Glossary of Terms IPA Diction

International Phonetic Alphabet

Also known as “IPA”. Developed by the International Phonetic Association in the late 19th century, to represent the sounds of speech; Series of symbols that represent a certain speech sound,. These symbols are universal, designed to represent the same sound across all languages, and the symbols, along with their corresponding sounds, represent the collection of all possible linguistic utterances

Orthographic Letter/ Orthographic Spelling

the symbols we use to communicate language in written form. Each individual symbol is called an orthographic letter and when combined they are called orthographic spellings

IPA Symbol/ IPA Spelling or Transcription

the symbols we use to represent individual linguistic sounds; IPA spellings when grouped into larger groupings; They are differentiated from orthographic letters and spellings by the use of the square bracket [ ], which they MUST be enclosed in

IPA Transcribing

The act of changing an orthographic spelling into International Phonetic Alphabet

IPA Transcription

The product which results from the act of IPA transcribing

Phoneme

an individual speech/language sound

Articulation

the process of forming or shaping the individual sounds of a language by the movements of the articulators

Pronunciation

the selection of sounds and syllabic stress

Syllable

A unit of spoken language that is next larger than an individual phoneme/speech sound and consists of one or more vowel sounds with or without consonants

Accent/Stress

the syllable within a word that recieves more emphasis, either being louder, longer, or both

Primary Stress

the syllable within a word that recieves the most emphasis

Secondary stress

The syllable within a multi-syllable word that recieves the second most emphasis

Penultimate

the second-to-last, in diction, especially when referencing the stressing of syllables

Antepenultimate

the third to last

Vocal Tract

generally, the passage ways and spaces in the body which are critical to vocal action (lungs, trachea, larynx, pharynx, nasopharynx, nasal cavity, oral cavity, articulators)

Articulators

body parts within the vocal tract which are used in the formation of articulation of speech sounds (tongue, lips, jaw, alveolar ridge, and velum)

Velum

the soft palate, which is the soft back part of the roof of the mouth

Hard Palate

the rigid portion of the roof of the mouth

Alveolar Ridge

the rudge on the top of the mouth behind the upper front teeth where the roofline of the mouth ascends upward

Uvula

the tissue that descends from the back edge of the velum

Vowel

A speech sound which is produced without any major interruption of the air flow through the vocal tract and can be sustained

Pure Vowel

A vowel that consists of one single sound from beginning to end

Diphthong

a vowel unit that consists of two pure vowel sounds that occur in the same syllable, flowing smoothly from one to the next (ex: mine, day, found)

Triphthong

a vowel unit that consists of three seperate vowel sounds in the same syllable, flowing smoothly from one to the next (ex: meow)

Forward Vowels

Those vowels pronounced with the arch of the tongue forward in the mouth, near the teeth ridge or hard palate

Central Vowels

Those vowels which are produced with the high point of the tongue centrally located in the mouth

Back Vowels

Those vowels which are produced with the high point of the tongue toward the back of the mouth

Closed Vowels

The vowels which are produced with the least amount of space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Mid Vowels

The vowels which are produced with a moderate amount of space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Open Vowels

The vowels which are produced with the most space between the tongue and the roof of the mouth

Rounded Vowels

Vowels that require the lips to be more rounded

Unrounded Vowels

Vowels that require the lips to be less rounded

Vowel Diagram

a graphic which represents the positioning of the tongue for various vowels used in speech. It was developed by Daniel Jones in the early 20th century and has become a widely referenced item among linguists, singers, and vocal pedagogues

Consonant

A speech sound that is produced with some type of interference or interruption of the air stream as it moves through the vocal tract

Place of Articulation

refers to the location within the vocal tract where the interruption of the airflow occurs

Manner of Articulation

refers tto the method of interruption of the air flow, whether a complete interruption or partial interruption

Plosive (stop-plosive)

the airflow is completely prevented from passing through the mouth or the nose and then is released suddenly [p, b, t, d, k, g]

Fricative

the airflow is partially interrupted, thus producing a noisy sound, and creating a quality friction [f, v, s, z, h, ǒ, ø]

Nasal

the vocal tract is blocked with the oral cavity, the lowered velum allows air to travel through the nasal passageway [m,n]

Lateral

the tip of the tongue lifts to touch the teeth and alveolar ridge and the breath flows past one of both sides of the tongue [l]

Glides

the sound is characterized my movement of the articulators from one position to another [r, j, w]

Affricative or Combination consonants

These are produced by a stop followed by a
fricative consonant forming a single sound. In English the affricative or combination
consonants are: [t∫ dʒ]

Voiced consonants

Pronounced with vocal fold vibration

Unvoiced Consonants

are produced without vocal fold vibration

Cognates

pairs of consonants that have the same manner of articulation, one being voiced and the other unvoiced

Digraph

a combination of two or more orthographically spelled letters that represent a single sound (th, ch)

Off Glide

an unintended sound when moving from one phoneme to the other; must be avoided in foreign languages because it is a natural part of our colloquial speech patterns

Vowel Modification

a process used to aid singing efficiency which requires a slight intentional alteration of a vowel from a speech like state to one that allows for a more optimal sung sound

Vowel Harmonization

a process used in singing to make slight intentional alterations in vowel sounds that are in proximity in a phrase to complete a more pleasing vocal line

Consonant Assimilation

unintentional slight alterations in consonants which are caused by other consonants in proximity

Consonant Blends

^{groups of two or more consonants that appear together without a vowel in between and in which each of the letters makes its own sound.  (E.g. bl, br, cl, cr, dr, fl, tr, tw, scr, shr, spl, mp, ft, ld, sp, lf, etc.)}