Linguistics exam; key concepts
questions n answers
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) - correct answer ✔✔ an internationally recognized
system of phonetic transcription
- a set of symbols to represent the sounds of languages in a written form
- with a goal to represent all the sounds in all languages
IPA principles - correct answer ✔✔ - one to one correspondence, one symbol for each distinct
sound
- two different sounds spelt with the same letters, eg. th
- two different letters representing one sound, eg. sh
- letters can represent multiple sounds, eg. <x> is [z] in xylophone, but [ks] in ox
Diacritic - correct answer ✔✔ a sign, such as an accent or umlaut, which indicates a difference
in pronunciation, written above or below the word
IPA keyboard conventions - correct answer ✔✔ - a letter is shown in angle brackets <a>
- a whole word is shown in italics
- a speech sound (or phone) is shown in square brackets [a]
- a phoneme is shown in slashes /a/
Four main airstream mechanisms - correct answer ✔✔ - pulmonic egressive, from lungs with air
coming out, most languages
- glotallic egressive, ejectives such as p' = p-ah
- glottalic ingressive, implosives such as a gasp of fright
,- velaric ingressive, clicks such as tut-tut
Phonetics - correct answer ✔✔ the scientific study of speech production, transmission and
perception
- independent of specific language use
Phonology - correct answer ✔✔ the study of how speech sounds pattern in a specific language;
as contrastively used to distinguish meaning in a languageconcerned with where they occur and
how they interact with other sounds
- language-specific and concerned with function
- how sounds systematically behave
Phonetics vs phonology - correct answer ✔✔ e.g. two languages that use the same sounds, but
their function (distribution) is different
▪ Voiced velar nasal [ŋ]
- In English at the end of syllables: king, song
- In Zulu at the beginning: ngakho 'therefore'
Ease/difficulty of articulation - correct answer ✔✔ depends on the speaker's unconscious
knowledge of the sound patterns in their native language
Features of phonology - correct answer ✔✔ - which sounds are found in the language and
- which are not
- which combinations of sounds are an actualword (black)
- which are not but could be (blick)
- which could not be a word (*lbick)
,Example of phonetic property (feature) that IS important for identifying a word - correct answer
✔✔ e.g. for English, place of articulation
• pill vs till, spill vs still
Example of phonetic property (feature) that IS NOT important for identifying a word - correct
answer ✔✔ e.g. for English, aspiration
• pill vs spill; till vs still
• [pʰɪl] vs [spɪl]; [tʰl] vs [stɪl]
Phoneme - correct answer ✔✔ the smallest phonological unit
▪ Not the physical sounds
▪ But sounds which function to distinguish between word meanings in whichever language
we're looking at
▪ Represented by enclosing in slashes, /əʊ/
Phonemic (phonological) transcription - correct answer ✔✔ Phonemes are conventionally
transcribed using slash brackets, e.g. /t/
- form of transcribing mostly used so far
- we have to know what the phonemes of the language/dialect are
- there are no phonetic details of how the phonemes are realised
- generally does not use diacritics
Phonetic transcription - correct answer ✔✔ For actual pronunciation we use square
brackets,and do a phonetic transcription eg. [tʰ] [ʔ]
- represents as much detail as the transcriber can or wants to includeeg. two [twu], pin [phɪñ],
butter [ˈbʌʔə]
- shows how an utterance is actually articulated
- we also use [ ] when we don't know the status of a sound
, Phones - correct answer ✔✔ phonetic realisations of phonemes, actual sounds
- concrete, pronounced and heard
- actual sounds, [p], [pʰ], [i], [ĩ]
Difference between phonemes and phones - correct answer ✔✔ phonemes are abstract mental
representations, sensed in our mind, whereas phones are based on actual articulation and
realisation
Contrastive distribution - correct answer ✔✔ if two sounds are both phonemes in a language,
they can be used to distinguish words with different meanings
eg. - pan - tan - spill - still - pop - pot
/p/ contrasts with /t/ (in English)
it matters whether you get a p or a t
Minimal pairs - correct answer ✔✔ two words in a language that have different meanings, and
differ in only one sound, which occurs in the same position in each word
eg. [s] and [z]
- intial with sip and zip
- medial with racer and razer
- final with fleece and fleashelp to establish phonemes
Minimal triplets - correct answer ✔✔ eg. made, mood, mode [meɪd] [mud] [məʊd]
Near minimal pairs - correct answer ✔✔ sometimes minimal pairs for two sounds are hard to
find, e.g. [ð] and [ʒ] (ignore leisure!)
