Chapter 6 (7): Fundamentals of Phonetics

citation form

the pronunciation of a word as a single, isolated item

connected speech

an utterance consisting of two or more continuous words

assimilation

the process by which phonemes take on the phonetic character of neighboring sounds due to coarticulation; refers to articulatory changes that result in the production of an allophone, or of a completely different phoneme

regressive assimilation

a modification in the identity of a phoneme due to a later occurring phoneme; right-to-left or anticipatory assimilation

progressive assimilation

a modification in the identity of a phoneme due to a previously occurring phoneme; left-to-right or perseverative assimilation

elision

the omission of a phoneme from a word as a result of a historical change, or from coarticulation associated with connected speech

epenthesis

the addition of a phoneme to a word during speech production as a result of coarticulation, dialect, or a speech disorder

metathesis

the transposition of phonemes in a word due to a speech error, dialectal variation, or speech disorder

vowel reduction

an articulatory process associated with connected speech whereby the full form of a vowel is produced with less weight due to a more central production in the oral cavity, often similar to a mid-central vowel

suprasegmental

a feature of speech production, such as stress, intonation, and timing, which transcends the phonemic level

sentence stress

added emphasis given to a specific word in a sentence due to the importance of that word in conveying meaning, or due to speaker intent; often found in association with the last word in a declarative utterance

content word

a word that contains the most salient information in an utterance

function word

a word that contributes little to the meaning of an utterance

given information

previous exchange of words, or shared world knowledge between tow conversational partners

new information

an exchange of words between two conversational participants that adds to the knowledge already shared

intonation

the modification of voice pitch associated with varying utterance types (such as a question or a statement), or associated with a speaker's particular mood

intonational phrase

the changes in the fundamental frequency of the voice spanning the length of a meaningful utterance (a word, phrase, or sentence)

tonic syllable/nuclear syllable

the syllable that contains the greatest pitch change in any particular intonational phrase

tonic accent/nuclear accent

the emphasis given to the tonic (nuclear) syllable in any particular intonational phrase

falling intonational phrase

a fall, or declination, in the pitch of the voice across the length of an intonational phrase; usually associated with complete statements and commands, as well as wh-questions

rising intonational phrase

a general rise in the pitch of the voice across the length of an intonational phrase; usually associated with yes/no questions, tag questions, lists, and incomplete utterances

tempo

the timing, or durational aspect, of connected speech

juncture

the transitional pauses and breaks between syllables and words in speech production

external juncture

a pause serving to connect two intonational phrases in connected speech

open internal juncture

a transitional pause between two syllables within the same tone group

closed internal juncture

two syllables in the same intonational phrase with no transitional pause between them