Phonology

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

The organisation of language and sounds.

It consist of phonetics
(The smallest speech sounds, consonants and vowels)

and prosody (what speech sounds likel; pitch, amplitude etc)

Question 2

Prosody

Answer 2

Sound of speech. First signal available to the fetus and encodes various kinds of information:

Linguistic: where the focus lies, questions, phrasing all adjust the meaning of the utterance

Para-linguistic: Emotions/attitudes etc conveyed through the sound of speech.

Question 3

Prosodic constituents

Answer 3

Refer to the hierarchical structures within an utterance, characterised by patterns of pitch, rhythm, stress and timing. They help organize and convey meaning

The categories are arbstract, eg the different ways of saying /k/

Question 4

Infant-directed speech

Answer 4

Motherese; Exaggerated pitch contours, lengthened segments, slower, repetitive etc.

Preferred by infants over adult directed speech (both in own and unheard language)

Question 5

Morse-code language

Answer 5

Rhythmic pattern characterised by long and short elements, resemble the rhythmic patterns of morse code signals. Eg. English/Dutch

Better discriminated by newborns compared to machine-gun

Question 6

Machine-gun language

Answer 6

Characterised by rapid and continuous flow of speech wo distinct pauses/breaks. Eg Spanish/French.