Ultimate Study Guide

Phonetics

The scientific study of the mechanisms of speech production and perception, including the physical and psychological components involved in creating and interpreting speech sounds.

Phonology

The study of how speech sounds are organized and function within a particular language, focusing on the abstract sound patterns rather than the physical production of sounds.

Vocal Tract

The passage in the human body through which air travels from the lungs to the lips, undergoing modifications by articulators to produce different speech sounds.

Larynx

An organ located in the neck, commonly known as the voice box, which contains the vocal folds and is crucial for phonation.

Glottis

The opening or space between the vocal folds within the larynx. Its state (open, closed, vibrating) significantly influences sound production.

Pulmonic Airstream

The most common airstream mechanism for speech production, where air is expelled from the lungs, pushed up through the trachea, and out through the vocal tract.

Ejective

A consonant sound produced using a glottalic egressive airstream mechanism, where the glottis is closed and pushed upward, compressing air in the mouth before its release with high oral pressure (e.g., $[k’]$).

Implosive

A consonant sound produced using a glottalic ingressive airstream mechanism, where the glottis is closed and the larynx moves downward, creating a partial vacuum in the mouth before air rushes in (e.g., $[ɓ]$).

Phonation

The process by which the vocal folds within the larynx vibrate to produce voiced sounds. It is the source of vocal sound in speech.

Voicing

The presence or absence of vocal fold vibration during the production of a speech sound. Sounds produced with vocal fold vibration are 'voiced,' and those without are 'voiceless.'

Voice Onset Time (VOT)

The temporal delay between the release of a stop consonant (the burst) and the onset of vocal fold vibration (voicing). It is a key acoustic cue for distinguishing voiced from voiceless stops.

Breathy Voice

A phonation type characterized by vocal folds that are slightly apart, allowing a continuous flow of air alongside the vibration, which produces a 'leaky' or 'whispery' sound quality.

Creaky Voice

A phonation type where the vocal folds are held tightly together at the anterior end, causing them to vibrate irregularly and at a low frequency, resulting in a 'creaking' or 'glottal fry' sound.

Stops (Plosives)

Consonants produced by completely obstructing the airstream in the vocal tract, building up air pressure, and then releasing it abruptly, creating a burst of sound (e.g., $[p], [b], [t], [d], [k], [g]$).

Fricatives

Consonants produced by creating a narrow constriction in the vocal tract, forcing air through the small opening and generating turbulent, hissing, or buzzing airflow (e.g. [f],[v],[s],[z],[ʃ],[ʒ],[ɸ],[β],[f],[v],[𝜃],[ð],[s],[z],[ʃ],[ʒ],[ʂ],[ʐ],[ç],[ʝ],[x],[ɣ],[χ],[ʁ],[ħ],[ʕ],[h],[ɦ] ).

Affricates

A consonant sound that begins as a complete obstruction of the airstream (like a stop) and is then slowly released into a narrow constriction (like a fricative), creating a combined sound with a distinct onset and a turbulent release (e.g., $[tʃ]$ as in 'church', $[dʒ]$ as in 'judge').

Sonorants

Speech sounds produced with a relatively open vocal tract, allowing air to flow smoothly without significant obstruction or turbulence; they typically include nasals, liquids, and glides (e.g., $[m], [n], [l], [r], [w], [j]$). These sounds are almost always voiced.

Diphthongs

Vowels whose quality changes smoothly over the duration of the sound, involving a glide from one vowel position to another within the same syllable. They are often composed of a steady-state beginning followed by a gliding component (e.g., $[aɪ]$ in 'buy', $[aʊ]$ in 'cow', $[ɔɪ]$ in 'boy').

Vowel Space

A conceptual two-dimensional diagram representing the range of possible vowel articulations. It is typically plotted with vowel height (high to low) on the vertical axis and vowel backness (front to back) on the horizontal axis.

Cardinal Vowels

A set of reference vowels, established by Daniel Jones, that represent extreme or peripheral articulations within the vowel space. They are used as a universal standard for describing and comparing vowels across different languages, independent of any specific language's vowel system.

Advanced Tongue Root (ATR)

A phonetic feature where the root of the tongue moves forward in the pharynx, often resulting in a larger pharyngeal cavity and a 'tenser' or 'brighter' vowel quality. It is a contrastive feature in many African languages.

Aerodynamic Voicing Constraint

A principle that describes the difficulty in maintaining voicing during the closure phase of a stop consonant, especially voiced stops like $[b], [d], [g]$, because the air pressure in the oral cavity quickly equalizes with the subglottal pressure, thereby stopping the airflow across the vocal folds needed for vibration.

Modulation

The systematic variation of a sound's acoustic properties over time, such as amplitude, frequency, or quality. In speech, modulation contributes to the perception of intonation, stress, and specific phonetic features, often giving dynamic quality to sounds like stops and diphthongs.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

A comprehensive and standardized system of phonetic notation designed to represent all human speech sounds. It provides a unique symbol for every known sound across all languages, enabling precise transcription.

