Romance Linguistics Unit 2 Quiz

phoneme

mental representation of a sound

allophone

actual sound produced, varied based on context

phonetics

study of physical properties of sounds

phonology

mental representation of sound system in grammar

archiphoneme

phonemic category that encompasses various phonemes with a lot of overlapping allophonic variation

• “phoneme of phonemes”

• ex. French /R/

homorganic sounds

consonants that have the same place of articulation

consonant articulatory descriptors

voicing, place, manner

• ex. unvoiced bilabial stop = /p/

vowel articulatory descriptors

height, backness, rounding, nasalization

• ex. high back round vowel = /u/

syllable

Fundamental unit of speech consisting of a nucleus (typically a vowel) & optional surrounding sounds (typically consonants)

syllable nucleus

core sonorant part of a syllable, typically a vowel

onset position

first sound in a syllable

coda position

last sound in a syllable

consonant cluster

multiple consonants in a row within one syllable

• French allows 2-3 consonant clusters

  • ex. “être”

hiatus

two syllable nuclei are adjacent but 2 different syllables

• often simplified from 2 → 1 syllable

• ex. Spanish po.e.ma, le.er

dipthongs & glides

???

glides = semivowels

open vs closed syllables

• open syllables end in a vowel

• closed syllables end in a consonant

syllabification

the way words are divided into syllables?

spirantization

weakening of voiced stops, affected by increased sonority surrounding phones

• pan-Hispanic

• ex. arbol → [arβol]

neutralization

2 sounds sometimes overlap

gemination

• Spanish varieties w/ S-deletion (Canarian, Caribbean, Andalusian)

• following voiceless stop will be longer/geminated to indicate an underlying /s/

• ex. los padres → [lo.paːðɾe]

• Italian double consonants geminated

lentition

weakening to deletion of coda position /s/ sounds, continuum of variation

• coastal Central-South American, Caribbean, Canarian, Southern Cone, Andalusian

• s → h → Ø

• ex. Cómo estás → [‘ko.mo.eh.’tah]

fortition

strengthening/going forward

elision

devoicing or deletion of word-final liquids in coda clusters

• French “simple” /’sɛ̃pl/ → [‘sɛ̃p]

vowel harmony

consonants w/ weaker boundaries like approximants allow vowels to touch/influence each other across syllables

• ex. Andalusian vowel opening

complimentary distribution

different sounds are used specifically in the context they appear without overlapping

• ex. Spanish /ɾ/ ≠ /r/

free variation

pronunciations can overlap, context dependent, don’t change meaning

• ex. French archiphoneme /R/ → [ʁ] [r] [ɾ] [χ]

minimal pairs & phonemic distinction

minimal pairs: near identical words that have distinct meanings differentiated by 1 phone

• ex. Spanish “perro” ≠ “pero”

progressive/regressive assimilation/dissimilation

progressive assimilation: nasals & laterals change place of articulation to assimilate to the place of the sound before

regressive assimilation: change in place of articulation to resemble the following sound

dissimilation: similar sounds become distinct

upgliding (dipthongization)

vowel opening/lowering

hiatus resolution

hiatus is simplified from 2 to 1 syllable, vowels condense into a glide

• ex. Spanish “línea” → [‘li.nja]

devoicing consonants & vowels