ASL 1300F Phonetics 1 2025

Question 1

What is phonetics?

Answer 1

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.

Question 2

What are the three main topics covered in the introduction to phonetics?

Answer 2

• Introduction to phonetics
• Place of articulation
• Manner of articulation

Question 3

What are the aims of phonetics?

Answer 3

• To understand and describe speech sounds
• How they are produced
• How they are classified

Question 4

What are the branches of phonetics?

Answer 4

• Acoustic Phonetics
• Auditory Phonetics
• Articulatory Phonetics

Question 5

What does articulatory phonetics study?

Answer 5

The shapes that the mouth makes when producing sounds and the speech organs involved.

Question 6

What are the two types of air flow in speech production?

Answer 6

• Egressive – Air flowing outwards from the vocal tract
• Ingressive – Air flowing inwards into the vocal tract

Question 7

What is a speech sound segment?

Answer 7

A language is made up of a combination of speech sounds.

Question 8

Fill in the blank: A speaker can segment the sounds to make sense of the _______.

Answer 8

word

Question 9

What does it mean to not know a language in terms of sound segments?

Answer 9

Not knowing the sound segments.

Question 10

True or False: No two speakers speak the same.

Answer 10

True

Question 11

What are some factors that affect how individuals speak?

Answer 11

• Age
• Gender
• Other spoken languages

Question 12

What is orthography?

Answer 12

The writing system of a language.

Question 13

How can the same sound be represented in different ways?

Answer 13

The same sound can be represented with different letters.

Question 14

Provide examples of words that include letters not pronounced.

Answer 14

• Autumn
• Honest
• Sword
• Psychology
• Island
• Bough
• Debt

Question 15

What challenge does the English spelling system present to learners?

Answer 15

The representation of sounds is complex.

Question 16

Fill in the blank: Phonetics is scientific and symbols for sounds need to be _______.

Answer 16

replicable

Question 17

What is an example of how pronunciation can differ from spelling in English?

Answer 17

• ‘gh’ pronounced /f/ as in enough /ɪˈnʌf/
• ‘o’ pronounced /ɪ/ as in women /ˈwɪmɪn/
• ‘ti’ pronounced /ʃ/ as in nation /ˈneɪʃən/

Question 18

What is one of the concluding remarks about phonetics?

Answer 18

Phonetics is about speech sounds.

Question 19

What is necessary to understand speech sounds in languages?

Answer 19

Knowledge of the sounds.

Question 21

What is the penalty for academic misconduct?

Answer 21

Zero

Question 22

In the strictest sense, what does Phonetics mean?

Answer 22

Articulatory phonetics

Question 23

What are the two meanings of articulation?

Answer 23

• Movements of articulators in the oral tract that produce segments
• Includes phonation, the activities of the laryngeal or vocal folds

Question 24

What are suprasegmentals in phonetics?

Answer 24

• Stress
• Pitch
• Intonation
• Tone

Question 25

What is true about the selection of sounds in languages?

Answer 25

Each language has its own particular selection of sounds

Question 26

What is the relationship between the human speech apparatus and the hearing mechanism?

Answer 26

They are the same all over the world

Question 27

What is the significance of common sounds in languages?

Answer 27

Some sounds are so common that they are found in almost all languages

Question 28

Give an example of a sound found in Afrikaans.

Answer 28

The 'rh' sound in 'Goeie More'

Question 29

What consonant sounds are common across many languages?

Answer 29

* Sounds like those at the beginnings of the English words: tea, key, pea, see, fee, me, knee

Question 30

What vowel sounds are commonly found in many languages?

Answer 30

Sounds resembling those heard in 'seat' and 'sat'

Question 31

What is the scientific study of speech sounds called?

Answer 31

Phonetics

Question 32

What are the three types of phonetics?

Answer 32

* Acoustic * Auditory * Articulatory

Question 33

What can our brains do with individual speech sounds?

Answer 33

Segment them and make meaning of them

Question 34

What do orthographies fail to do consistently?

Answer 34

Represent sounds consistently

Question 35

What was created to represent sounds across all languages?

Answer 35

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

Question 36

When was the International Phonetic Alphabet developed?

Answer 36

In 1888

Question 37

What does the IPA use to represent sounds?

Answer 37

Ordinary letters and invented characters

Question 38

How are IPA symbols written?

Answer 38

In square brackets [ ]

Question 39

What are the two classes of sounds in all languages?

Answer 39

* Consonants * Vowels

Question 40

How are consonants produced compared to vowels?

Answer 40

Consonants are produced with some restrictions in the vocal tract, while vowels are not

Question 41

What is an example of a phonetic transcription for 'enough'?

Answer 41

[ɪnʌf]

Question 42

What is the schwa symbol in IPA?

Answer 42

[ə]

Question 43

What are monophthongs?

Answer 43

Vowels with a single sound

Question 44

What are diphthongs?

Answer 44

Vowels with two 'linked' sounds

Question 45

What is a phoneme?

Answer 45

Any distinct speech sound

Question 46

Is transcription perfect? True or False?

Answer 46

False

Question 47

What is a challenge when transcribing names?

Answer 47

Names can be pronounced in many different ways