Glossary of Key Terms in Phonetics

A set of vocabulary flashcards based on key terms from a phonetics lecture.

Acoustic Phonetics

The branch of phonetics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds as sound waves.

Affricate

A manner of articulation for consonants that begins with a stop closure followed by a gradual release resulting in friction. (e.g., /tʃ/, /dʒ/).

Allophone

One of the variant forms of a phoneme that occurs in different phonetic environments.

Alveolar Ridge

The bony ridge located directly behind the upper front teeth, serving as a place of articulation for several consonants.

Articulators

The parts of the vocal tract that move to produce speech sounds.

Articulatory Phonetics

The branch of phonetics that studies how speech sounds are produced by the movement and positioning of the vocal organs.

Assimilation

A phonological process where a sound becomes more similar to a nearby sound in terms of one or more of its phonetic features.

Auditory Phonetics

The branch of phonetics that studies how humans perceive and process speech sounds.

Bilabial

A place of articulation for consonants produced by bringing the upper and lower lips together.

Coda

The consonants that follow the nucleus (vowel) in a syllable.

Complementary Distribution

The occurrence of two or more allophones of a phoneme in mutually exclusive phonetic environments.

Consonant

A speech sound produced with some constriction or obstruction of the airflow in the vocal tract.

Consonant Cluster

A sequence of two or more consonants occurring together in a syllable, either in the onset or the coda.

Dentalisation

A place of articulation for consonants produced with the tongue tip or blade making contact with the upper front teeth.

Diacritic

A symbol added to a phonetic transcription symbol to indicate a specific phonetic feature or modification of the sound.

Diphthong

A vowel sound that involves a glide or movement of the articulators from one vowel quality to another within the same syllable.

Distinctive Features

The smallest units of sound that distinguish one phoneme from another in a language.

Elision/Deletion

The omission of a sound in connected speech.

Epenthesis

The insertion of an extra sound into a word or between words in connected speech.

Formant

A frequency region in the acoustic spectrum of a vowel sound that is relatively high in energy.

Fricative

A manner of articulation for consonants produced by forcing air through a narrow constriction in the vocal tract.

Glottal

A place of articulation for consonants produced at the glottis.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

A standardized phonetic notation system used to represent the sounds of all spoken languages.

Intonation

The pattern of pitch changes in speech, which can convey grammatical and attitudinal information.

Labiodental

A place of articulation for consonants produced with the lower lip making contact with the upper front teeth.

Labiovelar

A place of articulation involving the lips and the velum simultaneously.

Lexical Stress

The pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables within words.

Manner of Articulation

How the airstream is obstructed or modified in the vocal tract to produce a consonant sound.

Minimal Pair

Two words that differ in meaning and have only one sound different in the same position.

Monophthong

A vowel sound with a single, stable articulatory position.

Nasal

A manner of articulation for consonants produced by lowering the velum, allowing air to escape through the nasal cavity.

Nucleus

The central part of a syllable, typically a vowel.

Onset

The consonants that precede the nucleus (vowel) in a syllable.

Orthography

The conventional spelling system of a language.

Palatal

A place of articulation for consonants produced with the front of the tongue raised to the hard palate.

Phoneme

The smallest contrastive unit of sound in a language.

Phonetic Transcription

A detailed representation of speech sounds, typically using the IPA.

Phonetics

The study of the physical sounds of human speech.

Phonological Processes

Systematic sound changes that occur in speech.

Phonology

The study of the abstract mental representations and systematic organisation of sounds in a language.

Phonotactic Constraints

The rules that specify the permissible sequences and combinations of sounds in a syllable.

Place of Articulation

The point of constriction or obstruction in the vocal tract where a consonant sound is produced.

Plosive (Stop)

A manner of articulation for consonants produced by completely obstructing the airflow.

Postalveolar (Palato-alveolar)

A place of articulation for consonants produced with the tongue blade raised to the area just behind the alveolar ridge.

Prosody (Suprasegmentals)

The rhythmic and intonational aspects of speech.

Rhyme

The part of a syllable consisting of the nucleus and any following consonants.

Schwa

A mid-central vowel that typically occurs in unstressed syllables in English.

Speech

The process of expressing thoughts, feelings, or information through spoken language.

Stress

The relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable or word.

Syllable

A basic unit of pronunciation and structure in a language.

Velar

A place of articulation for consonants produced with the back of the tongue raised to the soft palate.

Velum (Soft Palate)

The soft, movable part of the roof of the mouth located behind the hard palate.

Vocal Folds (Vocal Cords)

Two folds of mucous membrane within the larynx that vibrate to produce voiced sounds.

Vocal Tract

The overall place where anatomical structures

(articulators) involved in the production of speech sounds are found.

Voiced

A speech sound produced with vibration of the vocal folds.

Voiceless

A speech sound produced without vibration of the vocal folds.

Vowel

A speech sound produced with relatively little or no obstruction of the airflow.