Week 3

Question 1

What is the IPA?

Answer 1

The International Phonetic Alphabet is a consistent set of symbols that represent the range of speech sounds in language. There is one symbol for one sound, no silent letters, all sounds are written, and a sound is written the same every time.

Question 2

What are the places of articulation?

Answer 2

Bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, retroflex, palatal, velar, glottal.

Question 3

What are the manners of articulation?

Answer 3

Plosive, nasal, fricative, approximant, lateral approximant, trill, tap, and affricate.

Question 4

Describe plosives.

Answer 4

Articulates first come together, blocking the air flow, pressure builds up behind the constriction and is released when articulates come apart again (ex: p, b, t, d)

Question 5

Describe nasals.

Answer 5

Complete oral constriction like for plosives, but velum is lowered, so air escapes through nose (ex: n, m)

Question 6

Describe fricatives.

Answer 6

One articulator comes close to another, so air only flows through a narrow passage, creating air turbulence (ex: f, v).

Question 7

Describe approximants.

Answer 7

One articulator approaches the other, but not enough to create air turbulence. Constriction is greater than for vowels, but much smaller than for fricatives (ex: r).

Question 8

Describe lateral approximants.

Answer 8

The center of the tongue makes contact with a passive articulator, but air freely escapes past the sides of the tongue (ex: l).

Question 9

Describe affricates.

Answer 9

Combinations of plosives and fricatives, in that sequence, produced in the same place of articulation. Plosive and fricative together form one unit, so the whole affricate is one phoneme (ex: ch, j).

Question 10

What are the three descriptors of consonants?

Answer 10

Voicing, place, and manner.