LING 1010 EXAM STUDY QUESTIONS WITH
DETAILED VERIFIED CORRECT ANSWERS
linguistics
scientific study of language
language faculty
a way of referring to all of the cognitive abilities that give rise to language in humans
comprehension
the language faculty turns speech sounds (or signs in sign language) into complex meanings
production
the language turns complex meanings into motor commands for the vocal tract (or hands in
sign language)
phoneme
the smallest segment of speech that leads to a meaningful difference between words
minimal pairs test
1- pick a word in the language
2- change one sound in the word
changed sound leads to a different word --> the two sounds are both distinct phonemes in the
language
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
created so we can easily write phonemes in different languages
what are the physical properties of each phoneme that makes them distinct from each other?
, -sound is a distortion in air pressure
-sound travels in waves
-physical properties of waves
amplitude
a measure of the force applied to an area of air during compression
periodic
creates a regular, repeating pattern of compressions in the air
frequency
measure of the number of compression cycles a periodic waves completes in a given unit of
time
2 components of your voice
vocal folds and vocal tract
vocal tract
acts as a filter to the sound created by your vocal folds
physical properties of vowels
-produced as tones
-typically periodic and higher amplitude (louder)
physical properties of consonants
-made with pops, clicks, and hisses
-typically aperiodic (noisier) and/or lower amplitude
fundamental frequency
the lowest frequency generated by a sound source
harmonics
DETAILED VERIFIED CORRECT ANSWERS
linguistics
scientific study of language
language faculty
a way of referring to all of the cognitive abilities that give rise to language in humans
comprehension
the language faculty turns speech sounds (or signs in sign language) into complex meanings
production
the language turns complex meanings into motor commands for the vocal tract (or hands in
sign language)
phoneme
the smallest segment of speech that leads to a meaningful difference between words
minimal pairs test
1- pick a word in the language
2- change one sound in the word
changed sound leads to a different word --> the two sounds are both distinct phonemes in the
language
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
created so we can easily write phonemes in different languages
what are the physical properties of each phoneme that makes them distinct from each other?
, -sound is a distortion in air pressure
-sound travels in waves
-physical properties of waves
amplitude
a measure of the force applied to an area of air during compression
periodic
creates a regular, repeating pattern of compressions in the air
frequency
measure of the number of compression cycles a periodic waves completes in a given unit of
time
2 components of your voice
vocal folds and vocal tract
vocal tract
acts as a filter to the sound created by your vocal folds
physical properties of vowels
-produced as tones
-typically periodic and higher amplitude (louder)
physical properties of consonants
-made with pops, clicks, and hisses
-typically aperiodic (noisier) and/or lower amplitude
fundamental frequency
the lowest frequency generated by a sound source
harmonics