- near minimal pair: leather vs pleasure
- immediately adjacent environment is the same
questions n answers
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) - correct answer ✔✔ an internationally recognized
system of phonetic transcription
- a set of symbols to represent the sounds of languages in a written form
- with a goal to represent all the sounds in all languages
IPA principles - correct answer ✔✔ - one to one correspondence, one symbol for each distinct
sound
- two different sounds spelt with the same letters, eg. th
- two different letters representing one sound, eg. sh
- letters can represent multiple sounds, eg. <x> is [z] in xylophone, but [ks] in ox
Diacritic - correct answer ✔✔ a sign, such as an accent or umlaut, which indicates a difference
in pronunciation, written above or below the word
IPA keyboard conventions - correct answer ✔✔ - a letter is shown in angle brackets <a>
- a whole word is shown in italics
- a speech sound (or phone) is shown in square brackets [a]
- a phoneme is shown in slashes /a/
Four main airstream mechanisms - correct answer ✔✔ - pulmonic egressive, from lungs with air
coming out, most languages
- glotallic egressive, ejectives such as p' = p-ah
- glottalic ingressive, implosives such as a gasp of fright
,- velaric ingressive, clicks such as tut-tut
Phonetics - correct answer ✔✔ the scientific study of speech production, transmission and
perception
- independent of specific language use
Phonology - correct answer ✔✔ the study of how speech sounds pattern in a specific language;
as contrastively used to distinguish meaning in a languageconcerned with where they occur and
how they interact with other sounds
- language-specific and concerned with function
- how sounds systematically behave
Phonetics vs phonology - correct answer ✔✔ e.g. two languages that use the same sounds, but
their function (distribution) is different
▪ Voiced velar nasal [ŋ]
- In English at the end of syllables: king, song
- In Zulu at the beginning: ngakho 'therefore'
Ease/difficulty of articulation - correct answer ✔✔ depends on the speaker's unconscious
knowledge of the sound patterns in their native language
Features of phonology - correct answer ✔✔ - which sounds are found in the language and
- which are not
- which combinations of sounds are an actualword (black)
- which are not but could be (blick)
- which could not be a word (*lbick)
,Example of phonetic property (feature) that IS important for identifying a word - correct answer
✔✔ e.g. for English, place of articulation
• pill vs till, spill vs still
Example of phonetic property (feature) that IS NOT important for identifying a word - correct
answer ✔✔ e.g. for English, aspiration
• pill vs spill; till vs still
• [pʰɪl] vs [spɪl]; [tʰl] vs [stɪl]
Phoneme - correct answer ✔✔ the smallest phonological unit
▪ Not the physical sounds
▪ But sounds which function to distinguish between word meanings in whichever language
we're looking at
▪ Represented by enclosing in slashes, /əʊ/
Phonemic (phonological) transcription - correct answer ✔✔ Phonemes are conventionally
transcribed using slash brackets, e.g. /t/
- form of transcribing mostly used so far
- we have to know what the phonemes of the language/dialect are
- there are no phonetic details of how the phonemes are realised
- generally does not use diacritics
Phonetic transcription - correct answer ✔✔ For actual pronunciation we use square
brackets,and do a phonetic transcription eg. [tʰ] [ʔ]
- represents as much detail as the transcriber can or wants to includeeg. two [twu], pin [phɪñ],
butter [ˈbʌʔə]
- shows how an utterance is actually articulated
- we also use [ ] when we don't know the status of a sound
, Phones - correct answer ✔✔ phonetic realisations of phonemes, actual sounds
- concrete, pronounced and heard
- actual sounds, [p], [pʰ], [i], [ĩ]
Difference between phonemes and phones - correct answer ✔✔ phonemes are abstract mental
representations, sensed in our mind, whereas phones are based on actual articulation and
realisation
Contrastive distribution - correct answer ✔✔ if two sounds are both phonemes in a language,
they can be used to distinguish words with different meanings
eg. - pan - tan - spill - still - pop - pot
/p/ contrasts with /t/ (in English)
it matters whether you get a p or a t
Minimal pairs - correct answer ✔✔ two words in a language that have different meanings, and
differ in only one sound, which occurs in the same position in each word
eg. [s] and [z]
- intial with sip and zip
- medial with racer and razer
- final with fleece and fleashelp to establish phonemes
Minimal triplets - correct answer ✔✔ eg. made, mood, mode [meɪd] [mud] [məʊd]
Near minimal pairs - correct answer ✔✔ sometimes minimal pairs for two sounds are hard to
find, e.g. [ð] and [ʒ] (ignore leisure!)
- near minimal pair: leather vs pleasure
- immediately adjacent environment is the same
