Vocabulary and Terminology Chapter 3

Question 1

phonotactic constraints

Answer 1

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

Question 2

allophone

Answer 2

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

Question 3

phoneme

Answer 3

A class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound; a mental entity related to various allophones by phonological rules.

Question 4

noncontrastive

Answer 4

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

Question 5

contrastive

Answer 5

A term used to describe two sounds that can be used to differentiate words in a language.

Question 6

distribution

Answer 6

The set of phonetic environments in which a sound occurs.

Question 7

contrastive distribution

Answer 7

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

Question 8

complementary distribution

Answer 8

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

Question 9

free variation

Answer 9

Refers to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words.

Question 10

minimal pair

Answer 10

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

Question 11

alternation

Answer 11

In phonology, a difference between two or more phonetic forms that one might expect to be related. In morphology, the morphological process that uses morpheme-internal modifications to make new words or morphological distinctions.

Question 12

overlapping distribution

Answer 12

The occurrence of sounds in the same phonetic environments.

Question 13

phonological rule

Answer 13

The description of a relationship between a phoneme and its allophones and the conditioning environment in which the allophone appears.

Question 14

labials

Answer 14

A member of the natural class of sounds produced with the lips; includes both bilabial and labiodental sounds

Question 15

obstruents

Answer 15

A natural class of sounds produced with an obstruction of the airflow in the oral cavity while the nasal cavity is closed off; includes oral stops, fricatives, and affricates.

Question 16

sonorants

Answer 16

Sound (usually voiced) produced with a relatively open passage of air flow, e.g., nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels.

Question 17

assimilation

Answer 17

A process by which a sound becomes more like a nearby sound in terms of some feature(s).

Question 18

dissimilation

Answer 18

Process by which two nearby sounds become less alike with respect to some feature.

Question 19

insertion

Answer 19

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

Question 20

deletion

Answer 20

In phonology, a process by which a sound present in the phonemic form (= underlying form) is removed from the phonetic form in certain environments. In speech production, a production error involving the inadvertent omission of units.

Question 21

metathesis

Answer 21

Switching of the order of two sounds, each taking the place of the other.

Question 22

strengthening

Answer 22

A process through which sounds are made “stronger” according to some criterion.

Question 23

weakening

Answer 23

A process through which sounds are made “weaker” according to some criterion.

Question 24

aspiration

Answer 24

A puff of air that follows the release of a consonant when there is a delay in the onset of voicing; symbolized by a superscript .

Question 25

palatalization

Answer 25

A process wherein a sound takes on a palatal place of articulation, usually in assimilation to high or mid front vowels like [i] or [e].