Phonology Key Vocabulary Flashcards
Phonology
the study of the abstract categories
that organised 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
any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another
allophones
the linguistically non-significant variants of each phoneme
narrow transcription
captures as many aspects of a specific pronunciation as possible and ignores as few details as possible
distribution
The range of contexts that a phone can appear in
complementary distribution
the distribution of phones in their respective phonetic environments in which one phone never appears in the same phonetic context as the other.
minimal pairs
words that differ by only one sound
free variation
In linguistics, free variation is the phenomenon of two (or more) sounds or forms appearing in the same environment without a change in meaning
Neutralisation
eliminate a contrast between two (or more) phoneme.
final devoicing
a systematic phonological process occurring in languages such as German, Dutch, Polish, Russian and Catalan
velarised
secondary articulation in the pronunciation of consonants, in which the tongue is drawn far up and back in the mouth (toward the velum, or soft palate), as if to pronounce a back vowel such as o or u
aspiration
a delay in the beginning of vocal fold vibration after the end of the stop
flapping
a phonological process involving a voiced alveolar tap or flap
constituents
a structural unit of a definable syntactic, semantic, or phonological category that consists of one or more linguistic elements (such as words, morphemes, or features) and that can occur as a component of a larger construction
syllabic consonants
Consonants which occupy the central part of the syllable
onset
the consonant or consonant blend at the beginning of a word that precedes the first vowel
coda
made up of the consonants at the end of a syllable
vowel epenthesis
technical term for the insertion of vowels into syllables
syllabification
When you divide a word into its individual vowel sounds
sonority
the loudness of speech sounds relative to other sounds of the same pitch, length and stress
Maximal Onset
Principle
a principle determining underlying syllable division
cognates
a word that has the same linguistic derivation as another
orthography
the conventional spelling system of a language
allophonic alternations
alternation is the phenomenon of a morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization