Phonology and Phonological Processes

Vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts of phonetics, phonology, syllable structures, coarticulation, and phonological processes from the COSD 100/PSY 242 lecture.

Phonetics

The study of the universal physical properties of sounds in natural human languages.

Phonology

The study of the sound systems of different languages and the rules used to combine sounds into words.

Phonemes

The basic sound categories that are produced and recognized in a language and function contrastively.

Allophones

Sounds that differ in physical articulation but do not change the meaning of a word, functioning as variations of the same phoneme.

Phonotactics

The permitted arrangement of sounds in a language that describes how syllables are formed.

Syllable Onset

An optional structural part of a syllable that consists of one or more consonants before the nucleus.

Syllable Rhyme

A non-optional structural part of a syllable composed of the nucleus and an optional coda.

Syllable Nucleus

The non-optional core element of a syllable, which is typically a vowel.

Syllable Coda

An optional structural part of a syllable consisting of one or more consonants following the nucleus.

Syllable Tree

A hierarchical structure that illustrates the division of a syllable into its onset, rhyme, nucleus, and coda components, as shown for the word [plænt].

Open Syllable

A syllable structure that ends in a vowel sound; rules state syllables should always be divided to remain open unless phonotactic rules are violated.

Consonant Cluster

A combination of more than one consonant in the onset or coda of a syllable.

Syllable Stress

A property of a syllable that makes it more prominent than neighboring syllables, which can change word meaning in English.

Coarticulation

The process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound during speech production.

Phonological Processes

Patterns of sound errors that typically developing children use to simplify speech as they are learning to talk.

Phonological Disorder

A condition occurring when phonological processes persist beyond the expected developmental age or when atypical sound processes are used.

Backing

A substitution process where alveolar sounds like /t/ and /d/ are substituted with velar sounds like /k/ and /g/.

Fronting

A substitution process where velar or palatal sounds like /k/, /g/, and sh are substituted with alveolar sounds like /t/, /d/, and /s/.

Gliding

A substitution process where /r/ becomes /w/, or /l/ becomes a /w/ or y sound.

Stopping

A substitution process where a fricative (like /f/ or /s/) or affricate (ch, j) is substituted with a stop consonant like /p/ or /d/.

Vowelization

A substitution process where the /l/ or er sounds are replaced with a vowel.

Affrication

A substitution process where a nonaffricate sound is replaced with an affricate sound like ch or j.

Deaffrication

A substitution process where an affricate sound like ch or j is replaced with a fricative or stop like sh or /d/.

Alveolarization

A substitution process where a nonalveolar sound is substituted with an alveolar sound.

Depalatalization

A substitution process where a palatal sound is substituted with a nonpalatal sound.

Labialization

A substitution process where a nonlabial sound is replaced with a labial sound.

Assimilation (Phonological Process)

An assimilation process where a consonant sound starts to sound like another sound in the word.

Denasalization

An assimilation process where a nasal consonant like /m/ or /n/ changes to a nonnasal consonant like /b/ or /d/.

Final Consonant Devoicing

An assimilation process where a voiced consonant at the end of a word like /b/ or /d/ is substituted with a voiceless consonant like /p/ or /t/.

Prevocalic Voicing

An assimilation process where a voiceless consonant in the beginning of a word like /k/ or /f/ is substituted with a voiced consonant like /g/ or /v/.

Coalescence

An assimilation process where two phonemes are substituted with a different phoneme that still has similar features.

Reduplication

An assimilation process where a complete or incomplete syllable is repeated.

Cluster Reduction

A syllable structure process where a consonant cluster is reduced to a single consonant.

Final Consonant Deletion

A syllable structure process where the final consonant in a word is omitted.

Initial Consonant Deletion

A syllable structure process where the initial consonant in a word is omitted.

Weak Syllable Deletion

A syllable structure process where the weak or unstressed syllable in a word is deleted.

Epenthesis

A syllable structure process where a sound, typically the uh sound, is added between two consonants.