Phonology Lecture Notes

These flashcards cover important terms and concepts related to the study of phonology, including definitions and specific rules associated with sounds in language.

Phonology

The study of the structure and systematic patterns of speech sounds.

Epenthesis

The insertion of a sound in a word, often used to emphasize an ending sound.

Natural Class

A set of phonemes that express a phonological rule, defined by distinctive features such as voicing and manner.

Acoustic Stability

Sounds that remain relatively stable even with minor shifts in tongue position.

Phonological Rules

Conditions for pronunciation of phonemes during morphological application, such as syllable or word construction.

Universal Features

Sound features available to all languages but not necessarily used in all languages.

Syllable

A phonological structural unit whose properties vary across languages, including onset, nucleus, and coda.

Syllable Onset

The beginning of the syllable, usually a consonant.

Syllable Nucleus

The part of the syllable that carries the most stress, usually a vowel.

Syllable Coda

The final part of a CVC syllable.

Syllable Foot

The external organization of syllables that determine stress.

Distinctive Features

Unique characteristics that classify phonemes into categories such as voiced, nasal, or affricate.

Voiced

A phoneme that is produced with vocal cord vibration.

Nasal

A phoneme wherein the velum is lowered allowing sound to pass through the nasal cavity.

Affricate

A phoneme that starts as a stop and is released as a fricative.

Labial

A phoneme characterized by closure or approximation of lips.

High

Referring to the position of the tongue body being close to or touching the palate.

Back

Referring to the tongue body being slightly behind its resting position.

Low

Referring to the tongue body being moved downward.

Syllabic

A phoneme that forms the nucleus of a syllable, usually vowels.

Consonantal

A phoneme characterized by considerable obstruction of the vocal tract.

Sonorant

Phonemes that are spontaneously voiced, such as vowels and nasals.

Continuant

Phonemes with incomplete obstruction of the vocal tract.

Strident

Phonemes that produce high-frequency turbulence during articulation.

Lateral

Phonemes produced with airflow passing along the sides of the tongue.

Distributed

Refers to a relatively long area of contact between the tongue and palate.

Round

Referring to the pursing and extrusion of lips.

Anterior

Referring to tongue contact or approximation at or in front of the incisive foramen.

Coronal

Referring to constriction between the tongue and palatal areas in the coronal plane.

Tense Vowel

A full vowel that is stressed and longer in duration.

Lax Vowel

A full vowel that is relatively unstressed.

Reduced Vowel

A vowel that is less than full in quality and always unstressed.

Aspiration Rule

A rule stating that plosive or affricate phonemes occur in the onset position.

Maximal Onset Principle

A rule limiting onset consonant clusters to no more than three consonants.

Vowel Sequence Condition

A rule that the first of two adjacent vowels must be tense.

Word-final Vowel Condition

A condition determining which vowels can occur at the end of a word.

Physiological Perspective

The structural and physiologic principles of sound production and combinations.

Linguistic Perspective

The rules for producing, combining, and using sounds within a language.