Phonetics & Phonology Vocabulary

Vocabulary flashcards for Phonetics and Phonology lecture review.

Phonetics

The science of human speech sounds with no specific reference to their function in a given sound-system.

Articulatory Phonetics

Viewpoint of phonetics related to speech production.

Acoustic Phonetics

Viewpoint of phonetics related to the transmission of sound.

Auditory Phonetics

Viewpoint of phonetics related to the perception of sound.

Phonology

Studies sounds and their contrasts within a specific sound-system.

Phoneme

Contrastive units of sound which can be used to change meaning.

Allophone

Actual sounds uttered by speakers and interpreted as one phoneme despite possible phonetic differences.

Contrastive Distribution

Two phonemes appearing in the same environment and with a change in meaning.

Complementary Distribution

Allophones that occur in mutually exclusive environments.

Free Variation

Different allophones of the same phoneme can occur in the same phonetic environment without changing meaning.

Phonemic Principle

Two or more sounds are realizations of the same phoneme if they are in complementary distribution and phonetically similar.

Phonemic Neutralisation

Two phonemes show overlap in phonetic realization.

Archiphoneme

Combines the characteristics of two normally distinct phonemes that cannot be differentiated in certain contexts.

Phonemic Merger

Two previously separate phonemes become one.

Phonemic Split

Establishment of a new phoneme in a given language (accent).

Phonetic Conditioning

The way in which sounds are influenced by adjacent sounds.

Assimilation

A phoneme is replaced by another one due to the influence of the preceding/following phoneme.

Elision

Deletion of a phoneme.

Liaison

Insertion of a phoneme to enable easier articulation of the sequence.

Phonotactics

Restrictions on the possible combinations of phonemes within a particular language (accent).

Distinctive Feature Theory

A set of distinctive features to analyse phonological oppositions in a language.

General American (GenAm)

A continuum of accents considered the 'default' form of American English.