Phonetics and Phonology

Question 1

Preliminaries: Spelling vs. pronunciation

Answer 1

No one-to-one correspondence of sound and orthographic symbol (=letter) in Present Day English (One sound, many spellings / one spelling, many sounds)

Question 2

graphemes

Answer 2

letters in spelling, writing,… (presented in brackets)

Question 3

phonemes

Answer 3

used in transcription (presented in […] (phones) or in /…/ brackets)

Question 4

Phonetics

Answer 4

Study of the human sound system

Question 5

Acoustics

Answer 5

Study of sounds in general

Question 6

Phonology

Answer 6

study of the phonetic inventory and its possible combinations in certain dialects/language/sociolect/variety

Question 7

Subfields of Phonetics

Answer 7

Articulatory phonetics (investigates how speech sounds are produced, articulated; describes human sounds and how they are produced by the so called "articulators" )
Acoustic phonetics (describes physical properties of the speech sounds themself)
Auditory phonetics (investigates how speech sounds are perceived and heard)

Question 8

IPA

Answer 8

International Phonetic Alphabet; conventionalized way of writing sounds, based roughly on latin spelling system with some exceptions;
English has 24 consonants

Question 9

RP

Answer 9

Received Pronounciation; British Sound System, Oxford English, Eton English, BBC English, London Area, spoken by very few

Question 10

GA

Answer 10

General American; American Sound System, East Coast English, CNN English, Television English; Rhotic (= /r/ is always pronounced), t voicing (t > d), /a:/ > /æ/, /ᴐ/ > /ᴧ/

Question 11

Articulatory Phonetics: Speech System

Answer 11

lungs + larynx + vocal tract

Question 12

Articulatory Phonetics: Type of speech mechanism

Answer 12

Lungs = Eggressive pulmonic air stream mechanism
Larynx = Vocal folds/glottis
Vocal tract = Air strream modifiers = “articulators” (active = movable, passive = non-movable)

Question 13

Articulatory Phonetics: Difference between Vowels and Consonants

Answer 13

Vowels = (almost) no obstruction to airflow
Consonants = obstruction of airflow

Question 14

Articulatory Phonetics: Difference between Voiced and Unvoiced Sounds

Answer 14

Voiced = Vocal folds are moving => vibrate
Unvoiced = Vocal folds are not moving/vibrating

Question 15

Articulatory Phonetics: Classification of Consonants

Answer 15

Voice (voiced/unvoiced?)
Place of Articulation (which articulators are used?)
Manner of Articulation (way of sound production)

Question 16

Articulatory Phonetics: Voiced/Unvoiced Consonants

Answer 16

Voiced and unvoiced consonants often come in pairs

Question 17

Articulatory Phonetics: Place of Articulation Overview (C)

Answer 17

Bilabial (both lips are used)
Labiodental (lips and teeth are used)
Dental (tongue and teeth are used)
Alveolar (tongue touches alveolar ridge)
Palato-Alveolar (mixture between alveolar and palatal)
Palatal (tongue is near the palate, hard place of mouth)
Velar (tongue is near the velum, soft place of mouth)
Glottal (using the glottis, open space between vocal folds)

Question 18

Articulatory Phonetics: Manner of Articulation Overview (C)

Answer 18

Approximants (Lateral approximants & semi-vowels / glides / central vowels)
Nasals
Affricates
Fricatives
Plosives/Stops

Question 19

Articulatory Phonetics: Classification of Vowels

Answer 19

Height of tongue (High/closed - Mid - Low/open)
Position of tongue in mouth (Front - Central - Back)
Position of lips (Rounded - Unrounded)
Length of Vowel (Long - Short)

Question 20

Articulatory Phonetics: Vowel Quadrangle

Answer 20

Depiction of the position of the tongue in mouth at a particular vowel.

Question 21

Articulatory Phonetics: Monophthongs

Answer 21

Also called “Simple Vowels”. Quality of sound remains mostly constant when pronouncing this kind of vowel

Question 22

Articulatory Phonetics: Diphthongs

Answer 22

Quality of sound changes from one vowel to another => position of tongue moves during pronounciation of the sound => in IPA = 2 symbols, but counts as one phoneme.
2 (/3) kinds of Diphthongs:
Closing Diphthongs (rising to i/u) (ou & au = only GA)
Centering Diphthongs (moving to schwa)

Question 23

Articulatory Phonetics: Lack of Dipthongs

Answer 23

Some languages have fewer diphthongs than RP, f.e. the Scottish language.