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LING Module 3
Chapter 3 - Phonology Terms from Essentials of Linguistics, 2nd ed
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Phone | A linguistically significant speech sound, e.g. [p], [m], [ʔ] |
| Phoneme | A semantically meaningful speech sound in a particular language, e.g. /p/, /b/, /m/ |
| Modality | The physical means by which a language is produced and perceived |
| Intention | The mental process of constructing a message that one intends to communicate to another person |
| Articulation | The movements and configurations of the body parts used to produce language |
| Perception | The receiving, sensing, & processing of a linguistic signal |
| Linguistic signal | The physical manifestation of a message that is conveyed through language |
| Vocal | Pertaining to the voice or speech sounds produced by the vocal cords in the larynx |
| Acoustic | Pertaining to the physical properties of sound waves, such as frequency, amplitude, & duration |
| Auditory | Pertaining to the sense of hearing or the perception of sound waves by the ear |
| Manual | Pertaining to the hands or arms or the use of these body parts to produce linguistic signals |
| Photic | Pertaining to the physical properties of light waves, such as wavelength & intensity. |
| Visual | Pertaining to the sense of sight or the perception of light waves by the eye |
| Signed languages | Natural languages produced & perceived visually, using manual & facial gestures as well as body movements to convey meaning |
| Spoken languages | Natural languages produced & perceived auditorily, using vocal sounds produced by the vocal tract to convey meaning |
| Tactile signing | A type of manual-somatic language, where the signer uses their hands to produce signs felt by the recipient through touch |
| Manual-somatic | A modality of language where linguistic signals are articulated by the hands & perceived by the somatosensory system |
| Multimodal communication | The use of more than one modality, such as speech, gesture, facial expression, and body language, to convey meaning |
| Co-speech behaviors | Nonverbal cues or actions accompanying spoken language & used to convey meaning, emphasis, emotion, attitude, etc. |
| Phonetics | The study of linguistic modality in general, e.g., physical properties of speech sounds, how they are produced, transmitted, perceived, etc. |
| Etymology | The study of the origin & history of words, including their meanings & how they have changed over time |
| Articulatory phonetics | The branch of phonetics studying how the body creates a linguistic signal, e.g., how speech sounds are produced by the human vocal tract |
| Perceptual phonetics | The study of how the human body perceives & processes linguistic signals |
| Acoustic phonetics | The study of the physical properties of the linguistic signal, i.e., linguistic sound waves |
| Vocal tract | The anatomical structure in the human body responsible for the production of speech sounds |
| Midsagittal diagram | A diagram showing the human head as if it were split down the middle between the eyes; a 2D representation of the vocal tract |
| Speech articulators | The parts of the body involved in the production of speech sounds, e.g. the lips, tongue, teeth, alveolar ridge, hard & soft palate, uvula, pharynx, larynx |
| Oral cavity | The main interior of the mouth, taking up space horizontally from the lips backward |
| Pharynx | The area behind the oral cavity & tongue, forming the upper part of what we normally think of as the throat |
| Nasal cavity | The open interior of the head above the oral cavity & pharynx, from the nostrils backward & down to the pharynx |
| Trachea (“windpipe”) | The tube-like structure in the human body connecting the larynx (“voice box”) to the bronchi of the lungs |
| Esophagus | The muscular tube-like structure in the human body connecting the pharynx (or throat) to the stomach |
| Lower lip | The fleshy, movable part of the mouth located below the upper lip |
| Tongue tip | The frontest part of the tongue; also called the apex |
| Tongue blade | The region just behind the tongue tip; also called the lamina |
| Tongue front | The tip & blade together as a unit, also called the corona |
| Tongue back | The upper portion of the tongue, excluding the front; also called the dorsum |
| Tongue root | The lower portion of the tongue in the pharynx; also called the radix |
| Epiglottis | The large flap at the bottom of the pharynx that can cover the trachea to block food from entering the lungs |
| Upper lip | The fleshy, movable part of the mouth located above the lower lip, used for [p] in “pin” & [b] in “bin” |
| Upper teeth | The teeth located in the upper jaw of the mouth, above the lower teeth, used for [f] in “fin” & [θ] in “thin” |
| Alveolar ridge | The firm part of the gums that extends just behind the upper teeth, used for [t] in “tin” & [s] in “sin” |
| Postalveolar region | The back wall of the alveolar ridge, used for [sh] in “shin” & [ch] in “chin” |
