Phonetics and Phonology Flashcards
Phonetics
The objective study and description of human speech sounds e.g how they are produced, transmitted and received.
Phonology
The abstract study of how sounds function in a specific language to create meaning
Accent
The manner in which people speak and the way words are pronounced in different parts of the world
Dialect
A regional variety of a language distinguished by vocabulary, spelling, grammar and pronunciation.
Homograph
A word written the same way as another word but having a different meaning. Can also have the same spelling but different sound.
‘Read’ can rhyme with ‘head, bed’ or ‘feed seed’.
‘Bow’ can rhyme with ‘now, cow’ or, ‘no low’.
‘Tear’ can rhyme with ‘fear here’ or ‘fare, care’.
‘chael’ can be Michael or Rachael.
Homophone
A word that has the same sound but a different meaning as another word. Can also have different spelling but sound the same
Blue and blew
Rain and reign
Meet and meat
To, two and too
Where and wear
Pore, pour, paw and poor
Places of Articulation
Bilabial, Labiodental, Dental/Alveolar/Postalveolar, Palatal, Velar, Uvular, Glottal
Manners of Articulation
Plosive/Stops, Nasals, Trills, Taps, Fricatives, Affricate, Approximants
Voiced
Referring to consonants, such as b, d, and v, that cause vibration of the vocal folds when sounded
Voiceless
Referring to consonants, such as p, t, and f, that do not cause vibration of the vocal folds when sounded
Vowel
No obstruction in the vocal tract when pronouncing them
Consonant
Obstruction in the vocal tract when pronouncing them
Diphthong
The sound produced by combining two vowels in to a single syllable or running together the sounds.
Speech
Defined as modified breathing. Air flows through the lungs, through the vocal tract, and out of the mouth and nose. It is modified along the way by articulators
Orthography
Study of letters and how they form words
Minimal Pair
Two words that differ only by a single sound in the same position which creates differed meaning e.g bit/pit bit/bin
Active Articulator
The part of the vocal tract which moves in order to form a constriction such as the tongue.
Passive Articulator
Structures that do not or cannot move during production of speech sounds (upper lip, front teeth, hard palate, velum)
Bilabial Stop
A sound which stops at your lips e.g P (voiceless), B (voiced)
Alveolar Stop
Made when the tongue comes into contact with the alveolar ridge e.g T (voiceless) D (voiced)
Velar Stop
Made when the back of tongue comes into contact with the soft palate e.g K (voiceless), G (voiced)
Labiodental
Produced with teeth and lips e.g /f/
Dental
When the top of the tongue touches the upper teeth e.g ‘th’
Postalveolar
Sound made with your tongue behind the alveolar ridge /sh/
Retroflex
Pronunciation with the tip of the tongue curled up towards the hard palate
Palatal
A consonant sound produced by raising the blade or front of the tongue towards or against the hard palate /j/
Uvular
Helps prevent food and liquid from going up your nose when you swallow. It also secretes saliva to keep your mouth hydrated
Glottal
Involves moving the vocal folds close together
Plosive
Stop sounds being produced by parting the articulators abruptly, releasing a burst of air e.g /p/ /b/ /t/ /d/ /k/ /g/.
Nasal
Produced by closing off the oral cavity with the velum and allowing the air to escape through the nasal cavity e.g /m/ /n (ng sound such as swimming)/
Trills
Produced by repeatedly striking an active articulator against the passive articulator e.g /r/
Traps
Produced by striking an active articulator against a passive articulator once.
Fricatives
Produced by releasing a steady stream of air and moving the articulators close together but not making a complete closure e.g /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/
Affricate
Begins as stops and end as fricatives. Produced by parting articulators more slowly, resulting in friction.
Approximants
Produced by maintaining enough of a gap between articulators that there is no audible friction as air is released.
