Phonology

Question 1

phonology

Answer 1

study of abstract categories that organize the sound system of language

Question 2

spectogram

Answer 2

graphic representation of the frequency distribution of the complex jumble of sound waves that give the hearing impression of speech sounds

Question 3

phoneme

Answer 3

smallest sound unit

Question 4

narrow transcription

Answer 4

the addition of articulatory details in the transcription

Question 5

distribution

Answer 5

the different positions in which a speech sound can occur or cannot occur in words of language

Question 6

complementary distribution

Answer 6

two sounds which are distributed in such a way that one can only occur where the other cannot occur

Question 7

minimal pairs

Answer 7

a pair of words which differ in only one sound, but differ in meaning (wrap and map)

Question 8

free variation

Answer 8

speakers can choose which allophone they use

Question 9

neutralization

Answer 9

in a particular context, a contrast between phonemes becomes invisible

Question 10

final devoicing

Answer 10

a voiced phoneme has a voiceless allophone in word-final position

Question 11

aspirated stop

Answer 11

a stop that is produced with an extra breath of air (the /p/ that occurs in pin)

Question 12

t/d flapping

Answer 12

when the /t/ and /d/ sounds can be released (hit and hid)

Question 13

rhotic varieties

Answer 13

r-sounds can occur in word-final position

Question 14

the syllable

Answer 14

falls in between the sound and the word

Question 15

constituents

Answer 15

the elements that make up a syllable

Question 16

syllabic consonants

Answer 16

consonants which occupy the central part of the syllable (little or button)

Question 17

nucleus

Answer 17

considered as the slot for a vowel–can be filled by a vowel, a dipthings, or a syllabic consonant

Question 18

vowel epenthesis

Answer 18

the insertion of vowels into syllables

Question 19

syllabification

Answer 19

assigning syllable structure to words–helps determine which consonant is in an onset and which consonant is in a coda

Question 20

maximal onset principle

Answer 20

given a sequence of consonants and vowels, syllabification proceeds in such a way that as many consonants as possible end up in an onset, even if the language allows codas

Question 21

sonority

Answer 21

the category that captures our acoustic impression of clear audibility

Question 22

sonority sequencing principle

Answer 22

sounds preceding the nucleus (onsets) must rise in sonority, and sounds following the nucleus (codas) must fall in sonority

Question 23

speech sounds

Answer 23

organized into abstract categories, phonemes, and then phonemes are turned into syllables and words in spoken language

Question 24

cognates

Answer 24

words that correspond to phonologically similar and etymologically related German words (words with ps and sn)

Question 25

released and unreleased consonants

Answer 25

the release of the air has been built up or not