Spoken Language Terms.

Accent

The way people from different places or groups pronounce words.

Adjacency pairs

A conversation pattern where one person speaks and the other responds.

Agenda setting

When someone decides the main topic of a conversation.

Backchannelling

When a listener gives small verbal or nonverbal cues to show they're listening, while still letting the main speaker talk.

Coalescence

When two sounds merge into one, like "assume" becoming "ashume".

Consonant clusters

A group of consonants together without a vowel in between, like "sp" or "ct" in "aspect".

Consonants

Sounds made by restricting airflow with the tongue, teeth, or lips.

Diphthong

Two vowel sounds combined in one syllable.

Eye dialect

Using nonstandard spellings to show how a character pronounces words.

Fricative

Consonant sounds made by forcing air through a narrow opening. They can be voiced (like "v" or "z") or voiceless (like "f" or "s").

Glottal stop

A quick closure of the vocal cords, like in "uh-oh".

Interlocutor

Someone taking part in a conversation.

Intonation

The rise and fall of the voice while speaking.

Manner of articulation

How speech organs are used to create sounds.

Micropause

A short pause in speech, usually less than a second.

Nasal

When air passes through the nose to make a sound, like "m" or "n" in English.

Phatic communion

Polite phrases used to start conversations and make social communication easier, like saying "How are you?" without expecting a detailed answer.

Phoneme

The smallest unit of sound in speech.

Phonetics

The study of how humans physically produce speech sounds.

Phonology

The study of how we attach meaning to speech sounds.

Pitch

The highness or lowness of someone's voice.

Place of articulation

The point in the vocal tract where airflow is restricted when making speech sounds, like when the lower lip touches the upper teeth in "labiodental".

Plosive

Consonant sounds made by stopping the airflow. They can be voiced (like "b" or "d") or voiceless (like "p" or "t").

Transcription

Writing down spoken language using symbols and marks to represent speech sounds.

Turn-taking

When people take turns talking. Speaking one at a time.

Utterance

A section of spoken language, preceded and followed by either silence or a change of speaker.