Physiology and Acoustic Phonetics: A Speech Science Foundation

Question 1

Draw the vowel quad

Answer 1

Question 2

What is speech science?

Answer 2

The study of speech production at both the acoustic and physiological level

Question 3

What are the four components of speech?

Answer 3

Respiration, phonation, resonation, articulation

Question 4

What are allophones?

Answer 4

These are variations of phonemes

Question 5

What does phonemic refer to?

Answer 5

The abstract system of sounds

Question 6

What does phonetic refer to?

Answer 6

This refers to concrete production of specific sounds

Question 7

What is phonetics?

Answer 7

The study of speech sounds.

Question 8

What do phonemes in slashmarks represent?

Answer 8

Idealized phonemes

Question 9

What are allophones and how are they represented?

Answer 9

These are variations in phonetic productions, and are represented by placing them in brackets [s]. Sounds in brackets are actual productions of speakers.

Question 10

What are the three components of a syllable?

Answer 10

1. Onset
2. Nucleus
3. Coda

Question 11

What is a rhyme composed of?

Answer 11

The coda and the nucleus

Question 12

What does the term syllabification indicate?

Answer 12

It is the skill of identifying the number of syllables in a word

Question 13

What is a distinctive feature?

Answer 13

It is a unique characteristic that distinguishes one phoneme from another

Question 14

What does manner of articulation refer to?

Answer 14

The degree or type of constriction of the vocal track during consonant production

Question 15

What are sibilants?

Answer 15

These are high frequency sounds that have longer duration and have more stridency and most other consonants: s, z, sh, juh, chuh, etc

Question 16

What are cognate pairs

Answer 16

These are sounds that are identical in every way except voicing

Question 17

What are suprasegmentals?

Answer 17

These are also referred to as features of prosody. They add meaning variety and color to running speech.

Question 18

What is rarefaction?

Answer 18

This is the thinning of the air molecules when the vibrating object returns to equilibrium; It is the opposite of the condensation. In other words, the time when molecules move apart.

Question 19

What is natural frequency?

Answer 19

This is the frequency with which a source I’ve sound normally vibrates. It is determined by the sources mass and stiffness. Mass is the quantity of matter and is not to be confused with weight, which is a gravitational force exerted en masse. The mass of a medium of sound effects its transmission. Increase mass results in decreased frequency, and increased stiffness results in increased frequency.

Question 20

What is fundamental frequency?

Answer 20

This is the lowest frequency of a periodic wave; It is the first harmonic. It can also be thought of as the tone produced by the vibration of the vocal folds before the air reaches any cavities.

Question 21

What is an octave?

Answer 21

This is an indication of the interval between two frequencies. The intervals always maintain a ratio of 1:2; thus, each octave doubles a particular frequency. 200 Hz is one octave above 100 Hz, and 2000 Hz is one octave above 1000 Hz.

Question 22

What is sound?

Answer 22

This is a potentially auditable vibration or disturbance in the air that creates soundwaves.

Question 23

What is frequency?

Answer 23

It is the number of times a cycle of vibration repeats itself within a second

Question 24

What is a period?

Answer 24

This is the amount of time needed for a cycle to be completed.

Question 25

Fill in the blank: the normal ear of a young adult can respond to ___ Hz

Answer 25

20 - 20,000 Hz

Question 26

What does voice onset time refer to?

Answer 26

This refers to the time between the release of the stock consonants and the beginning of the vowel.