Speech Sounds And Phonemes

Question 1

Speech sounds

Answer 1

Speech sounds represent physical sound realities. They are the end products of articulatory motor processes.; also called phones.

Speech sounds are related to our motor and articulatory skills.

[P] - brackets are used to denote speech sounds.

Question 2

Phonemes

Answer 2

A phoneme is the smallest linguistic unit that is able to establish and distinguish between word meanings when combined with other linguistic units. They are the abstract realization of speech sounds. -

Phonemes represent our understanding of a phonological system of a particular language.
/p/- virgules are used to denote phonemes.

Question 3

Allophones

Answer 3

Allophones are the variations in phoneme realizations and do not change the meaning of the word. /P/ versus breathy /p/.

Question 4

Phonetics

Answer 4

Phonetics is the study of speech in which speech sounds are classified according to their production, transmission, and perceptual features.

Question 5

Phonotactics

Answer 5

Phonotactics refers to the description of allowable combinations of phonemes, including clusters, in a particular language. Example: in English, words do not begin with the “ng” sound.

Question 6

Phonetic (allophonic) variations

Answer 6

Phonetic (allophonic) variation is the phonetic realization of a word. “Pin” versus “spin” [p][p breathy],

Question 7

Minimal pairs

Answer 7

Minimal pairs refer to two words that differ by one phoneme. Difficulty with distinguishing minimal pairs may indicate a phonological disorder rather than an articulation disorder.-
For example: bat/ hat ; crook / creek.

Question 8

Speech sound summary

Answer 8

• Concrete, produced, perceived
•Represented within brackets [].
• used in reference to a particular language
• basic unit in phonology

Question 9

Phonemes summary

Answer 9

• Basic unit in phonetics
• represented within virgules ( //)
• can be used across language systems
• not concrete- linguistic unit