Cambridge English A Terminology #7

Accent

The characteristic pronunciation associated with a geographical area or social group

Agenda setting

Where one speaker determines the main topic of a conversation

Coalescence

The phonological process whereby two sounds merge into one (ex: assume is pronounced as ashume)

Consonant clusters

A group of consonants without an intervening vowel (ex: /sp/ and /ct/ in the word aspect)

Consonants

Sounds made with some restriction to the airflow, for example by the tongue, teeth or lips

Diphthong

A combination of two vowel sounds within a single syllable

Eye dialect

The use of nonstandard spellings to reflect the pronunciation of a character’s speech

Fricative

Consonant sounds that are created by forcing air through a narrow opening in the vocal tract. They may be voiced (ex: /v/, /z/) or voiceless (ex: /f/, /s/)

Glottal stop

A plosive consonant sound produced by the momentary closure of the glottis (ex: in the middle of uh-oh)

Interlocutor

A participant in a dialogue

Intonation

The rise and fall of the voice while speaking

Manner of articulation

How the speech organs are used to affect airflow and thereby produce sounds

Micropause

A pause in speech, typically less than a second in duration

Nasal

When air passes through the nose to produce a sound (ex: /m/ and /n/)

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in speech

Pitch

A quality of human voice determined by the rate at which the vocal folds are vibrated, ranging from low to high.

Place of articulation

When producing speech sounds, the point of contact within the vocal tract where airflow is restricted (ex: ‘labiodental’ refers to contact between the lower lip and the upper teeth)

Plosive

Consonant sounds that are created by stopping the flow of air. They may be voiced (ex: /b/, /d/, and /g/) or voiceless (/p/, /t/, /k/)

Transcription

The act of producing a written record of spoken language, using symbols and markings to represent the distinctive nature of speech

Utterance

A section of spoken language, preceded and followed by either silence or a change of speaker.

Vowels

Sounds made with no restriction of air through the vocal tract. Different [term] sounds are produced by altering the position of the speech organs.