| Hard palate | The hard part of the roof of the mouth, used for [j] in “yawn” |
| Velum (or soft palate) | The softer part of the roof of the mouth, used for the [k] in “kin” & [g] in “gone” |
| Uvula | The fleshy blob that hangs down from the soft palate or velum |
| Pharyngeal wall | The back wall of the pharynx |
| Glottis | The empty space located between the vocal folds (or vocal cords) inside the larynx (or voice box) at the top of the trachea |
| Consonant | A speech sound produced by restricting the flow of air through the vocal tract as two articulators create a constriction |
| Vowel | A speech sound produced by an open vocal tract with air flowing freely as the oral cavity is shaped by the tongue, lips, & jaw |
| Active or lower articulator | The part of the vocal tract that moves towards the passive articulator to force the air through a narrow opening |
| Passive or upper articulator | The part of the vocal tract that is the target or destination for the active articulator during the production of a speech sound |
| Labial | Articulated with the lower lip; from “labia” meaning “lip” |
| Apical | Articulated with the tongue tip; from “apex” |
| Laminal | Articulated with the tongue blade; from “lamina” |
| Coronal | Articulated with the tongue front; from “corona” |
| Dorsal | Articulated with the tongue back; from “dorsum” |
| Radical | Articulated with the tongue root; from “radix” |
| Epiglottal | Articulated with the epiglottis |
| Labium | Lip |
| Apex | Etymologically, “tip, point, summit” – so, the tongue tip |
| Lamina | Etymologically, “thin piece of metal or wood, thin slice or layer” – so, the tongue blade |
| Corona | Etymologically, “crown” – so, the tongue front |
| Dorsum | Etymologically, the “back” – so the tongue back |
| Radix | Etymologically, the “root” – so, the tongue root |
| Epiglottis (etymology) | “(That which is) on [epi-] the tongue [glottis])” |
| Place of articulation | The combination of an active articulator & a passive articulator to produce a consonant sound |
| Labiodental | Place: Lower lip at the upper teeth |
| Bilabial | Place: Upper lip & lower lip |
| Interdental | Place: Tongue protrudes between the two sets of teeth |
| Postalveolar | Place: Tongue blade at or near the alveolar ridge |
| Retroflex | Place: Tongue tip curling backward, tip pointing to hard palate, underside of tongue at or near back wall of alveolar ridge |
| Laminoalveolar | Place: Tongue blade & alveolar ridge |
| Apicoalveolar | Place: Tongue tip & alveolar ridge; often shortened to just “alveolar” |
| Laminodental | Place: Tongue blade & upper teeth; often shortened to just “dental” |
| Dorsopalatal | Place: Tongue back & hard palate; often shortened to just “palatal” |
| Dorsouvular | Place: Tongue back & uvula; often shortened to just “uvular” |
| Radicopharyngeal | Place: Tongue root & pharyngeal wall; often shortened to just “pharyngeal” |
| Epiglottopharyngeal | Place: Epiglottis & pharyngeal wall; often shortened to just “epiglottal” |
| Alveolar | Short form for apicoalveolar (Place: Tongue tip & alveolar ridge) |
| Dental | Short form for laminodental (Place: Tongue blade & upper teeth) |
| Palatal | Short form for dorsopalatal (Place: Tongue back & hard palate) |
| Uvular | Short form for dorsouvular (Place: Tongue back & uvula) |
| Pharyngeal | Short form for radicopharyngeal (Place: Tongue root & pharyngeal wall) |
| Epiglottal | Short form for epiglottopharyngeal (Place: Epiglottis & pharyngeal wall) |
| Glottal or laryngeal | Place: Produced by movement, constriction, or closing of the glottis |
| Voicing | Vocal fold vibration |
| Voiced | Describing a phone (or speech sound) with vocal fold vibration |
| Unvoiced | Describing a phone (or speech sound) without vocal fold vibration |
| Phonation | The process of producing sounds in different ways through the manipulation of airflow with the vocal folds |
| Manner of articulation | How air flows through the vocal tract when producing a consonant sound, based on the size and shape of the constriction between the articulators |
| Stop | Manner: The active articulator presses firmly against the passive articulator to make a complete closure, blocking all airflow at that point |
| Oral stop | Manner: A stop with a raised velum & oral airflow only |
| Nasal stop (or Nasal) | Manner: A stop with a lowered velum & both oral & nasal airflow |
| Glottal stop | A stop produced by briefly closing the vocal cords located in the larynx |
| Plosive | Manner: A stop which has airflow from the lungs that gets trapped behind the stop closure, until the air can be quickly released in an explosive burst |
| Ejective | Manner: A stop in which air is pushed up by raising the vocal folds rather than exhaling from the lungs |
| Implosive | Manner: A stop in which air is sucked in by lowering the vocal folds |
| Click | Manner: A stop which air is sucked in by quickly lowering the tongue |
| Fricative | Manner: The active & passive articulators are very close but not touching, creating a narrow constriction & causing the airflow to become very turbulent, resulting in frication |
