Vocabulary and Terminology Chapter 2

Question 1

X-Ray photography

Answer 1

X-rays used in conjunction with sound film. The use of this technique can reveal the details of the functioning of the vocal apparatus. The entirety of how a sound is produced is revealed and can actually be seen as it happens.

Question 2

Palatography

Answer 2

Experimental method that shows the contact between the tongue and the roof of the mouth. Can be static or dynamic.

Question 3

Sound Spectrograph

Answer 3

Equipment that generates spectrograms from speech input

Question 4

Impressionistic phonetic transcript

Answer 4

A method of writing down speech sounds with the intent of capturing how they are pronounced. Usually based simply on how sounds are perceived when heard without any special analysis.

Question 5

phone

Answer 5

A speech sound; written in square brackets, for example, [t].

Question 6

segments

Answer 6

The individual units of the speech stream; can be further subdivided into consonants and vowels.

Question 7

suprasegmentals

Answer 7

A phonetic characteristic of speech sounds, such as length, intonation, tone, or stress, that “rides on top of” segmental features. Must usually be identified by comparison to the same feature on other sounds or strings of sounds.

Question 8

syllable

Answer 8

A unit of speech, made up of an onset and a rhyme.

Question 9

monosyllabic

Answer 9

Consisting of only one syllable

Question 10

onset

Answer 10

In a syllable, any consonant(s) that occurs before the rhyme.

Question 11

rhyme

Answer 11

In a syllable, the vowel and any consonants that follow it.

Question 12

nucleus

Answer 12

The core element of a syllable, carrying stress, length, and pitch (tone). It usually consists of a vowel or a syllabic resonant.

Question 13

monophthongs

Answer 13

A simple vowel, composed of a single configuration of the vocal organs.

Question 14

diphthongs

Answer 14

A complex vowel, composed of a sequence of two different configurations of the vocal organs.

Question 15

running speech (continuous speech)

Answer 15

The usual form of spoken language, with all the words and phrases run together, without pauses in between them.

Question 16

Articulatory description

Answer 16

The description of the motion or positioning of the parts of the vocal tract that are responsible for the production of a speech sound.

Question 17

Articulation

Answer 17

(also called articulatory gesture) The motion or positioning of some part of the vocal tract (often, but not always, a muscular part such as the tongue or lips) with respect to some other surface of the vocal tract in the production of a speech sound.

Question 18

segmental features

Answer 18

A phonetic characteristic of speech sounds such as voicing, place of articulation, rounding, etc..

Question 19

larynx

Answer 19

Cartilage and muscle located at the top of the trachea, containing the vocal folds and glottis; commonly referred to as the voice-box.

Question 20

vocal tract

Answer 20

The entire air passage above the larynx consisting of the pharynx, oral cavity, and nasal cavity.