Linguistics 2

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word in a particular langauge.

Phone

Any physical speech sound regardless of its role in a language.

Consonant description and classification

A speech sound that is produced by obstructing or constricting airflow in the vocal tract.

Can be

plosive(block air and release, p),

nasal (aiflow through nose due to lowered velum, m),

fricative (air through narrow channel creating friction, f/s/th),

affricate (starts with stop then release, /ch/ or /d͡ʒ/),

approximant (articulators come close without touching, w/y)

Can be

bilabial (both lips brought together, p/m),

labio-dental (lower lip contacts upper teeth, f/v),

dental (tongue touches upper teeth, /th/),

alveolar (tongue touches alveolar ridge, t/d/n),

post-aveolar (tongue touches area behind alveolar ridge, sh),

palatal (tongue touches palate, y),

velar (tongue touches velum, k/g),

glottal (from gap between vocal cords, h)

Vowel description and classification

A speech sound produced with an open vocal tract and no obstruction of airflow.

Allophonic variation

Different pronunciations (allophones) of the same phoneme that do not change a word’s meaning

Syllable structure

the internal organization of a syllable as onset (initial consonant), nucleus (vowel core), and coda (final consonant)

Prosody and stress patterns

Rhythm, stress, intonation, and loudness patters in speech

Stress features of varieties

Phonetic environment of sound changes

The sounds or context surrounding a sound which cause it to change (ex t-deletion)

Speech accent features

vowel quality, consonant articulation, rhythm, intonation, stress patterns

Rhoticity

The pronunciation of the /r/ sound in all positions where it appears in spelling

t-glottalisation

The replacement of the t sound with a glottal stop

h-dropping

The omission of the h sound at the start of stressed syllables

flapping

Intervocalic /t/ or /d/ (between vowels) turns into a quick tongue tap [ɾ]. butter→ budder

consonant cluster simplification

Reduces groups of two or more adjacent consonants by deleting or altering some, easing pronunciation (friend → fren)

substitution of dental fricatives

Replaces “th” sounds with other consonants often t or d

final obstruent devoicing

voiced obstruents (stops or fricatives like b,d,g,v) at the end of words lose their voicing and become voiceless (ex: dutch hard → hart)

unaspirated plosives

stop consonants released without a puff of air like “p” in “spin”

tense-lax neutralisation

merges distinction between tense (longer, peripheral) and lac (shorter, central) vowels (ex: Marry-merry-Mary merger: Lax /ɛ/ and tense /eɪ/ neutralize before intervocalic /r/)

vowel reduction

weakens vowels in unstressed positions making them short, more central and often schwa-like

non-reduction of vowels

unstressed vowels stay full and distinct from schwa

centring dipthongs

start from peripheral vowel and move towards central schwa sound

rising diphthongs

start with glide or less prominent sound and rise to stronger vowel

diphthongisation

The process where a single vowel sound in a syllable becomes two vowel sounds in a syllable

monophthongisation

The process where two vowel sounds in a syllable becomes one vowel sound in a syllable

Voiced

vibration

fricative

consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow channel made by placing two articulators close together

tense

greater muscular tension and higher tongue position and longer duration like /u/ in boot

lax

relaxed muscles, shorter duration, central tongue position, often monophthongs, ʊ in put