English Phonetics

Articulatory

The physical process of producing speech.

Acoustic

Measuring the acoustic properties of speech sounds.

Auditory

The physical process of perceiving speech sounds.

Phonetics

The precise qualities of sounds.

Phonology

The sound systems of languages and distinct phonemes.

Grapheme

Distinctive letters in a writing system.

Phonemes

Distinctive sounds that distinguish words in a language.

Phoneme

The minimal unit in the sound system of a language.

Phones

The realizations of phonemes.

Allophones

Variants of a phoneme in complementary distribution.

Vowels

Oral sounds where air escapes freely; cannot function as a syllable margin.

Consonants

Sounds involving narrowing in the vocal tract; can function as a syllable margin.

Prevocalic

A consonant that comes before a vowel.

Postvocalic

A consonant that comes after a vowel.

Non-prevocalic

A consonant not immediately followed by a vowel.

Voicing

The result of vocal cords vibrating during sound production.

Voiceless/unvoiced

Vocal cords are wide open; air passes freely through the larynx.

Voiced

Vocal cords are held loosely together, causing vibrations with air pressure.

VOT (Voice Onset Time)

The delay between the release of a consonant and the start of vocal fold vibration.

Fortis

Stronger sounds articulated more forcefully; generally voiceless.

Lenis

Weaker sounds that may be voiced when intervocalic.

Plosive

A stop consonant produced with complete closure.

Fricative

Sounds produced when two articulators are close, causing audible air movement.

Sibilant

A subset of fricatives that produces sharper sounds.

Nasal

A complete closure at some point in the mouth with air escaping through the nose.

Approximant

Articulators close together without causing friction, allowing air to pass freely.

Diphthongs

Vowel sounds that glide from one quality to another within a single syllable.

Triphthongs

Combinations of diphthongs and schwa, often smoothing vowel qualities.

Monothongs

Vowel sounds with a single, unchanging quality throughout their duration.

Clipping

Shortening of a vowel when followed by a fortis consonant.

Intelligibility

How recognizable or clear speech is to a listener.

Comprehensibility

How well a listener understands the meaning behind spoken speech.

Connected Speech

Focuses on stress and weak forms in English phonetics.

Word Group/Tone Unit

Contains a complete thought and features a stressed syllable followed by unstressed ones.

Stress-timed Language

Languages like English where stressed syllables occur at regular intervals.

Syllable-timed Language

Languages like French with regular syllable intervals.

Weak Form

Unstressed pronunciation of function words, often reduced.

Strong Form

Citation forms used in dictionaries, typically fully pronounced.

Linking

Combining words in fluent speech for clearer communication.

Assimilation

Sounds changing due to their phonetic environment.

Epenthesis

Insertion of sounds for ease of articulation.

Elision

Omission of sounds in speech for easier pronunciation.

Compression

Reduction of syllables or syllable structure.

Intonation

Use of pitch patterns and melody in speech.

Tone-unit

The basic unit of intonation in spoken language.

Pre-head

The unstressed beginning portion of a tone unit.

Onset

The first accented part of a tone unit before the nucleus.

Nucleus (Tonic)

The last stressed syllable of a tone unit, carrying the most prominence.

Tail

The part of a tone unit that extends pitch change post-nucleus.

Chunking

Determining tone unit boundaries in spoken language.

Tonicity

Identifying the nucleus and stresses in a tone unit.

Fall Intonation

Conveys finality, used in statements, wh-questions.

Rise Intonation

Indicates incompleteness, used in yes/no questions.

Complex Tones

Patterns that convey strong emotions, like fall-rise and rise-fall.

Attitudinal Function

Expresses speaker emotions and attitudes through intonation.

Accentual Function

Distinction between word stress and sentence stress.

Grammatical Function

Tone-unit boundaries aligned with grammatical structures.

Discourse Function

Functional significance of tones in spoken language.

Function Words

Words such as prepositions and auxiliaries often pronounced in weak forms.

Minimal Pairs

Pairs of words that differentiate meaning through sound changes.

Coalescent Assimilation

Blending of two sounds into a third in speech.

Temporal Adjustment

Changes in timing in speech due to stress and rhythm.

Reductions

Shortening or simplifying words and phrases in connected speech.

Dialog Stress Patterns

Variations in stress based on conversational context.

Paralinguistic Features

Non-verbal elements that accompany speech, such as tone and pitch.

Semantic Interpretation

Meaning derived from the structure and stress of speech.

Contextual Placement

The effect of context on understanding spoken language.

Rhythm in Speech

The pattern of sounds and silence in spoken language.

Fluent Speech

A smooth flow of speech with appropriate stress and rhythm.

Disfluent Speech

Pauses or interruptions in the flow of speech.

Sentence Stress

Placement of stress in sentences to highlight crucial information.

Prosodic Features

Elements like stress, intonation, and rhythm that affect spoken language.

Emphasis in Communication

Highlighting important information through stress and intonation.

Tone Patterns

Expected variations in pitch based on linguistic and emotional context.

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Phoneticsymbols used to represent sounds

Tone Analysis

Examination of pitch variations to interpret meaning.

Non-rhotic

A type of speech sound pattern in which the 'r' at the end of words or before a consonant is not pronounced, as seen in some dialects of English.

Rhotic

A type of speech sound characterized by the presence of an 'r' that is pronounced, typically found in dialects of English where the 'r' in words is voiced.

Sonorants

Speech sounds characterized by a relatively open airflow through the vocal tract; includes vowels, nasals, and approximants.

Obstruent

A class of consonants characterized by a significant constriction or closure in the vocal tract, including stops, fricatives, and affricates.

Soft palate also known as?

Velum

Bilabial

A type of consonant produced by bringing both lips together, such as /b/ and /p/.

Labiodental

A type of consonant produced by placing the lower lip against the upper teeth, such as /f/ and /v/.

Dental

A type of consonant articulated with the tongue against the upper teeth, such as /t/ and /d/.

Alveoral

A type of consonant articulated with the tongue against the alveolar ridge, such as /t/ and /d/.

Postalveoral

A type of consonant produced by placing the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge, such as /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.

Palatal

A type of consonant articulated with the body of the tongue raised against the hard palate, such as /j/.

Velar

A type of consonant articulated with the back of the tongue against the soft palate, such as /k/ and /g/.

Palatoalveoral

A type of consonant produced with the tongue positioned between the hard palate and the alveolar ridge, such as /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.

Lax

Refers to a type of vowel that is produced with a relatively relaxed tongue and less tension, such as /ɪ/ and /ɛ/.