Place of Articulation

The specific location in the vocal tract where two articulators (e.g., lips, tongue, teeth, palate) come together or are brought close to each other to create a constriction or obstruction, thereby shaping the sound of a consonant.

Manner of Articulation

The way in which the airstream is obstructed, constricted, or modified by the articulators in the vocal tract to produce a consonant sound. This includes categories like stops, fricatives, nasals, etc.

Bilabial Consonants

Consonants produced by bringing both lips together to form a complete closure or a narrow constriction (e.g., $[p]$ as in 'pat', $[b]$ as in 'bat', $[m]$ as in 'mat').

Labiodental Consonants

Consonants produced by bringing the lower lip against the upper front teeth, creating a narrow constriction through which air escapes (e.g., $[f]$ as in 'fan', $[v]$ as in 'van').

Dental Consonants

Consonants produced by placing the tip or blade of the tongue against the back of the upper front teeth (or sometimes between them), creating a constriction (e.g., $[θ]$ as in 'thin', $[ð]$ as in 'this').

Alveolar Consonants

Consonants produced by placing the tip or blade of the tongue against the alveolar ridge (the bony ridge just behind the upper front teeth) (e.g., $[t]$ as in 'top', $[d]$ as in 'dog', $[s]$ as in 'sit', $[z]$ as in 'zoo', $[n]$ as in 'nap', $[l]$ as in 'leaf').

Palato-alveolar (Post-alveolar) Consonants

Consonants produced by directing the tongue blade towards the back of the alveolar ridge, often with the tongue body also raised towards the hard palate (e.g., $[ʃ]$ as in 'she', $[ʒ]$ as in 'measure', $[tʃ]$ as in 'church', $[dʒ]$ as in 'judge').

Palatal Consonants

Consonants produced by bringing the body of the tongue close to or against the hard palate (the roof of the mouth behind the alveolar ridge) (e.g., $[j]$ as in 'yes').

Velar Consonants

Consonants produced by bringing the back of the tongue close to or against the soft palate (the velum, the fleshy part at the back of the roof of the mouth) (e.g., $[k]$ as in 'cat', $[g]$ as in 'go', $[ŋ]$ as in 'sing').

Uvular Consonants

Consonants produced by bringing the back of the tongue close to or against the uvula (the small fleshy appendage hanging at the very back of the soft palate) (e.g., $[q]$ as a voiceless uvular stop found in languages like Arabic or Greenlandic).

Pharyngeal Consonants

Consonants produced by constricting the pharynx (the region of the throat above the larynx and behind the soft palate), often by retracting the tongue root (e.g., $[ħ]$ as a voiceless pharyngeal fricative, $[ʕ]$ as a voiced pharyngeal fricative, both found in Arabic).

Glottal Consonants

Consonants produced at the glottis by obstructing or modifying the airflow at the vocal folds themselves (e.g., $[h]$ as a voiceless glottal fricative in 'hat', $[ʔ]$ as a glottal stop in the break in 'uh-oh').

Nasals

Consonants produced with a complete closure in the oral cavity (mouth), but with the velum lowered, allowing air to escape freely through the nasal cavity (nose) (e.g., $[m]$ as in 'mat', $[n]$ as in 'nap', $[ŋ]$ as in 'sing'). All nasals are typically voiced.

Laterals

Consonants produced with a closure in the center of the vocal tract, but with air escaping over one or both sides of the tongue (e.g., light $[l]$ in 'leaf', dark $[ɫ]$ in 'feel').

Approximants

Consonants produced when articulators come close to each other but do not create sufficient turbulence to be classified as fricatives. The vocal tract remains relatively open, making them acoustically similar to vowels (often called 'semivowels' or 'glides'). Examples include $[w]$ (as in 'we'), $[j]$ (as in 'yes'), and $[r]$ (as in 'red').

Trills

Consonants produced by the rapid, repetitive vibration or flapping of one articulator against another, such as the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge multiple times (e.g., a tongue tip trill $[r]$ in Spanish 'perro').

Flaps/Taps

Consonants produced by a single, rapid, ballistic contact between two articulators, typically the tongue tip lightly striking the alveolar ridge (e.g., the 'tt' in 'butter' in American English, transcribed as $[ɾ]$).

Vowel Height

Refers to the vertical position of the highest part of the tongue in the mouth, determining if a vowel is high (tongue close to the roof), mid, or low (tongue far from the roof/close to the floor).

Vowel Backness

Refers to the horizontal position of the highest part of the tongue in the mouth, determining if a vowel is front (tongue towards the front), central, or back (tongue towards the back of the mouth).

Vowel Rounding

Refers to the shape of the lips during vowel production, specifically whether they are rounded (puckered, forming a smaller opening) or spread (retracted, forming a wider opening) or neutral.

