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Phonetics

The branch of linguistics that is concerned with the scientific study of speech sounds.

Speech Chain

A process involving a speaker producing sound, the transmission of sound waves, and a listener perceiving those sounds.

Articulatory Phonetics

The study of the vocal organs and how they move to produce various speech sounds.

Acoustic Phonetics

The study of sound waves, their properties and transmission.

Auditory Phonetics

The study of how speech sounds are perceived and decoded by the ear and brain.

Voicing

The vibration of the vocal folds during the articulation of speech sounds.

IPA

The International Phonetic Alphabet, a system of phonetic notation to represent sounds of spoken language.

Active Articulators

Parts of the vocal tract that move to make contact with passive articulators to produce sounds.

Passive Articulators

Parts of the vocal tract that do not move during the production of sounds.

Voiced Consonants

Consonants that produce sound by vibrating the vocal folds (e.g., /b/, /d/, /z/).

Voiceless Consonants

Consonants produced without vibrating the vocal folds (e.g., /p/, /t/, /s/).

Syllable

A single, unbroken sound of a spoken word, often containing a vowel sound.

Vowel

A speech sound produced without any significant constriction in the vocal tract.

Consonant

A speech sound produced with some degree of constriction in the vocal tract.

Places of Articulation

Locations in the vocal tract where airflow obstructions occur during consonant production.

Manner of Articulation

The way in which airflow is obstructed or controlled in the vocal tract to produce different speech sounds.

Nasal Sounds

Sounds produced with airflow released through the nasal cavity (e.g., /m/, /n/).

Fricatives

Consonant sounds produced with a continuous airflow through a narrow constriction (e.g., /s/, /f/).

Plosives

Consonants produced by completely blocking airflow and then releasing it (e.g., /p/, /t/).

Affricates

Consonants that begin as a plosive and are released as a fricative (e.g., /ʧ/, /ʤ/).

Approximants

Sounds produced with a slight narrowing of the vocal tract, causing minimal turbulence (e.g., /l/, /r/, /w/).

Aspiration

A burst of breath that accompanies the pronunciation of certain voiceless sounds, particularly at the beginning of stressed syllables.

Articulators

The organs of the vocal tract involved in producing speech sounds.

Glottis

The space between the vocal folds that can produce different sounds based on their position.

Supralaryngeal Vocal Tract

The part of the vocal tract above the larynx, including the mouth, nasal cavity, and throat.

Egressive Airstream Mechanism

The production of speech sounds through airflow that is pushed out of the lungs.

The Larynx

Also known as the voice box, it contains the vocal folds and plays a key role in phonation.

Phonemic Distinction

The difference in sound which creates different meanings in a language.

Orthography

The conventional spelling system of a language.

Speech Transmission

The process in which speech sounds are converted into sound waves that travel through the air.

Phonetic Alphabet

An alphabet designed for phonetic transcription, ensuring a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols.