vowels/formants

Question 1

lax vowels occur in ___ syllabels

Answer 1

closed

Question 2

one of the greatest phonetitians of all time

Answer 2

daniel jones

Question 3

simple waves are defined by what 2 properties

Answer 3

amplitude and frequency

Question 4

amplitude=

Answer 4

height/loudness

Question 5

frequency=

Answer 5

rate of repetion (cycles per second)

Question 6

if the fundemental frequency is 250, the 2nd harmonic is at

Answer 6

500

Question 7

harmonics will differ in

Answer 7

amplitude

Question 8

(in sounds waves) the vocal tract acts as a filter that modifies the ___

Answer 8

resonances

Question 9

what are formants

Answer 9

peaks in the vowel’s frequency spectrum

Question 10

do different vowels have different formants?

Answer 10

yes

Question 11

first formant roughly correlates with

Answer 11

vowel height

Question 12

second formant strongly correlates with

Answer 12

frontness

Question 13

third formant has a lot to do with __ and __

Answer 13

rounding and rhoticity

Question 14

in a spectogram the formants are dispalyed as

Answer 14

darkness

Question 15

A ______ is a vowel whose quality changes from one vowel sound to another within a
single syllable.

Answer 15

dipthong

Question 16

In English, the vowel sound /ə/ (also known as “schwa”) is commonly found in _____ syllables.

Answer 16

unstressed

Question 17

in many West African languages, the articulatory basis for vowel contrasts like [i] vs. [ɪ], [e] vs. [ɛ], [o] vs. [ɔ], [u] vs. [ʊ] is the position of the _____, which causes expansion of the ____

Answer 17

tongue root, pharynx [or pharyngeal cavity].

Question 18

Because the vowel space is not symmetric, languages typically make more vowel contrasts (in
terms of backness and/or rounding) among ____ vowels than they do among ____ vowels.”

Answer 18

high, low

Question 19

true or false? “In English, vowels are typically longer before a voiced consonant than before a voiceless
consonant.”

Answer 19

TRUE

Question 20

Thus, front vowels are typically _____ , whereas back vowels are most often _____

Answer 20

unrounded, rounded

Question 21

In the world’s languages, by far the most common number of distinct vowels for a language to have in its phonemic inventory is:

Answer 21

5