Phonetics and Speech Sound Production: Articulation, Errors, and Terminology

allophone

A specific variation of a phoneme, some of which are acceptable and others are unacceptable. Several variations of the same phoneme may be called a set

Articulation

The production of sounds—namely, vowels,

diphthongs, and consonants.

Auditory Sense

The sense of hearing.

Connotation

The associational or suggestive value of a word (for instance, connotations for horse could be "stallion," "mount," and "horsey").

Continuant

A classification of sound in which there is a free flow

of breath through the articulatory mold; except for the plosives, all sounds are continuants. A speech sound capable of being prolonged.

Kinesthetic Sense

The sense related to small muscular movements

Phoneme

A sound family that conveys meaning within languages;

the individual sound components of a word. The smallest unit of recognizable speech sound.

Phonetics

The science of speech sounds

Schwa

A middle-central and unstressed vowel

Stress

The amount of intensity given to a sound, syllable, or word. In speech it is a form of speech emphasis in which attention is given to words that are important to meaning. This form of emphasis has also been called force. In broadcasting, this form of emphasis is called punching.

Tactile Sense

The sense of touch

Transcribe

To write a word, phrase, or sentence phonetically.

Voiced Sound

A sound produced by the vibration of the vocal folds;

also called a sonant, tonic, voiced, phonating, or vibrating sound

Voiceless Sound

A sound produced with no vibration of the vocal folds; also called a surd, atonic, unvoiced, nonphonating, or non-vibrating sound.

Vowel

A speech sound in which there is a free, unobstructed flow of vibrating breath through the articulatory mold. The vowels are determined by the shape of the tongue and lips. Vowels give the language beauty and carrying power.

Affricate

A speech sound composed of a plosive followed by a fricative

Aspirate

A sound composed predominantly of breath.

Bilabial

Pertaining to the two lips

Cognate Pairs

Two sounds having the same articulatory adjustment;

one is unvoiced and the other is voiced

Dental

Pertaining to the teeth.

Dentalized

Pertaining to the articulation error (dentalization),

resulting when the teeth are inappropriately used in the production of a sound.

Diadochokinesis

The ability to produce difficult sound combinations with rapidity and precision.

Fricative

A speech sound in which breath or sound waves pass through a narrow opening in the oral cavity, creating frictional noises.

Semivowel (Glide)

A speech sound in which there is a gliding

movement of the tongue, the lips, or both.

Glottalization

Stopping the breath at the glottis (the space between

the true vocal folds); an articulation that involves the use of the glottis; a characteristic of Scottish and cockney dialects.

Labio-dental

A sound made by lips and teeth.

Anaptyxis

A linguistic error in which a vowel, usually the schwa, is placed between two consonants, thereby adding an extra syllable (for example, [ˈlaitənŋ] for [ˈlaɪtnɪŋ]).

Assimilation

The influence of one speech sound on another

Bilabial

Pertaining to the two lips

Explosion

The release of impounded breath in the production of a plosive.

Haplology

A linguistic error in which a repeated sound or syllable is omitted (for example, [ˈlaIbɛrI] for [ˈlaIbrɛrI]).

Homograph

One of two or more words that are spelled the same way but differ in meaning, pronunciation, or derivation.

Homonym

One of two or more words that have the same sounds

and, often, the same spelling but that have differences in meaning.

Homophone

A type of homonym in which the sounds are the same

but the words are spelled differently.

Implosion

The coming together of the articulators and the buildup of

breath without the release of the impounded breath in the production of a plosive.

Metathesis

A linguistic error in which sounds are reversed in the pronunciation of a word (for example, "prespiration" for

"perspiration").

Pronunciation

The combination of vowels, consonants, and

diphthongs to form words.

Restressing

The changing of a vowel due to a change in stress; frequently a schwa turns into /v/ instead of retaining the original vowel. For example, in its restressed form, "was" becomes [wʌz] instead of [wɑz] or [wɒz].

Spoonerism

The transposition of sounds in different words