Phonology Flashcards
Phonology
the study of the abstract categories
that organise the sound system of a language
Spectrogram
a graphic representation of the frequency distribution of the complex jumble of sound waves that give the hearing impression of speech sounds
Phoneme
an abstract, mental category, rather than a phonetic fact.
Phone
A physical realisation of a speech sound like the voiceless or the voiced alveolar approximant
Allophones of the phoneme
Phones which function as alternant re-
alisations of the same phoneme
Distribution
refers to the different positions in which a speech sound can occur or cannot
occur in the words of a language
Complementary Distribution
Two sounds which are distributed in such a way that one can only occur
where the other cannot occur
Minimal Pairs
a pair of words which
differ in only one sound, but differ in meaning
Free Variation
speakers can choose which allophone they use
Neutralisation
in a particular context, a
contrast between phonemes becomes invisible
Final Devoicing
The fact that a voiced phoneme has a voiceless allophone in word-final position
Clear 1 and Dark 1
refer to the auditory impression of [l] and [ɫ], in that the latter somehow
sounds darker
Aspiration
the process of aspirating stops
T/d flapping
process in which the contrast between
two phonemes is neutralised in a particular phonetic context
Non-rhotic
r-sounds do not
seem to occur in word-final position
Rhotic
r-sounds can occur in word-final position
Constituents
the elements that make up a syllable
Syllabic Consonants
Consonants which occupy the central part of the syllable
Nucleus
Slot for a vowel in a syllable, can contain a vowel, dipthong or syllabic consonant
Onset
Prevocalic slot for a consonant in a syllable
Coda
Postvocalic slot for a consonant in a syllable
Syllabification
Assigning syllable structure to words
Maximal Onset Principle
Given a sequence of consonants and vowels, syllabification pro-
ceeds in such a way that as many consonants as possible end up in an onset, even if the language allows codas
Sonority
the category that captures our acoustic impression
of ‘clear audibility’
Sonority Sequencing Principle
sounds preceding the
nucleus (i.e. onsets) must rise in sonority, and sounds following the nucleus (i.e.
codas) must fall in sonority
