Vocab and Terms Chapter 3

Question 1

phonotactic constraints

Answer 1

restriction on possible combinations of sounds, often in particular environments.

Question 2

sound substitution

Answer 2

a process whereby sounds that already exist in a language are used to replace sounds that do not exist in the langue when borrowing or when a speaker is trying to pronounce a foreign word.

Question 3

phoneme

Answer 3

a class of speech sounds identified by a narrative speaker as the same sounds, a mental entity or category related to various allophones by phonological rules. phonemes are written between slashes (ex: /t/)

Question 4

noncontrastive

Answer 4

a term used to describe 2 sounds that are not used to differentiate words in a language.

Question 5

contrastive distribution

Answer 5

the occurrence of sounds in a language such that their use distinguished between the meaning of the words in which they appear, indicating that those sounds are phonemes of the language in questions. Sounds that are in contrastive distribution are allophones of different phonemes.

Question 6

complementary distribution

Answer 6

the occurrence of sounds in a language such that they are never found in the same phonetic environment. Sounds that are in complementary distribution are allophones of the same phoneme.

Question 7

overlapping distribution

Answer 7

the occurrence of sounds in the same phonetic environments.

Question 8

assimilation

Answer 8

a process by which a sounds becomes more like a nearby sound in terms of some features.

Question 9

dissimilation

Answer 9

process by which 2 nearby sounds become less alike with respect to some feature.

Question 10

insertion

Answer 10

phonological process by which a segment not present in the phonemic or underlying form is added in the phonetic form.

Question 11

deletion

Answer 11

a process by which a sound present in the phonemic form (underlying form) is removed from the phonetic form in certain environments.

Question 12

metathesis

Answer 12

switching of the order of 2 sounds, each taking the place of the other.

Question 13

free variation

Answer 13

term used to refer to 2 sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words.

Question 14

minimal pair

Answer 14

2 words that differ only by a single sound in the same position and that have different meanings.

Question 15

obligatory rule

Answer 15

phonological, morphological, or syntactic rule that applies in the speech of all speakers of a language or dialect, regardless of style or rate of speech.

Question 16

optional rule

Answer 16

phonological, morphological, or syntactic rule that may or may not apply in an individuals speech.

Question 17

basic allophone

Answer 17

the allophone of a phoneme that is used when none of the change inducing conditions are fulfilled. Of a set of allophones, it is generally least limited in where it can occur, also termed the elsewhere allophone.

Question 18

restricted allophone

Answer 18

an allophone of a phoneme that appears in a more limited set of phonetic environments.

Question 19

near-minimal pairs

Answer 19

similar to minimal pair, but whereas the words in a minimal pair are identical apart from the contrastive sounds, the words in a near-minimal pair are only almost identical.

Question 20

phonology

Answer 20

the study of the sound system language, how the particular sound contrast in each language to form an integrated system for encoding information, and how such systems differ from one language to another.

Question 21

sonorant

Answer 21

sound, usually voiced, produced with a relatively open passage of airflow. Nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels are all sonorant.

Question 22

allophone

Answer 22

one of a set of nonconstrastive realizations of the same phoneme; an actual phonetic segment.

Question 23

conditioning environment

Answer 23

neighboring sounds of a given sound that cause it to undergo a change.

Question 24

underlying form

Answer 24

the phonemic form of a word or morpheme before phonological rules are applied.

Question 25

phonetic environment

Answer 25

the sounds that come before and after a particular sounds in a word.