| Frication | A highly random noisy airflow which sounds like hissing or buzzing |
| Approximant | Manner: The active & passive articulators are not touching & are spaced far enough apart to create little or no frication in the airflow |
| Central approximant | Manner: An approximant with relatively unrestricted airflow through the middle of the oral cavity |
| Lateral approximant | Manner: An approximant with part of the tongue making full contact with an upper articulator, diverting the airflow along one or both sides of the tongue without frication, e.g. [j] in “yawn” or [w] in “wet” |
| Affricate | Manner: A plosive with such a fricated release, e.g., the [ʤ] at the start of “jet” Fricated |
| Tap (or flip) | Manner: Like a stop, but the closure is so short that airflow is barely interrupted |
| Trill | Manner: Manner: Like repeated taps, in which one articulator vibrates quickly against the other, usually 2–3 times |
| Obstruent | Manner: A larger grouping of manners of articulation which have an overall significant obstruction to free airflow in the vocal tract; includes oral stops, fricatives, & afficates |
| Sonorant | Manner: A larger grouping of manners of articulation which have fairly unrestricted airflow, either through the nasal cavity (for nasal stops) or through the oral cavity (for approximants, taps, and trills) |
| Continuant | A larger grouping of manners of articulation which have continuous airflow through the oral cavity |
| Geminate | A long consonant |
| Singleton | A short consonant |
| Vowel quality | The characteristic sound of a vowel determined by the configuration of the tongue & lips during its articulation |
| Vowel height | The height of the tongue during the articulation of a vowel |
| High vowel (or close vowel) | A vowel with a very high tongue position |
| Low vowel (or open vowel) | A vowel with a very low tongue position |
| Mid vowel | A vowel with an intermediate tongue position between high and low, |
| Backness | The horizontal position of the tongue |
| Front vowel | A vowel in which the tongue is positioned in the front of the oral cavity, so the highest point of the tongue is under the front of the hard palate |
| Back vowel | A vowel in which the tongue is positioned farther back in the oral cavity, so the highest point of the tongue is under the back part of the hard palate or under the velum |
| Central vowel | A vowel with the tongue in the center of the oral cavity so the highest point of the tongue is under the center of the hard palate |
| Rounding | The shape of the lips during the articulation of a vowel sound |
| Rounded | The lip shape when the corners of the mouth are pulled together so the lips are compressed & protruded to form a circular shape |
| Spread | The lip shape when the corners of the mouth are pulled apart & upward so the lips are thinly stretched into a shape like a smile |
| Neutral | The shape of the lips in an intermediate configuration, neither rounded nor spread |
| Unrounded vowels (non-rounded vowels) | Spread & neutral vowels collectively |
| Tenseness | A property of vowel quality referring to the position of the tongue root during the articulation of a vowel sound |
| Tense vowel | A vowel with an advanced tongue root away from the pharyngeal wall, pushing into the tongue, causing it to be somewhat denser |
| Lax vowel | A vowel produced with a more retracted tongue root closer to the pharyngeal wall, keeping the tongue somewhat more relaxed |
| Nasality | A property of vowel sounds that refers to whether or not air flows through the nasal cavity during their production |
| Oral vowel | A vowel articulated with a raised velum to block airflow into the nasal cavity |
| Nasal vowel (or nasalized) | A vowel articulated with a lowered velum, allowing airflow into the nasal cavity |
| Length | A way of categorizing vowel sounds based on their duration |
| Long vowel | A vowel sound that is pronounced for a longer duration than a short vowel |
| Short vowel | A vowel sound that is pronounced for a shorter duration than a long vowel |
| Monophthong | A vowel sound that has a relatively stable pronunciation from beginning to end |
| Diphthong | A vowel sound starting with one vowel quality & ending with another, with the tongue moving from one position to another |
| Triphthong | A vowel sound changing from one vowel quality to another & to a third, with the tongue moving from one position to another within the vocal tract |
| Segmentation | The process of breaking down a word into its component sounds or phones |
| Waveforms | A graphical representation of sound waves; a visual depiction of the vibrations that make up a sound |
| Transcription | The process of showing speech sounds using a set of standardized symbols to indicate the sounds of a language |
| Broad transcription | The process of showing speech sounds using a simplified set of symbols to indicate the main differences between speech sounds |
| Narrow transcription | The process of representing speech sounds using a more detailed set of symbols to represent subtle variations in pronunciation |
