Term
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Definition
| The branch of phonetics that deals with the acoustic properties of sounds; acoustics is a subfield of physics that deals with the generation and transmission of sound. |
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Term
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Definition
| The branch of phonetics that deals with how sounds are formed; also called physiological phonetics. |
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Term
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Definition
Phone
- A particular occurrence of a speech sound segment.
Phoneme
- A basic speech segment that has the linguistic function of distinguishing morphemes (the minimal units of meaning in a language).
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Term
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Definition
| One of the sound variants within a phoneme class, often used in a specified phonetic context. |
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Term
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Definition
Alphabet
- A system of written symbols used to express a language
Allograph
- Any one alphabet letter or combination of letters that represents a particular phoneme. One phoneme may be represented (spelled) by several different allographs.
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Term
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Definition
Releasing
- Another name for syllable-initial sounds; they release (begin) the syllable.
Arresting
- Another name for syllable-final sounds; they arrest (stop) the syllable.
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Term
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Definition
Closed
- A syllable that ends in a consonant.
Open
- A syllable that does not end in a consonant.
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Term
Complimentary Distribution
vs.
Free Variation |
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Definition
Complimentary Distribution
- A term used to describe two or more allophones of a particular phoneme that occur in mutually exclusive phonetic contexts.
Free Variation
- A term used to describe allophones that may be exchanged for one another in a particular phonetic context.
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Term
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Definition
| A special symbol used to modify a phonetic symbol to indicate a particular modification of sound production. |
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Term
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Definition
Dialect
- Different usage patterns within a language; speakers of one dialect may or may not easily understand speakers of another dialect of the same language.
Idiolect
- An individual or personal pattern of language usage. Each user of a language has an idiolect.
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Term
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Definition
Dictionary
- An inventory of the words in a language, usually together with their meaning.
Lexicon
- An inventory of the morphemes in a language.
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Term
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Definition
| Sounds that occur together as a pair, such as the two /k/ sounds in "bookkeeper" or the two /s/ sounds in "gas supply". |
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Term
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Definition
| A unit in the writing system of a language. |
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Term
Initial vs.
Medial vs.
Final |
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Definition
Initial
- The 1st position or segment in a word (/b/ in /bat/).
Medial
- A middle position or segment in a word.
Final
- The final position or segment in a word (/t/ in /bat/).
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Term
Minimal Pair
vs.
Minimal Contrast |
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Definition
Minimal Pair
- A word pair that differs by only one sound (ie. /bat/ and /cat/).
Minimal Contrast
- A sound segment distinction by which two morphemes or words differ in pronunciation.
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Term
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Definition
| A group of people who live within the same geographic boundaries and use the same language. |
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