Unit 2 - Language and Speech Flashcards
What is an allophone?
A variant of a phenomenon determined by the context in which appears, but without any meaning.
What is an alphabet?
A writing system that represents the sounds of a language.
What is a consonant?
A sound produced by obstructing the flow of air with parts of the mouth, e.g. lips, teeth or tongue. The vocal cords may vibrate (as in the consonant ‘m’) or not (as in the consonant ‘f’)
What is a dialect?
Grammatical and lexical features that distinguish a language spoken by a particular group of people within a region, country or community, with distinctive patterns of vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. It is commonly used to describe non-standard varieties of a language.
What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?
A standardised phonetic system designed to represent the sounds of spoken language precisely and accurately. It was created by the International Phonetic Association to provide a consistent way to describe the pronunciation of words in any language.
What is language?
A system of communication that consists of words, grammar and meanings. Specific languages are usually mutually incomprehensible, but this is not always the case, and it can be difficult to decide where two dialects become two separate languages.
What is a language family?
A group of different languages that all descend from a particular common language.
What is a phenome?
The smallest unit of speech distinguishing one word (or word element), as /k/ in /kæt/ (‘cat’) as opposed to /r/ in /ræt/ (‘rat’)
What are phonetics?
The branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of human speech. It focuses on how sounds are produced, transmitted, and perceived. Phonetics is concerned with the physical aspects of speech sounds, rather than their abstract, cognitive representations (which are studied in phonology). In simple terms, phonetics describes the sounds that people make when they speak.
What is phonology?
A branch of linguistics that studies the abstract, cognitive aspects of sounds in language. Unlike phonetics, which deals with the physical properties of speech sounds, phonology focusses on how sounds function and are organised within a particular language.
What is speech?
The vocal expression of languages that involves the articulation of sounds to convey meaning. It is a complex process that combines various physiological, cognitive and cultural elements to produce spoken language.
What is a vowel?
A sound produced by the vibration of the vocal cords and the position of the tongue in the mouth, with no obstruction to the flow of air.
