‘ ‘
Phonotactics
restrictions on how sounds can be combined together and on where they can occur
Allophones
sounds that are different but dont change meaning
-aspirated [p] vs unaspirated [p]
Phonemes
sounds that can produce a change in meaning
-written between slashes / /
Contrastive Phones
belong to to different phonemes
Phonetic Inventory
sound inventory of a language can include all of the phonemes and allophones of a language
Phonemic Inventory
the categories of sounds
Minimal pairs
differ in only one element and have distinct meanings
ex. pat vs bat
the sounds [p] and [b] belong to two different phonemes, /p/ and /b/
cop vs cap. kat vs cap
Free Variation
two sounds occur in the same environment but do not create a difference in meaning
-phones in free variation are allophones (non contrastive)
-free from phonological constraints, sociolinguistic constraints may still apply
Complementary Distribution
speech sounds in mutually exclusive environments (dont appear in the same env.), allophones
Contrastive Distribution
speech sounds occur in the same environment; change in sound produces a change in meaning; sounds belong to different phonemes
