Phonetics

Question 1

What is phonetics?

Answer 1

study of sounds of a language (phones)

Question 2

Segments

Answer 2

individual sounds

Question 3

Inventory

Answer 3

Segments found in a language

Question 4

Transcription

Answer 4

how speech sounds can be written

Question 5

Articulatory Phonetics

Answer 5

how sounds are produced

Question 6

Acoustic Phonetics

Answer 6

physical properties of sound waves produced in speech

Question 7

Vowels

Answer 7

are pronounced with no major obstruction in the vocal tract (air can flow relatively freely through the mouth

Question 8

Consonants

Answer 8

are produced with some constriction in the vocal tract (some obstruction in the flow of air through the mouth)

Question 9

What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)?

Answer 9

a way to represent every possible phone in human language; every symbol = only one sound, every sound = only one symbol

Question 10

Conventions in IPA

Answer 10

sounds are written between [ ], letters are written between ‘ ‘

Question 11

Phonotactics

Answer 11

restrictions on how sounds can be combined together and on where they can occur

Question 12

Allophones

Answer 12

sounds that are different but dont change meaning
-aspirated [p] vs unaspirated [p]

Question 13

Phonemes

Answer 13

sounds that can produce a change in meaning
-written between slashes / /

Question 14

Contrastive Phones

Answer 14

belong to to different phonemes

Question 15

Phonetic Inventory

Answer 15

sound inventory of a language can include all of the phonemes and allophones of a language

Question 16

Phonemic Inventory

Answer 16

the categories of sounds

Question 17

Minimal pairs

Answer 17

differ in only one element and have distinct meanings
ex. pat vs bat
the sounds [p] and [b] belong to two different phonemes, /p/ and /b/
cop vs cap. kat vs cap

Question 18

Free Variation

Answer 18

two sounds occur in the same environment but do not create a difference in meaning
-phones in free variation are allophones (non contrastive)
-free from phonological constraints, sociolinguistic constraints may still apply

Question 19

Complementary Distribution

Answer 19

speech sounds in mutually exclusive environments (dont appear in the same env.), allophones

Question 20

Contrastive Distribution

Answer 20

speech sounds occur in the same environment; change in sound produces a change in meaning; sounds belong to different phonemes