Phonetics

Question 1

phonetics

Answer 1

The study of linguistic speech sounds, how they are produced (articulatory phonetics), how they are perceived (auditory or perceptual phonetics), and their physical aspects (acoustic phonetics).

Question 2

segment

Answer 2

(1) An individual sound that occurs in a language; (2) the act of dividing utterances into sounds, morphemes, words, and phrases.

Question 3

acoustic phonetics

Answer 3

The study of the physical characteristics of speech sounds.

Question 4

auditory phonetics

Answer 4

The study of the perception of speech sounds.

Question 5

articulatory phonetics

Answer 5

The study of how the vocal tract produces speech sounds; the physiological characteristics of speech sounds.

Question 6

orthography

Answer 6

The written form of a language; spelling.

Question 7

phonetic alphabet

Answer 7

Alphabetic symbols used to represent the phonetic segments of speech in which there is a one-to-one relationship between each symbol and each speech sound.

Question 8

glottis

Answer 8

The vocal cords themselves and/or the opening between the vocal cords.

Question 9

larynx

Answer 9

The structure of muscles and cartilage in the throat that contains the vocal cords and glottis; often called the “voice box.”

Question 10

pharynx

Answer 10

The tube or cavity in the vocal tract above the glottis through which the air passes during speech production.

Question 11

nasal cavity

Answer 11

The passageways between the throat and the nose through which air passes during speech if the velum is open (lowered). See oral cavity.

Question 12

oral sound

Answer 12

A non-nasal speech sound produced by raising the velum to close the nasal passage so that air can escape only through the mouth. See nasal sound.

Question 13

oral cavity

Answer 13

The mouth area through which air passes during the production of speech. See nasal cavity.

Question 14

vocal tract

Answer 14

The oral and nasal cavities, together with the vocal cords, glottis, and pharynx, all of which may be involved in the production of speech sounds.

Question 15

place of articulation

Answer 15

The part of the vocal tract at which constriction occurs during the production of consonants. See manner of articulation.

Question 16

bilabials

Answer 16

A sound articulated by bringing both lips together.

Question 17

labiodentals

Answer 17

A sound produced by touching the bottom lip to the upper teeth, e.g., [v].

Question 18

interdentals

Answer 18

A sound produced by inserting the tip of the tongue between the upper and lower teeth, e.g., the initial sounds of thought and those.

Question 19

alveolars

Answer 19

A sound produced by raising the tongue to the alveolar ridge, e.g., [s], [t], [n].

Question 20

alveolar ridge

Answer 20

The part of the hard palate directly behind the upper front teeth.

Question 21

palatals

Answer 21

A sound produced by raising the front part of the tongue to the palate.

Question 22

velars

Answer 22

A sound produced by raising the back of the tongue to the soft palate, or velum

Question 23

uvulars

Answer 23

A sound produced by raising the back of the tongue to the uvula.

Question 24

glottal/ glottal stop

Answer 24

A speech sound produced with constriction at the glottis; when the air is stopped completely at the glottis by tightly closed vocal cords, a glottal stop is produced.

Question 25

velum

Answer 25

The soft palate; the part of the roof of the mouth behind the hard palate.

Question 26

lateral

Answer 26

A sound produced with air flowing past one or both sides of the tongue, e.g., [l].

Question 27

manner of articulation

Answer 27

The way the air stream is obstructed as it travels through the vocal tract. Stop, nasal, affricate, and fricative are some manners of articulation. See place of articulation.

Question 28

voiceless

Answer 28

A speech sound produced with open, non-vibrating vocal cords.

Question 29

voiced

Answer 29

A speech sound produced with vibrating vocal cords.

Question 30

aspirated

Answer 30

Describes a voiceless stop produced with a puff of air that results when the vocal cords remain open for a brief period after the release of the stop, e.g., the [pʰ] in pit. See unaspirated.

