Phonology Vocabulary

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

branch of linguistics that studies language and speech sounds.

Question 2

Spectrogram

Answer 2

visual way to represent signal strength or loudness.

Question 3

Narrow transcription

Answer 3

indicating precise details of sounds.

Question 4

Free variation

Answer 4

using two or more sounds in the same environment without changing the meaning.

Question 5

Neutralisation

Answer 5

involves the elimination of a phonemic distinction.

Question 6

Final devoicing

Answer 6

refers to the devoicing of syllable-final voiced consonants.

Question 7

Aspiration

Answer 7

strong burst of breath that accompanies either the release or the closure of some obstruents.

Question 8

Non-rhotic

Answer 8

having an accent in English in which an “r” sound is retained after consonants.

Question 9

Rhotic

Answer 9

dialect of English in which the “r” is pronounced at the end of a syllable or before a consonant.

Question 10

Constituents

Answer 10

linguistic part of a larger sentence, phrase, or clause.

Question 11

Syllabic consonants

Answer 11

phonetic element that normally patterns as a consonant, but may fill a vowel slot in a syllable.

Question 12

Onset

Answer 12

part of the syllable that precedes the vowel of the syllable.

Question 13

Vowel epenthesis

Answer 13

vowel inserted into a phonological environment to repair

a marked or illegal structure.

Question 14

Syllabification

Answer 14

process of dividing a word into its constituent syllables.

Question 15

Maximal Onset

Principle

Answer 15

a principle determining underlying syllable division.

Question 16

Sonority

Answer 16

how much acoustic energy a given speech sound has.

Question 17

Sonority Sequencing

Principle

Answer 17

principle that aims to outline the structure of a syllable in terms of sonority.

Question 18

Phoneme

Answer 18

smallest unit of sound in a word that makes a difference in its pronunciation and meaning.

Question 19

Complementary distribution

Answer 19

mutually exclusive relationship between two phonetically similar segments.

Question 20

Minimal pairs

Answer 20

pairs of words or phrases in a particular language.

Question 21

Velarised

Answer 21

secondary articulation in the pronunciation of consonants.

Question 22

Nucleus

Answer 22

central part of a syllable.

Question 23

Coda

Answer 23

the part of a syllable that follows the nucleus vowel.

Question 24

Cognates

Answer 24

Pairs of sounds that differ by voicing.

Question 25

Allophones

Answer 25

the linguistically non-significant variants of each phoneme.