Phonemes (Chapter Two)

bilabial

both lips [p] [b] [m] [w]

labiodental

lips and teeth [f] [v]

interdental

pertaining to between the teeth [th]

alveolar

articulators are the tongue and alveolar ridge [t] [d] [s]

postalveolar

Articulated with the tip of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge (last g in garage)

palatal

hard palate and tongue [j]

velar

back of the tongue and the yelum; voiceless [k], voiced [g]

glottal

vocal folds articulate [h], uh-oh

alveolar ridge

the gum ridge behind the upper teeth

hard palate

bony anterior (front) portion of the palate

velum (soft palate)

muscular structure located directly posterior to the hard palate

oral stop

A stop consonant made by fully blocking air in the mouth and not allowing it to leak out through the nose, [p] [t] and [k]

nasal stop

A stop consonant made by lowering the velum in a way that lets the air pass through your nose, [m] [n] and the ŋ sound in words like sing or fang.

fricative

a consonant produced by forcing the breath stream through a narrow channel formed by two separate articulators in the vocal tract (f, v, th, z, s, sh, sion)

strident

sounds that involve funneling air behind ones teeth, noisy [sh]

affricate

a consonant characterized as having both a fricative and a stop manner of production [ʃ] [ʒ]

flap

a sound produced with the tongue tip briefly touching the alveolar ridge (butter, lady)

lateral approximant

obstruction of the airstream at a point along the center of the oral tract, with incomplete closure between one or both sides of the tongue and the roof of the mouth [l]

retroflex approximant

constriction of vocal tract, tongue curled back [ɹ]

glide

less obstruction in the airway [j] [w]

liquid

more obstruction [y] [l]

height

in a vowel, how high the tip of the tongue is

backness

how far front or back the tongue is

tense

how peripheral the tongue is

rounded

a rounded lip position during vowel production

nasalized

a sound produced with nasal resonance

diphthong

The sound produced by combining two vowels in to a single syllable or running together the sounds [ou] [ai]

tone

some languages base their language on tonality, not easily represented in IPA

stress

emphasis given to a word or syllable

syllabic

a consonant that functions as a syllable nucleus (vowel)

voicing

vibration of the vocal folds

voiced

referring to consonants, such as b, d, and v, that cause vibration of the vocal folds when sounded

voiceless

referring to consonants, such as p, t, and f, that do not cause vibration of the vocal folds when sounded