International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) Study Cards

Vocabulary practice cards covering fundamental phonetic concepts, places and manners of articulation, vowel descriptors, prosodic features, diacritics, and pitch scales from the IPA lecture notes.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

The system used to transcribe speech sounds using specialized phonetic symbols.

Consonant Description (Three Parts)

The standard description consisting of voicing + place of articulation + manner of articulation.

Voicing

Whether the vocal folds vibrate during the production of a sound.

Voiceless Sound

A sound made without vocal-fold vibration.

Voiced Sound

A sound made with vocal-fold vibration.

Place of Articulation

Where in the vocal tract the constriction is made.

Manner of Articulation

How airflow is restricted or shaped.

Bilabial

A place of articulation made with both lips.

Labiodental

A place of articulation made with the lower lip and upper teeth.

Dental

A place of articulation made with the tongue at or near the teeth.

Alveolar

A place of articulation made with the tongue at or near the alveolar ridge.

Postalveolar

A place of articulation made just behind the alveolar ridge.

Retroflex

A place of articulation made with the tongue tip/blade curled or turned back.

Palatal

A place of articulation made with the tongue body near the hard palate.

Velar

A place of articulation made with the tongue body near the soft palate (velum).

Uvular

A place of articulation made with the back of the tongue near the uvula.

Pharyngeal

A place of articulation made by constricting the pharynx.

Glottal

A place of articulation made at the glottis, between the vocal folds.

Plosive / Stop

A manner of articulation where airflow is fully blocked, then released.

Nasal Stop

A manner of articulation where the oral passage is blocked while air flows through the nose.

Trill

A manner of articulation where an articulator vibrates repeatedly against another articulator.

Tap or Flap

A manner of articulation characterized by a brief, single contact between articulators.

Fricative

A manner of articulation where air passes through a narrow constriction, creating friction noise.

Lateral Fricative

A manner of articulation where frication is produced as air passes along one or both sides of the tongue.

Approximant

A manner of articulation where articulators approach one another without creating turbulent friction.

Lateral Approximant

A manner of articulation where the tongue blocks the centre of the mouth while air flows around its side(s).

Vowel Height

How high or low the tongue body is in the mouth.

Vowel Backness

How front or back the tongue body is in the mouth.

Paired Vowels Arrangement

In the IPA chart, paired vowels are arranged such that the left symbol is unrounded and the right symbol is rounded.

Close Vowel

A vowel made with the tongue high in the mouth.

Close-Mid Vowel

A vowel made with the tongue between close and mid height.

Open-Mid Vowel

A vowel made with the tongue between mid and open height.

Near-Open Vowel

A vowel made with the tongue slightly higher than an open vowel.

Open Vowel

A vowel made with the tongue low in the mouth.

Schwa

A mid-central unrounded vowel commonly found in unstressed syllables.

Primary Stress

The strongest stress in a word, marked before the stressed syllable.

Secondary Stress

A weaker stress than primary stress, marked before the syllable.

Level Tone

A tone that stays at one pitch level.

Contour Tone

A tone that changes pitch, such as rising or falling.

Downstep

A tone process where a following tone is lowered relative to the preceding tone.

Upstep

A tone process where a following tone is raised relative to the preceding tone.

Global Rise

An intonational shift where the overall intonation rises.

Global Fall

An intonational shift where the overall intonation falls.

Apical Articulation

Articulation made with the tongue tip.

Laminal Articulation

Articulation made with the tongue blade.

Linguolabial Articulation

Articulation where the tongue contacts the upper lip.

Syllabic Consonant

A consonant that forms a syllable nucleus.

Rhoticity

An r-coloured quality in speech sounds.

Pitch-Subscript Scale

A scale where $1$ represents low pitch and $5$ represents high pitch, with levels $2$ through $4$ in between.

Tone Value 35

A rising tone from level $3$ (mid) to level $5$ (extra-high) in a five-level pitch scale.

Tone Value 51

A falling tone from level $5$ (extra-high) to level $1$ (extra-low) in a five-level pitch scale.

Tone Value 353

A rising-falling tone: mid to extra-high to mid in a five-level pitch scale.