Linguistics and Articulatory Phonetics Flashcards

Definition: Linguistics is the scientific study of language.
Role of Linguists: Experts in linguistics work on specific languages to understand the nature of language in general.
Core Investigative Questions: Linguists seek to answer fundamental questions, including:
- What is the difference between human language and other animal communication systems?
- What are the common features shared by all human languages?
- What are the various modes of linguistic communication?
- How are languages related to one another?
- How is language related to other types of human behavior?

1. Phonology (Rules About Sounds):
- Studies how sounds work together in a particular language.
- Defined as the study of the patterns of sounds in a language and across different languages.
2. Phonetics (Sounds):
- Examines how speech sounds are produced, heard, and made.
- Allows for the analysis of speech sounds without requiring prior knowledge of the specific language being spoken.
3. Morphology (Building Words):
- Studies how words are formed from smaller meaningful parts called morphemes.
- Morphemes are defined as the smallest units of meaning in a language.
4. Syntax (Building Sentences):
- Studies how words are arranged and organized to construct grammatically correct sentences.
5. Semantics (Meaning):
- Studies the explicit meaning of words, phrases, and sentences.
6. Pragmatics (Meaning in Context):
- Studies how the context and situation alter or change the meaning of language.

Definition of Consonant Sounds:
- A speech sound produced by the partial or complete obstruction of airflow by articulators such as the lips, teeth, tongue, or throat.
- Examples include the initial and final consonant sounds in words like "pit" and "nit".
Three Criteria for Describing Consonants:
- Consonant sounds are characterized according to voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation.

Voiced Sounds: Sounds produced with the vibration of the vocal folds.
- Examples: b, d, v, m.
Voiceless Sounds: Sounds produced without any vibration of the vocal folds.
- Examples: s, p, t.

Refers to the anatomical location where the sound/obstruction is made:

Bilabial: Both lips come into contact with each other.
- Examples: p, b, m.
Labio-dental: The lower lip comes into contact with the upper teeth.
- Examples: f, v.
Dental: The tip of the tongue mildly touches the teeth.
- Examples: thigh, they.
Alveolar: The tip or blade of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge (the ridge directly behind the upper front teeth).
- Examples: t, d, s.
Palato-alveolar: The tip or blade of the tongue touches the alveolar ridge while the body of the tongue approaches the hard palate.
Palatal: The body of the tongue touches the hard palate (the middle/roof of the mouth).
Velar: The body of the tongue comes into contact with the soft palate, also known as the velum.
- Examples: k, g.
Glottal: The vocal folds in the throat come into contact to produce friction.
- Example: h.

Refers to how the airflow is manipulated and how the sound is produced:

Plosives (Stops): Produced by completely stopping the airflow and then releasing it with little restriction, causing the sound to explode.
- Examples: pit, kid, b, d, g.
Fricatives: Produced by pushing air through a narrow passageway, creating friction.
- Examples: v, z, shh.
Affricates (Affricatives): A compound sound produced by combining a stop sound and a fricative sound.
Nasal: Produced by releasing air through the nasal cavity rather than the mouth.
- Examples: m, n.
Liquids: Produced when the tongue and palate create a partial restriction of the airflow.

Definition of Vowels: Speech sounds produced smoothly without any constriction or obstruction of airflow in the vocal tract.
Vowel Letters vs. Vowel Sounds: English contains 5 written vowel letters, but possesses 20 distinct vowel sounds.

Short Vowels (typically monophthongs):
- A: Pronounced as "ah" (Examples: cat, hat, ant).
- E: Pronounced as "eh" (Examples: bed, pen, egg).
- I: Pronounced as "ih" (Examples: sit, pig, lip).
- O: Pronounced as "oh" / "a" (Examples: dog, mop, top).
- U: Pronounced as "uh" (Examples: cup, bug, bus).
Long Vowels (often involving diphthongal quality or distinct long vowel sounds):
- A: As heard in "paper".
- E: As heard in "be".
- I: As heard in "find".
- O: As heard in "go".
- U: As heard in "human".

Monophthongs:
- Defined as a vowel sound pronounced as a single, unchanging sound without any significant shift in quality or tongue position throughout its duration.
- Consists of only one single vowel sound within a syllable.
- The mouth stays in one static position during production.
- English contains 12 monophthongs.
- Examples: see, sit, cat, book, law.
Diphthongs:
- Defined as a single vowel sound produced by combining two distinct vowel sounds within the same single syllable.
- The mouth glides/moves from one articulatory position to another during production.
- Examples: face, price, choice, goat, mouth.