| International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) | A commonly used standard system for phonetic transcription which includes symbols for all the sounds found in human languages |
| Angle brackets < > | A notation convention in linguistics for symbols form a writing system |
| Square brackets [ ] | A notation convention in linguistics for the transcription of phones (speech sounds) |
| Diacritics | Marks placed above, below, through, or next to a symbol to show various aspects of speech sounds, e.g., voicing, aspiration, nasalization, etc. |
| Rhotic | A class of phones in which the speaker pronounces the <r> sound in a distinctive way |
| Tie-bar | A horizontal line connecting two symbols in a phonetic transcription to show they are pronounced as a single sound |
| Doubly articulated consonants | A class of consonants bringing two different parts of the vocal tract together to create a constriction |
| Stressed vowels | Vowels pronounced longer in duration, higher in pitch, louder in volume, & with more clarity or precision than unstressed vowels |
| Unstressed vowels | Vowels pronounced shorter in duration, lower in pitch, quieter in volume, & with less clarity or precision than stressed vowels |
| Schwa [ə] | A mid-central vowel sound pronounced with the tongue in a neutral position, typically unstressed in English |
| Syllabic consonant | A phone (speech sound) with a consonant-like constriction in the vocal tract & functioning more like a vowel within English |
| Rhotacized vowel (or r-coloured vowel) | A syllabic consonant produced by combining a rhotic consonant (such as [ɹ] in English) with a vowel sound |
| Prose description | A written or spoken passage using ordinary language to describe something in detail |
| Sign | In signed languages, the basic independent meaningful unit, the equivalent of a spoken language word |
| Gloss | A word-for-word translation of a text, sign, or utterance |
| Manual articulators | The main parts of the body are used to produce signs, specifically the hands & arms, in signed languages |
| Nonmanual articulators | The parts of the body (not hands & arms) used to produce signs in signed languages (e.g., torso, head, facial features) |
| Abduction | The motion of a limb or appendage away from the midline of the body |
| Adduction | The movement of a limb toward the midline of the body |
| Flexion | A movement that decreases the angle between two body parts |
| Extension | A movement that increases the angle between two body parts |
| Rotation | A movement made around a central axis |
| Parameters (or primes) | The four main categories of manual articulations in signed languages: handshape, orientation, location, & movement |
| Handshape | The static configuration of the base knuckles and interphalangeal joints in signed languages |
| Orientation | The direction a hand is facing due to the configuration of the other four joints (wrist, radioulnar, elbow, shoulder) in signed languages |
| Location | Where in space or on the body a sign is articulated in signed languages |
| Movement | How the manual articulators move in signed languages |
| Unmarked handshapes | Types of handshape in signed languages tending to be the most common handshapes |
| Marked handshapes | All possible configurations of the fingers other than the most common handshapes |
| Palm orientation | The which way the palm is facing in signed languages |
| Finger orientation | The direction the bones inside the hand are pointing, where the fingers would point when straightened in signed languages |
| Neutral signing space | The default location in signed languages, which is the area just in front of the signer's torso |
| Path movement | A type of movement in signed languages involving articulation at the elbow and/or shoulder, showing the movement of the hand or arm along a path in space |
| Local movement | A type of movement in signed languages involving articulation at the radioulnar joint, wrist, base knuckles, &/or interphalangeal joints |
| Dominant hand | The hand used more than the other for many ordinary daily activities |
| Nondominant hand | The hand that is not the dominant hand |
| Minimal pairs | Words or signs in a particular language that differ in only one phonological element (words) or only one parameter (signs) |
| Stokoe notation | The notation system for signs developed by William Stokoe |
| Syllable | A unit of sound in spoken language typically made up of one or more phonemes & is pronounced as a single uninterrupted sound |
| Sigma (σ) | The Greek letter often used as an abbreviation for syllable in linguistics |
| Nucleus (or Nuc) | The loudest & most prominent position within a syllable |
| Margin | The consonant sound occurring before the nucleus (onset) & after the nucleus (coda) in a syllable |
| Onset (Ons) | The consonant sound(s) occurring at the beginning of a syllable, before the vowel or syllabic consonant that serves as the nucleus |
| Coda (Cod) | The consonant sound(s) occurring at the end of a syllable, after the vowel or syllabic consonant that serves as the nucleus |
