Phonetics

Phonetics = the study of speech sounds; how they are producd, how they can be described, and how they travel through air and are received 

Place of Articulation (PoA) = describes where a constriction is made in order to pronounce a consonant 

Manner of Articulation (MoA) = describes how the vocal tract is constricted to allow/prevent airflow 

Voicing = whether the vocal cords vibrate when producing a sound  

Phones = the separate sounds studied in phonetics 

Consonants = produced entirely by obstructing the airstream 

List places of articulation: 

Bilabial (lips) 

Labiodental (bringing teeth to bottom lip) 

Interdental (placing tip of tongue between top and bottom teeth) 

Alveolar (bringing tongue to alveolar ridge) 

Palatal (bringing blade of tongue to palatal roof) 

Velar (stopping airstream by bringing tongue into contact with velum) 

Glottal (narrowing the vocal folds to create a stop) 

Larynx = resonating chamber for the vocal folds 

Pharynx = open area at the back of the mouth 

Minimal pair = pair of words in which one phoneme change results in a change in meaning 

Monophthongs = vowels that take a position for the tongue and lips and hold that position for the vowel sound (/i/, /ɪ/, /ʊ/, /u/, /e/, /ə/, /ɜ/, /ɔ/, /æ/, /ʌ/, /ɑ/ and /ɒ/) 

Diphthongs = vowels produce by continuing to produce sound while sliding between positions, moving from one position to another (/eɪ/, /aɪ/ /ɔɪ/, /oʊ/, /aʊ/) 

Order of articulatory description = place, manner, voice 

Vowels = sounds produced by smooth, unobstructed airflow through vocal tract 

Tongue height = high, mid, low 

Front and Back vowels = relative positions of where the vowels are made in the mouth 

Lip rounding = rounded, unrounded (neutral) 

Syllable = contains at least a nucleus (vowel)