Question 31

unaspirated

Answer 31

Phonetically voiceless stops in which the vocal cords begin vibrating immediately upon release of the closure, e.g., [p] in spot. See aspirated.

Question 32

nasal sounds

Answer 32

Speech sound produced with an open nasal passage (lowered velum), permitting air to pass through the nose as well as the mouth, e.g., /m/. See oral sound.

Question 33

phonetic features

Answer 33

Phonetic properties of phonemes that account for their ability to contrast meanings of words, e.g., voice, tense. Also called distinctive features.

Question 34

continuants

Answer 34

A speech sound in which the air stream flows continually through the mouth; all speech sounds except stops and affricates.

Question 35

affricates

Answer 35

A sound produced by a stop closure followed immediately by a slow release characteristic of a fricative; phonetically a sequence of stop 1 fricative, e.g., the ch in chip, which is [tʃ] and like [t] 1 [ʃ].

Question 36

liquids

Answer 36

A class of consonants including /l/ and /r/ and their variants that share vowel-like acoustic properties and may function as syllabic nuclei.

Question 37

glides

Answer 37

A speech sound produced with little or no obstruction of the air stream that is
always preceded or followed by a vowel, e.g., [w] in we, [j] in you.

Question 38

labio-velar

Answer 38

A sound articulated by simultaneously raising the back of the tongue toward the velum and rounding the lips. The [w] of English is a labio-velar glide.

Question 39

approximants

Answer 39

Sounds in which the articulators have a near frictional closeness, but no actual friction occurs, e.g., [w], [j], [r], and [l] in English, where the first three are central approximants, and [l] is a lateral approximant.

Question 40

trill

Answer 40

A speech sound in which part of the tongue vibrates against part of the roof of the mouth, e.g., the /r/ in Spanish perro (“dog”) is articulated by vibrating the tongue tip behind the alveolar ridge; the /r/ in French rouge (“red”) may be articulated by vibrations at the uvula.

Question 41

flap

Answer 41

A speech sound in which the tongue touches the alveolar ridge and withdraws. It is often an allophone of /t/ and /d/ in words such as writer and rider. Also called tap.

Question 42

click

Answer 42

A speech sound produced by sucking air into the mouth and forcing it between articulators to produce a sharp sound, e.g., the sound often spelled tsk.

Question 43

stop

Answer 43

[-continuant] sounds in which the airflow is briefly but completely stopped in the oral cavity, e.g., [p,n,g].

Question 44

diphthong

Answer 44

A sequence of two vowels run together as a single phonological unit, e.g., [aɪ, aʊ, ɔɪ] as in bite, bout, boy. See monophthong.

Question 45

monophthong

Answer 45

Simple vowel, e.g., [ɛ] in [bɛd].

Question 46

noncontinutants

Answer 46

A sound in which air is blocked momentarily in the oral cavity as it passes through the vocal tract. See stops, affricate.

Question 47

obstruents

Answer 47

The class of sounds consisting of non-nasal stops, fricatives, and affricates. See sonorants.

Question 48

sonorants

Answer 48

The class of sounds that includes vowels, glides, liquids, and nasals; non-obstruents.See obstruents.

Question 49

consonantal

Answer 49

The phonetic feature that distinguishes the class of obstruents, liquids, and nasals, which are [+consonantal], from other sounds (vowels and glides), which are [-consonantal].

Question 50

Labials

Answer 50

A sound articulated at the lips, e.g., [b], [f].

Question 51

Coronals

Answer 51

The class of consonants articulated by raising the tip or blade of the tongue, including alveolars and palatals, e.g., [t], [ʃ].

Question 52

Anteriors

Answer 52

A phonetic feature of consonants whose place of articulation is in front of the palato-alveolar area, including labials, interdentals, and alveolars.

Question 53

syllabic

Answer 53

A phonetic feature of those sounds that may constitute the nucleus of syllables; all vowels are syllabic, and liquids and nasals may be syllabic in such words as towel, button, bottom.