Key terminology

Question 1

accent

Answer 1

• way of pronouncing a language that is distinctive to a country, area, social class, or individual.

Question 2

minimal pairs and sets

Answer 2

1. have distinct meanings
2. consist of the same number of phonetic segments
3. these segments are identical except for a single one
4. the differing segment occupies the same position

Question 3

weak v. strong forms

Answer 3

• weak have unstressed pronunciation, often reduced vowel sounds
• strong are stressed and have full vowel sounds
• depends on how the word is used in the sentence

Question 4

vowel reduction

Answer 4

a phonological process where the acoustic quality of vowels weakens, often becoming shorter and more centralized, in unstressed syllables or words

Question 5

standard lexical sets

Answer 5

• by J.C.Wells
• it is for easier reference to English vowels
• written in capital letters (like FLEECE)

Question 6

dialects

Answer 6

• acrolect
• mesolect
• basilect
• idiolect