| Open syllable | A syllable with no coda, e.g., a CV or V syllable |
| Closed syllable | A syllable with a coda, e.g., CVC or VC |
| Onsetless syllable | A syllable with no onset, e.g., V or VC |
| Simple margin | A margin with only one phone |
| Complex margin | A margin with two or more phones |
| Tree diagram | A graphical representation of the hierarchical structure of a word, sentence, or phrase |
| σ (sigma) node | A node in a tree diagram showing a syllable & the internal structure of the syllable, including its onset, nucleus, & coda |
| Wd | An abbreviation for "word" |
| Wd node | The representation of an entire word in a tree diagram of syllable structure, with each syllable shown as a separate σ node branching off from the "Wd" node |
| CV-notation | A way of showing syllable structure without a tree diagram, i.e., a C for each phone in the margins & a V for each phone in the nucleus |
| Syllabification | The way that phones are associated to appropriate positions in syllable structure |
| Sonority | An abstract measure of the relative prominence of phones that corresponds roughly to loudness |
| Sonority hierarchy | An ordering of phones by their sonority, with vowels as the most sonorous & obstruents as the least sonorous |
| Sonority sequencing principle (SSP) | A phonological principle requiring the sonority of sounds within a syllable to rise through the onset, peak in the nucleus, & fall through the coda |
| Sonority plateau | A sequence of two or more sounds within a syllable that have the same level of sonority |
| Sonority reversal | A sequence of two or more sounds within a syllable in which the sonority of sounds can fall and then rise again |
| Static states | A type of unit used to analyze the internal structure of signs in signed languages, including the location & orientation parameters |
| Dynamic states | A type of unit used to analyze the internal structure of signs in signed languages, including the movement parameter |
| Stress | The relative emphasis given to syllables in a word with some combination of increased loudness, longer duration, &/or higher pitch |
| Primary stress | The syllable in a word with the highest degree of stress, marked in the IPA with an upper tick mark [ ˈ ] |
| Secondary stress | The non-primary-stress syllables in a word, marked in the IPA with a lower tick mark [ ˌ ] |
| Unstressed syllable | Syllables with no stress (sometimes marked with breve accent [ ̆ ]) |
| Lexical stress | The placement of stress on a word based on its specific lexical form or pronunciation |
| Predictable stress | Stress based on the structure of syllables so two words with the same syllable structures but different phones always have the same stress pattern |
| Initial stress | Stress on the first syllable of a word |
| Peninitial stress | Stress on the second syllable of a word |
| Ultimate stress | Stress on the final syllable of a word |
| Penultimate stress | Stress on the second syllable from the end of a word |
| Antepenultimate stress | Stress on the third syllable from the end of a word |
| Pitch | The rate at which the vocal folds vibrate during voicing |
| Tone | A property of some languages in which the pitch of a syllable can be used to distinguish between different words or morphemes |
| Tonal languages (or tone languages) | Languages with the pitch of syllables as a fundamental part of the sound system to distinguish different words or morphemes |
| Intonational languages | Languages with changes in pitch over entire sentences to convey the function of the sentences, not which word is being used |
| High tone (H) | A tone with a higher pitch (with the vocal folds vibrating faster) |
| Low tone (L) | A tone with a lower pitch (with the vocal folds vibrating slower) |
| Mid tone | A tone that falls between a high tone and a low tone in pitch |
| Tone diacritics | Symbols added to letters or other characters to indicate the tone of a syllable in a tonal language |
| Tone letters | Symbols/separate characters placed after the entire syllable to represent the pitch of a syllable in a tonal language |
| Pinyin | A system of romanization (representing Chinese characters using the Latin alphabet) for Standard Mandarin Chinese |
| [ ˉ ] | The macron accent, representing a mid tone in IPA |
| [ ˊ ] | The acute accent, representing primary stress in IPA |
| [ ˋ ] | The grave accent, representing secondary stress in IPA |
| [ ˆ ] | The caret accent, representing a falling tone in IPA |
| [ ˇ ] | The haček accent, representing a rising tone in IPA |
| Level tones | Tones (high, mid, low) which are relatively stable & do not change in pitch during the course of the syllable |
| Contour tones | Tones which change in pitch during the course of the syllable |
| Falling tone (F) | A tone that starts high & ends low |
| Rising tone (R) | A tone that starts low & ends high |
| Intonation | The rise & fall of pitch in speech, esp. over sentences or phrases to convey the function of the sentence or speaker's attitude or emotion |
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