Vocabulary and Terminology Chapter 3 Flashcards
phonotactic constraints
Restriction on possible combinations of sounds, often in particular environments.
allophone
One set of nonconstrastive realizations of the same phoneme; an actual phonetic segment.
phoneme
A class of speech sounds identified by a native speaker as the same sound; a mental entity related to various allophones by phonological rules.
noncontrastive
A term used to describe two sounds that are not used to differentiate words in a language.
contrastive
A term used to describe two sounds that can be used to differentiate words in a language.
distribution
The set of phonetic environments in which a sound occurs.
contrastive distribution
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
complementary distribution
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.
free variation
Refers to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words.
minimal pair
Two words that differ only by a single sound in the same position and that have different meanings.
alternation
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.
overlapping distribution
The occurrence of sounds in the same phonetic environments.
phonological rule
The description of a relationship between a phoneme and its allophones and the conditioning environment in which the allophone appears.
labials
A member of the natural class of sounds produced with the lips; includes both bilabial and labiodental sounds
obstruents
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.
sonorants
Sound (usually voiced) produced with a relatively open passage of air flow, e.g., nasals, liquids, glides, and vowels.
assimilation
A process by which a sound becomes more like a nearby sound in terms of some feature(s).
dissimilation
Process by which two nearby sounds become less alike with respect to some feature.
insertion
Phonological process by which a segment not present in the phonemic (or underlying) form is added in the phonetic form.
deletion
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.
metathesis
Switching of the order of two sounds, each taking the place of the other.
strengthening
A process through which sounds are made “stronger” according to some criterion.
weakening
A process through which sounds are made “weaker” according to some criterion.
aspiration
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 .
