Phonology

Question 1

Phonology

Answer 1

the study of the abstract categories that organise the sound system of a language

Question 2

Spectogram

Answer 2

a 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

any of the perceptually distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another

Question 4

Narrow transcription

Answer 4

encodes more information about the phonetic variations of the specific allophones in the utterance

Question 5

Distribution

Answer 5

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

Question 8

Free variation

Answer 8

speakers can choose which allophone they use

Question 9

Neutralization

Answer 9

the fact that 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

Aspiration

Answer 11

the process of aspirating (extra puff of air) stops

Question 12

Flapping

Answer 12

processes in which the contrast between two phonemes is neutralised in a particular phonetic context

Question 13

Non-rhotic

Answer 13

r-sounds do not seem to occur in word-final position

Question 14

Rhotic

Answer 14

those in which r-sounds can occur in word-final position

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

Question 17

Nucleus

Answer 17

Our ‘slot for a vowel’; can be filled by a vowel, a diphthong,
or a syllabic consonant

Question 18

Onset

Answer 18

Among our ‘slots for consonants’, the prevocalic slot

Question 19

Coda

Answer 19

the postvocalic slot

Question 20

Vowel epenthesis

Answer 20

the insertion of vowels into syllables

Question 21

Syllabification

Answer 21

Assigning syllable structure to words

Question 22

Maximal Onset

Principle

Answer 22

a principle determining underlying syllable division. It states that intervocalic consonants are maximally assigned to the onsets of syllables in conformity with universal and language-specific conditions

Question 23

Sonority

Answer 23

the category that captures our acoustic impression

of ‘clear audibility’

Question 24

Sonority Sequencing Principle

Answer 24

a phonotactic principle that aims to outline the structure of a syllable in terms of sonority

Question 25

Allophones of the phoneme

Answer 25

Phones which function as alternant realisations of the same phoneme

Question 26

Phone

Answer 26

A physical realisation of a speech sound like the voiceless or the voiced alveolar approximant