Monophthong
A vowel sound which is produced by keeping the tongue and lips steady throughout e.g /æ/
/p/ sound
Pen, Copy, Happy
/b/ sound
Back, Bubble, Job
/t/ sound
Tea, Tight, Button
/d/ sound
Day, Ladder, Odd
/k/ sound
Cup, Kick, School
/g/ sound
Get, Giggle, Ghost
/tʃ/ sound
Church, Mature, Nature
/dʒ/ sound
Judge, Age, Soldier
/f/ sound
Fat, Coffee, Rough
/v/ sound
View, Heavy, Move
/θ/ sound
Thing, Author
/ð/ sound
This, Other, Smooth
/s/ sound
Soon, Cease, Sister
/z/ sound
Zero, Zone, Roses, Buzz
/ʃ/ sound
Ship, Sure, Station
/ʒ/ sound
Pleasure, Vision
/h/ sound
Hot, Whole, Behind
/m/ sound
More, Hammer, Sum
/n/ sound
Nice, Know, Funny
/ŋ/ sound
Ring, Long, Thanks
/l/ sound
Light, Valley, Feel
/r/ sound
Right, Sorry, Average
/j/ sounds
Yet, Use, Beauty
/i/ sound (short)
Kit, Bid, Hymn
/w/ sound
Wet, One, Queen
/e/ sound (short)
Dress, Bed
/æ/ sound (short)
Trap, Bad
/ɒ/ sound (short)
Lot, Odd, Wash
/ʌ/ sound (not part of northern english)
Strut, Bud, Love
/ʊ/ sound (short)
Foot, Good, Put
/iː/ sound (long)
Fleece, Sea, Machine
/eɪ/ sound (Diphthong)
Face, Day, Steak
/aɪ/ sound (Diphthong)
Price, High, Try
/ɔɪ/ sound (Diphthong)
Choice, Boy
/uː/ sound (long)
Goose, Two, Blue
/əʊ/ sound (Diphthong)
Goat, Show, No
/aʊ/ sound (Diphthong)
Mouth, Now
/ɪə/ sound (Diphthong)
Near, Here, Serious
/eə/ sound (Diphthong)
Square, Fair, Various
/ɑː/ sound (Long)
Start, Father
/ɔː/ sound (Long)
Thought, Law, North, War
/ʊə/ sound (Diphthong)
Cure, Poor, Jury
/ɜː/ sound (Long)
Nurse, Stir, Learn
/ə/ sound
About, Comma, Common, Father, Standard
Vowels (Diphthongs)
A diphthong, also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent (joining) vowel sounds within the same syllable
Essentially two vowel sounds blended together
Allophone
Any of the speech sounds that represent a single phoneme, such as the aspirated k in kit and the unaspirated k in skit, which are allophones of the phoneme k.
Phoneme
Smallest unit of sound in a language
Connected Speech
Continuous sequence of sounds or spoken language which occurs naturally within conversation
Phonemic Transcription
Visual representation of speech sound
Closing Diphthongs
When the tongue rises, minimising the gap between the tongue and the roof of the mouth e.g eɪ aɪ ɔɪ əʊ aʊ
Centring Diphthongs
When the tongue moves towards the central position and the central vowel ‘/ə/’
Fronting Diphthongs
Occurs when the tongue moves towards the close front vowel /ɪ/
Backing Diphthongs
Occurs when the tongue moves towards the close back vowel /ʊ/
Triphthong
Sequences which involve three vowels e.g: Layer –> /leɪə/
Complementary Distribution
A situation where two phonetic variants of a sound are each found in different contexts. Examples below:
/t/:
[t] - Occurs in the middle or at the end of an unstressed syllable e.g better
[tʰ] - Occurs initially in a stressed syllable e.g competition
Free Variation
Two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning. Example below:
[t] [ɾ] [ʔ] - Occurs in the middle or at the end of an unstressed syllable e.g better
Content Words
Nouns, Verbs, Adjectives, Adverbs
Function Words
Auxiliary Verbs, Pronouns, Prepositions, Conjunctions, Articles
Assimilation
One sound changes to become more like a neighbouring sound e.g
In Cambridge /ɪŋ keɪmbrɪdʒ/
In Birmingham /ɪm bɜːmɪŋəm/
Hit man /hɪp mæn/
Elision
The omission of a sound or syllable when speaking
Linking
Smooth transition between sounds in connected speech
more /mɔː/
more than /mɔː ðæn/
more and more /mɔːr ən mɔː/
Idiolect
Language use that is typical of a particular person
Syllable
A unit of pronunciation uttered without interruption, forming the whole part of a word and usually having one vowel sound often with a consonant or consonants before or after.
