Chapter 2

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

The study of the minimal units of language (e.g. the sounds of spoken language.)

Question 2

Articulatory Phonetics

Answer 2

Subfield of phonetics concerned with the production of speech sounds.

Question 3

Acoustic Phonetics

Answer 3

Subfield of phonetics concerned with the physical characteristics of the sounds of speech.

Question 4

Auditory Phonetics

Answer 4

Subfield of phonetics concerned with the perception of speech sounds.

Question 5

Segments

Answer 5

The individual units of the speech stream; segments can be further subdivided into consonants and vowels.

Question 6

Suprasegmentals

Answer 6

A phonetic characteristic of speech sounds, such as length, intonation, tone, or stress, that “rides on top of
segmental features. Must usually be identified by comparison to the same feature on other sounds or strings of sounds.

Question 7

Nucleus

Answer 7

The core element of a syllable, carrying stress, length, and pitch (tone). It usually consists of a vowel or a syllabic consonant.

Question 8

Coda

Answer 8

In a syllable, any consonant(s) that occur in the rhyme, after the nucleus.

Question 9

Onset

Answer 9

In a syllable, any consonant(s) that occurs before the rhyme.

Question 10

Rhyme

Answer 10

In a syllable, the vowel and any consonants that follow it.

Question 11

Running Speech

Answer 11

The usual form of spoken language, with all the words and phrases run together, without pauses in between them. Sometimes called continuous speech.

Question 12

Airstream Mechanism

Answer 12

Any of the various ways to produce a stream of moving air through the vocal tract for the production of speech sounds. Some major mechanisms are pulmonic, glottalic, and velar; each may be produced with an egressive or an ingressive airstream.

Question 13

Fricative

Answer 13

Sound made by forming a nearly complete obstruction of the airstream so that when air passes through the small passage, turbulent airflow is produced

Question 14

Liquids

Answer 14

Consonant sound produced by an obstruction of airflow that is less narrow than that of stops or fricatives, but more narrow than that of glides.

Question 15

Affricates

Answer 15

Sound produced by complete obstruction of the airflow followed by a slight release of the obstruction, allowing frication. An affricate can be thought of as a combination of a stop and a fricative.

Question 16

Pitch Accents

Answer 16

A change in fundamental frequency used to put prominence on a particular word in an utterance.

Question 17

Edge Tones

Answer 17

A change in fundamental frequency at the end of a phrase, for example, to indicate a question or statement.

Question 18

Compression

Answer 18

Physical phenomenon resulting in a higher concentration of air molecules within a given space.

Question 19

Rarefaction

Answer 19

Physical phenomenon by which air molecules become less concentrated within a given space (i.e., pressure decreases).

Question 20

Movement

Answer 20

Whether the hands move during a sign, and if so, the path or type of that motion; one of the parameters of visual-gestural languages.