Phonetics & Phonology Flashcards
What is Phonetics?
The study of sounds
> How are sounds used?
What is Phonology?
The study of sound systems
> How do sounds form a system in a Language?
What is a phonemic gap?
Particular sound doesn’t exist in the speakers mother tongue
e.g. /th/ in German
What is a phoneme?
Smallest meaning-bearing sound unit in the abstract representation of a language
What is a minimal pair?
Two words that are identical in form except for a difference in one phoneme
e.g. baD, baN / noD, noT
What’s assimilation?
making a sound segment more similar to the next one
e.g. “have to” > “hEFta”
What happens when we substitute phonemes?
Changes the meaning of a word if substituted
/t/ > /d/
/p/ > /b/
What’s an allophone?
Different ways/variations to pronounce the same phoneme
Difference between phoneme/allophone?
Substituting a phoneme results in different meaning whereas doing so with an allophone results in a difference in pronunciation
How many phonemes are there in English? How many of them are vowels/consonants?
44 phonemes > 20 vowels & 24 consonants
What sounds are always voiced?
Vowel sounds
What’s a diphthong?
A diphthong is a sound that combines two vowels
The 8 diphthongs in English are [eɪ], [ɔɪ], [aɪ], [eə], [ɪə], [ʊə], [əʊ], and [aʊ]
e.g. doubt > [aʊ] , crime > [aɪ]
> two combined vowel sounds when the word is spoken aloud
What are the different parts of phonetics?
Articulatory > How are sounds produced?
Auditory > How are sounds heard & perceived?
Acoustic > How do sounds travel through the air?