Tenseness

A phonetic feature referring to the degree of muscle tension in the tongue (and often the jaw) during vowel production. Tense vowels are typically produced with more muscle effort and a more extreme tongue position, often resulting in a longer duration, while lax vowels are less tense and more centralized, often shorter.

$$[i]$$

High front tense unrounded vowel (as in 'fleece', 'see'). The tongue is held high and in the front of the mouth, with lips unrounded.

high front tense unrounded vowel (as in 'fleece')?

$$[i]$$

$$[ɪ]$$

High front lax unrounded vowel (as in 'kit', 'sit'). The tongue is held high and in the front of the mouth, but slightly lower and more centralized than $[i]$, with lips unrounded.

high front lax unrounded vowel

$$[ɪ]$$

$$[æ]$$

Low front lax unrounded vowel (as in 'trap', 'cat'). The tongue is held low and in the front of the mouth, with lips unrounded.

low front lax unrounded vowel

$$[æ]$$

$$[ə]$$

Mid central lax unrounded vowel, known as schwa (typically occurs only in unstressed syllables, as in the first 'a' in 'about' or 'sofa'). The tongue is in a relaxed, mid-central position, with lips unrounded.

mid central lax unrounded vowel

$$[ə]$$

$$[ʌ]$$

Low-mid central lax unrounded vowel (as in 'strut', 'cut'). The tongue is held low and in a central position, with lips unrounded. This vowel typically occurs in stressed syllables.

low-mid central lax unrounded vowel

$$[ʌ]$$

$$[u]$$

High back tense rounded vowel (as in 'goose', 'moon'). The tongue is held high and in the back of the mouth, with lips rounded.

high back tense rounded vowel

$$[u]$$

$$[ʊ]$$

High back lax rounded vowel (as in 'foot', 'book'). The tongue is held high and in the back of the mouth, but slightly lower and more centralized than $[u]$, with lips rounded.

high back lax rounded vowel

$$[ʊ]$$

$$[ɑ]$$

Low back tense unrounded vowel (as in 'father', 'palm'). The tongue is held low and in the back of the mouth, with lips unrounded.

low back tense unrounded vowel

$$[ɑ]$$

$$[ɔ]$$

Low-mid back tense rounded vowel (as in 'thought', 'caught'). The tongue is held low-mid and in the back of the mouth, with lips rounded.

low-mid back tense rounded vowel

$$[ɔ]$$

$$[oʊ]$$

Diphthong that typically starts with a mid back rounded vowel and glides towards a high back lax rounded vowel (as in 'boat', 'go').

What is the diphthong in 'boat'?

$$[oʊ]$$

$$[eɪ]$$

Diphthong that typically starts with a mid-front unrounded vowel and glides towards a high front lax unrounded vowel (as in 'bait', 'say').

What is the diphthong in 'bait'?

$$[eɪ]$$

$$[aɪ]$$

A diphthong that typically starts with a low back unrounded vowel and glides towards a high front lax unrounded vowel (as in 'buy', 'my', 'time').

What is the diphthong in 'buy'?

$$[aɪ]$$

$$[aʊ]$$

A diphthong that typically starts with a low back unrounded vowel and glides towards a high back lax rounded vowel (as in 'cow', 'house', 'out').

What is the diphthong in 'cow'?

$$[aʊ]$$

$$[ɔɪ]$$

A diphthong that typically starts with a low-mid back rounded vowel and glides towards a high front lax unrounded vowel (as in 'boy', 'coin', 'toy').

What is the diphthong in 'boy'?

$$[ɔɪ]$$

$$[p]$$

Voiceless bilabial stop.

voiceless bilabial stop

$$[p]$$

$$[b]$$

Voiced bilabial stop.

voiced bilabial stop

$$[b]$$

$$[m]$$

Voiced bilabial nasal.

voiced bilabial nasal

$$[m]$$

$$[f]$$

Voiceless labiodental fricative.

voiceless labiodental fricative

$$[f]$$

$$[v]$$

Voiced labiodental fricative.

voiced labiodental fricative

$$[v]$$

$$[θ]$$

Voiceless dental fricative (as in 'thin').

voiceless dental fricative

$$[θ]$$

$$[ð]$$

Voiced dental fricative (as in 'this').

voiced dental fricative (as in 'this')?

$$[ð]$$

$$[t]$$

Voiceless alveolar stop.

voiceless alveolar stop

$$[t]$$

$$[d]$$

Voiced alveolar stop.

voiced alveolar stop

$$[d]$$

$$[s]$$

Voiceless alveolar fricative.

voiceless alveolar fricative?

$$[s]$$

$$[z]$$

Voiced alveolar fricative.

voiced alveolar fricative

$$[z]$$

$$[n]$$

Voiced alveolar nasal.

voiced alveolar nasal

$$[n]$$

$$[l]$$

Voiced alveolar lateral approximant (light L, as in 'leaf').

voiced alveolar lateral approximant

$$[l]$$

$$[ʃ]$$

Voiceless post-alveolar fricative (as in 'she').