Phonetics and Phonology

Question 1

What is linguistics?

Answer 1

the scientific study of language and its structure, including the study of morphology, syntax, phonetics, and semantics. Specific branches of linguistics include sociolinguistics, dialectology, psycholinguistics, computational linguistics, historical-comparative linguistics, and applied linguistics.

Question 2

What is explicit or conscious knowledge? What is tacit or unconscious knowledge?

Answer 2

Knowledge that linguists have about languages (other than their native language) is what we might call explicit or conscious knowledge. By contrast, the knowledge that a native speaker has is tacit or unconscious knowledge.

Question 3

What is meant by speakers “competence” or speakers “performance”?

Answer 3

Competence is a speaker’s subconscious, intuitive knowledge of the rules of their language. While performance is an individual’s use of a language, i.e., what a speaker actually says, including hesitations, false starts, and errors

Question 4

What is Phonology?

Answer 4

The branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds (including or excluding phonetics), especially in a particular language.
• the system of relationships among the speech sounds that constitute the fundamental components of a language.

Question 5

What is Phonetics?

Answer 5

The study and classification of speech sounds, their physical properties of sounds, their articulation, and their audition.

Question 6

What are three major branches of phonetics?

Answer 6

(a) acoustic phonetics
(b) articulatory phonetics
(c) auditory (or perceptual) phonetics

Question 7

What is articulatory phonetics?

Answer 7

The study of the production of speech sounds.

Question 8

What is acoustic phonetics?

Answer 8

The study of the physical sounds produced in speech.

Question 9

What is auditory (or perceptual) phonetics?

Answer 9

The branch of phonetics concerned with perceptions of speech sounds.

Question 10

What is the pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism?

Answer 10

The process in which a flow is initiated by a change in the volume of the lungs. Most normal speech is produced by such air stream, specifically by a pulmonic egressive air stream, in which air flows outwards as the volume of the lungs is reduced.

Question 11

What is the alveolar /alveolar ridge? What is an example of alveolar consonant?

Answer 11

Articulated with the tip or blade of the tongue against or approximated to the ridge behind the upper teeth. The ridge is called the alveolar ridge from the “alveoli” or socket for the teeth contained in it. (of a consonant) pronounced with the tip of the tongue on or near this ridge (e.g., n, s, t).

Question 12

What is a stop, and what are examples?

Answer 12

A consonant produced with complete closure of the vocal tract / temporarily. Example [p] and [t] in pit.

Question 13

What are manners of articulation?

Answer 13

The various ways of constricting the airflow (e.g., stopping it completely) are referred to as manners of articulation

Question 14

What is meant by the term places of articulation?

Answer 14

The position of the mouth by which a consonant is classified, defined by the point of maximal contact or near contact between an active and a passive articulator.

Question 15

What is the labial, and what are some examples?

Answer 15

If the primary point of constriction for a consonant is at the lips (as for [p]), it is called a labial. (of a consonant) requiring complete or partial closure of the lips (e.g., p, b, f, v, m, w), or (of a vowel) requiring rounded lips (e.g., oo in m oon).

Question 16

What is dental, and what are some examples?

Answer 16

If the primary point of constriction is against the back of the teeth, the consonant is called dental.(of a consonant) pronounced with the tip of the tongue against the upper front teeth (as th) or the alveolar ridge (as n, d, t).

Question 17

What is velars, and what are some examples?

Answer 17

(of a speech sound) pronounced with the back of the tongue near the soft palate, as in k and g in English.

Question 18

Where is the uvular located? And what are uvular consonants?

Answer 18

A fleshy hanging structure in any organ of the body, particularly one at the opening of the bladder. (of a sound) articulated with the back of the tongue and the uvula, as r in French and q in Arabic.

Question 19

What is a glottal stop? And what is its IPA symbol?

Answer 19

A consonant formed by the audible release of the airstream after complete closure of the glottis. It is widespread in some nonstandard English accents, and in some other languages, such as Arabic, it is a standard consonant. Its IPA symbol is [ʔ].

Question 20

What is the glottis?

Answer 20

The part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords and the slitlike opening between them. It affects voice modulation through expansion or contraction.

Question 21

What is voicing?

Answer 21

The technical name for the sound produced by this rapid flapping of the vocal folds is voicing.

Question 22

What is voiced vs. voiceless? State the primary example of the difference.

Answer 22

Voiced sounds occur when the vocal cords vibrate when the sound is produced. There is no vocal cord vibration when producing voiceless sounds. During the production of a [b], by contrast, the vocal folds are pulled together, vibrating in the flow of air coming up from the lungs. [b] is therefore a voiced labial stop, while [p] is a voiceless labial stop.

Question 23

What is an example of a voiced alveolar and velar stops?

Answer 23

[d] as in is a voiced alveolar stop and [g] as in is a voiced velar stop. There is, of course, no voiced glottal stop.

Question 24

What is a Nasal speech sound?

Answer 24

Consonants produced with the velum open (i.e., lowered) are called. Pronounced by the voice resonating in the nose, e.g., m, n, ng. Nasals are classified as stops, since there is an oral occlusion at the normal stop positions.

Question 25

Give and example of a voiceless labial, a voiced labial and a nasal (voiced) labial, if any?

Answer 25

p voiceless labial
b voiced labial
m is a nasal

Question 26

Give and example of a voiceless alveolar, a voiced alveolar and a nasal (voiced) alveolar, if any?

Answer 26

t voiceless alveolar
d voiced alveolar
n nasal alveolar

Question 27

Give and example of a voiceless velar, a voiced velar and a nasal (voiced) velar if any?

Answer 27

k voiceless velar
g voiced velar
ŋ nasal velar

Question 28

Give and example of a voiceless glottal, a voiced glottal and a nasal (voiced) glottal if any?

Answer 28

ʔ voiceless glottal, there are no voiced or nasal glottal

Question 29

What are fricatives?

Answer 29

Denoting a type of consonant made by the friction of breath in a narrow opening, producing a turbulent air flow. e.g., f and th.

Question 30

What are affricate?

Answer 30

a phoneme that combines a plosive with an immediately following fricative or spirant sharing the same place of articulation, e.g., ch as in chair and j as in jar.

Question 31

What is labiodental?

Answer 31

(of a sound) made with the lips and teeth, for example f and v.

Question 32

What is interdental?

Answer 32

(of a consonant) pronounced by placing the tip of the tongue between the teeth, such as the “th” sounds in the English words “thaw” and “though.”

Question 33

What are the three important parameters for vowel articulation?

Answer 33

1. height of the lower jaw (high ,mid ,low) 2.position of tongue (front ,central ,back)
2. lip rounding(rounded,unrounded)

Question 34

What is tense vs. lax?

Answer 34

Tense (of a speech sound, especially a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles stretched tight. While lax is (of a speech sound, especially a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles relaxed.

Question 35

What are diphthongs?

Answer 35

a sound formed by the combination of two vowels in a single syllable, in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves toward another (as in coin, loud, and side).

Question 36

What are phonemes and allophone?

Answer 36

Phonemes is any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat. While is 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.