Phonetics and Phonology Flashcards
Phonetics
The study of the characteristics of human sound production; the manner and places of articulation necessary to make vowels and consonants.
Example: Bilabial sounds like ‘p’ and ‘d’ are produced by the lips coming together (place of articulation).
Phonology
The study of sound systems in any one language; the distinctive sound patterns in a language.
Prosodic Features
The prosodic features of language are the features which are present among all cultures.
Example: Pitch, Intonation, Stress
Pitch
Pitch refers to the highness or lowness of the sound a speaker produces.
Example: Females generally speak with a higher pitch than males, and thus have a higher voice.
Stress
The emphasis of certain syllables or words in a text by annunciating them for a longer period of time.
Example: “Are you r-e-a-l-l-y?” where really has been pronounced longer than other words to add emphasis.
Intonation
The change in pitch when speaking a sentence. Can often characterise a sentence.
Example: An interrogative sentence will often end with higher intonation.
Volume
The level of loudness of a sound or speech.
Example: Whispering generally has a soft volume whereas yelling has a loud volume.
Tempo
The flow, rhythm and speed of a discourse.
Vocal Effects
Sounds which are articulated but are not considered as language.
Example: coughs or laughter
Connected Speech Process
Processes where speakers modify sounds which occur during utterances of one syllable or more in order to make speech easier to produce.
Examples: assimilation, vowel reduction, elision and insertion.
Assimilation
Assimilation is the influence of a sound on a neighboring sound so that the two become similar or the same.
Example: Handbag is often pronounced with the ‘d’ silent as our lips come together in preparation for the ‘b’ consonant. Thus the ‘ndb’ become similar.
Vowel Reduction
The articulation of a vowel with a weaker force.
Example: whistle, originally rhymed with style but now Americans rhyme it with whistle.
Elision
The omission of a syllable or vowel at the beginning or end of a word, esp when a word ending with a vowel is next to one beginning with a vowel.
Example: The word ice cream was originally iced cream. The “-ed” eroded over time.
Insertion
Making the pronounciation of a word easier by inserting extra phonemes.
Example: Latin “homre” became Spanish “hombre”, the “b” sound was inserted to make the word easier to pronounce.
Broad Accent
The accent which is stereotypically associated with how Australians sound like. Considered as the “bogan” and “Australian” way of speaking. The pronunciation of vowels is very long. Diphthongs are generally used.
Examples: The accent we here from Australians like Steve Irwin and Paul Hogan.
General Accent
The accent spoken by the majority of Australians. Vowels are neither very short nor very long. It is in the middle of the spectrum in terms of how vowels are sounded out.
Cultivated Accent
The accent similar sounding to the British accent. Vowels are made as short as possible at the other end of the spectrum
Alliteration
Repetition of the first sound in a series of words.
Example: She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
Assonance
The repetition of similar vowel sounds.
Example: “Try to light the fire”, the i sound is very similar and repeated.
Consonance
The repetition of similar consonant sounds.
Example: Litter and batter, where the “t” has a similar sound and is repeated.
Onomatopoeia
The use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
Examples: hiss, murmur, quack.
Rhythm
The sense of movement in speech marked by stress, timing and quantity of syllables.
Rhyme
Identity or close similarity of sound between accented syllables.
Example: The words “need” and “read” have similar syllables.
International Phonetic Alphabet
A Standard system of phonetic notation (based on the Latin alphabet) to represent the sounds of spoken language.
Example: the schwa /Ə/ is a symbol for the sound that occurs for the first vowel in the General Australian pronunciation of the word ‘police’, or the second vowel in the General Australian pronunciation of the word ‘burger’.
