Phonology

Phonology

The study of sounds that matter within a certain language and how they interact.

Phonemes

Sounds that matter in a language; phones that matter to a particular language are the _____ of that language.

Allophones

Sounds that can be swapped together without changing the meaning and how they relate to each other.

Phonotactics

The rules that dictate which sounds can or cannot combine or occur next to each other.

Minimal pairs

Two words identical in form except with a difference in one phoneme in the same position in the word (e.g., Sheep vs. Ship).

Suprasegmentals

Aspects of pronunciation that follow individual sound segments, such as intonation, stress, focus, and rhythm.

Stress

The action of making a syllable longer, louder, more articulated, or higher in pitch.