Syllable Structure
Syllable Structure
Onset, Rhyme, Nucleus, Coda
Onset
Beginning (Comes before a vowel)
Coda
End (Comes after a vowel)
Phonotactic constraints
There are certain pronunciations of consonant clusters which are not allowed in English. For example, ‘kn’ and ‘gd’ are not allowed in relation to pronunciation together in English.
Onset Maximisation
When there is a choice, always assign as many consonants as possible to the onset and as few as possible to the coda. However, remember that every word must also consist of a sequence of well-formed syllables
/wɪ.ndəʊ/ - INCORRECT
/wɪnd.əʊ/ - CORRECT
Stressed Syllable
Part of the word that is emphasised when said aloud
Unstressed Syllable
A syllable that is not accented or given more prominence in its pronunciation
Primary Stress
The most prominent stress of a word
Secondary Stress
The second most prominent stress in a word
Schwa
The vowel sound sometimes heard in an unstressed syllable. Sounds like ‘uh’. /ə/
Prosody
The patterns of rhythm and sound.
Intonation
The rise and fall of the voice in speaking.
Rising Intonation
Lower tone rising to a higher tone
Falling Intonation
Higher tone decreasing to a lower tone
Systemic Variation
A situation in which one accent possesses more or fewer phonemes than another accent
Distributional Variation
Two accents may have the same phoneme system but the environments in which a particular phoneme may occur differ. It is not restricted to a particular set of words but occurs ‘across the board’ as an integral part of the phonological system
Rhoticity
A term used to describe English dialects in which the /r/ following a vowel is pronounced. Also known as r-ful.
Non-Rhotic
A language variety in which sequences of vowel-/r/-consonant or vowel-/r/-word boundary are not permitted to occur
Lexical Variation
Vocabulary differences between dialects. The phoneme chosen for a word, or a specific set of words is different in one accent as compared with another. This can affect a very large group of words or a very small one.
Basilect
Sociolinguistic term which refers to the less prestigious variety of language. The term can be used to describe dialects of people speaking English as their mother-tongue, and may also be applied in communities where English is used as a second or third language
Salience
A linguistic term which describes linguistic features which are easily noticeable to outsiders e.g speakers who are not part of the linguistic community in question.
Stigmatisation
An accent which has low status and is subject to social disapproval -creole/pidgin
H Dropping
A common feature of non-standard English consisting of the “dropping” of the initial ‘h’ in words like ‘house’, ‘heat’ and ‘hangover’.
Realisational Variation
Two accents realize a given phoneme differently /əʊ/oʊ, l, t/. ex. “role”
Cockney Accent
Accent from the north east of London. H dropping (in the noun hole), Syllable-final stop consonants are glottalized, intervocalic /t/ replaced by glottal stop (e.g move it over), postvocalic /l/ is very dark (wall, terminal, usual), th fronting (said as t or f). L vocalization.
Bristol
Southwest of England. Rhotic accent, H dropping, Extensive Glottalisation, BATH word said with TRAP vowel. Innit instead of isn’t it (Lexical variation)
Midlands (Birmingham)
2nd largest city in the U. Non rhotic accent, Variable H dropping, No STRUT-FOOT, Diphthong shift in FACE and GOAT
North (Lancashire)
Second most widely variety spoken in England. Variable h dropping, Replacement of definite article ‘the’ by /t/ e.g t’oilet, Weak aspirations in consonants /p,t,k/, TRAP vowel used in BATH words
Geordie (Newcastle)
Close to Scottish accents, No h dropping, non-rhotic, Clear/l/, Older speakers realize /r/ as a uvular fricative, BATH words have TRAP vowel.
