Introductory Linguistics and Phonetics Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards generated from lecture notes on introductory linguistics, articulatory phonetics, consonants, vowels, and suprasegmental features.

Linguistics

The scientific study of language.

Interchangeability

The property of language that allows individuals to both transmit and receive messages.

Semanticity

The property of language where all signals have a specific meaning or function.

Pragmatic functions

The property of language where all utterances serve a useful purpose in communication.

Arbitrariness

The property of language signs where there is no inherent connection between form and meaning.

Discreteness

The property of language where sentences, phrases, and words can be broken down into smaller, distinct elements.

Displacement

The property of language that allows speakers to represent things and events not currently present, such as the past, future, or unreal.

Productivity

The property of language that allows an endless number of new structures to be created using systematic rules.

Descriptive grammar

An approach to grammar that focuses on observing and describing how people actually use language, rather than prescribing rules.

Linguistic competence

An individual's unobservable, underlying knowledge of their language.

Linguistic performance

What a speaker actually does with language, providing observable evidence used to study linguistic competence.

Phonetics

The study of speech sounds.

Phonology

The study of the sound system of a language and how sounds can be placed or combined.

Morphology

The study of word structure and how words are created from or broken down into smaller meaningful parts.

Syntax

The branch of linguistics concerned with how words combine to form well-formed phrases and sentences.

Semantics

The branch of linguistics concerned with the literal meaning of words and sentences.

Pragmatics

The study of how context influences meaning and how speakers choose utterances based on context.

Acoustic phonetics

The subfield of phonetics that studies the physical properties of speech sounds, such as sound waves and frequencies.

Auditory phonetics

The subfield of phonetics that studies how listeners perceive speech sounds.

Articulatory phonetics

The subfield of phonetics that studies how speech sounds are physically produced in the vocal tract.

Pulmonic egressive airstream mechanism

The speech production mechanism in which air originates in the lungs and is pushed outward through the windpipe, larynx, pharynx, and vocal tract.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

An international system of symbols used to represent the speech sounds of all world languages in a unified way, where one symbol represents exactly one sound.

Segments

Discrete speech sounds, categorized as consonants or vowels, transcribed with individual phonetic symbols.

Suprasegmentals

Phonetic features that work on top of segments and affect entire strings of speech sounds, such as tone, intonation, stress, and length.

Syllable

A unit of speech composed of an optional onset and a rhyme, which consists of a nucleus and an optional coda.

Nucleus

The vowel core of a syllable's rhyme, which is mandatory in every syllable.

Coda

The optional consonant following the nucleus in the rhyme of a syllable.

Bilabial

A place of articulation produced by bringing both lips together.

Labiodental

A place of articulation produced using the bottom lip and the top teeth.

Interdental

A place of articulation produced by placing the tongue between the teeth.

Alveolar

A place of articulation produced with the tongue tip against the alveolar ridge.

Post-alveolar

A place of articulation produced with the tongue between the alveolar ridge and the hard palate.

Palatal

A place of articulation produced by raising the body of the tongue to the hard palate.

Velar

A place of articulation produced by bringing the back of the tongue to the soft palate.

Glottal

A place of articulation produced using the glottis.

Stop

A manner of articulation involving complete closure of the airflow followed by a release.

Fricative

A manner of articulation involving partial obstruction of airflow sufficient to cause friction or a hissing sound.

Affricate

A manner of articulation involving complete airflow closure followed by a fricative release.

Tap

A manner of articulation characterized by a very quick stop closure, as in the middle sound of 'water'.

Nasal

A manner of articulation produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape through the nasal cavity.

Approximant

A manner of articulation where articulators obstruct air, but not enough to cause frication.

Consonant Articulatory Description Order

The fixed sequence used to describe consonants: Voicing followed by Place of Articulation followed by Manner of Articulation.

English Consonants Chart

A standard phonetic chart organizing English consonant sounds by Manner of Articulation, Place of Articulation, and State of the Glottis.

Vowel Articulatory Description Order

The fixed sequence used to describe vowels: Tongue Height followed by Tongue Advancement followed by Lip Rounding followed by Tenseness.

Diphthong

A complex vowel sound consisting of two distinct vowel qualities combined within the same syllable.

Lax Vowels Chart

A vowel quadrilateral diagram highlighting lax English vowels in the shaded region across different tongue heights and advancements.

Tense vs. Lax Vowels Map

A vowel diagram illustrating tense vowels on the outer perimeter and arrows pointing to corresponding lax vowel positions within the shaded central region.

IPA Vowel Chart

The standard IPA vowel trapezium classifying vowels by vertical tongue height (Close to Open) and horizontal tongue advancement (Front to Back), with bullet pairs showing unrounded and rounded vowels.

Glottalization

The simultaneous production of a glottal stop with a consonant, producing an ejective sound using compressed air in the mouth.

Pitch accents

Suprasegmental pitch changes within an utterance used to highlight new information, emphasize words, or create contrast.

Phrase tones

Suprasegmental pitch changes at the end of an utterance that affect overall sentence meaning, such as distinguishing statements from questions.

Tone

Pitch variation within a word used in tonal languages to indicate differences in word meaning.

Stress

The prominence given to a syllable within a word, making it longer, louder, and pronounced with full vowels.