DICTIONARY OF

PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGICAL TERMS

A
Acoustic phonetic: /əˈkuːstɪk fəˈnetɪk/

Noun

1. The branch of science dealing with the sounds of speech in terms of their
frequency, duration, intensity, etc., especially as analyzed by means of
instruments like the sound spectrograph and the oscillograph.

2. A composite branch of physics and linguistics that treats sound proper as it

relates to speech.

3. The branch of phonetics dealing with the transmission of sounds to the ear
and the reception of them by the ear prior to neurological processing.

Affricates: /ˈӕfrɪkəts/

Noun

1. Sounds produced when the air pressure behind a complete closure in the
vocal tract is suddenly released but the separation is sufficiently slow to
produce audible friction.

1.1 Sounds like /tʃ/ and /dʒ/ are affricates in English and occur at the
beginning of the words chair and jar.
Allophone: /ˈæləfoʊn/

Noun

1. It is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language.

Back vowels: It refers to the sounds during the production of which the back part of
the tongue is raised towards the soft palate.

1.1 The /l/ sound is pronounced differently in ‘love' and in ‘wool'. These two
words contain allophones of the phoneme /l/.

Alveolar: /ælˈviːələr/

Adjective

1. Word to classify those sounds which are produced when the blade of the
tongue touches the alveolar ridge.

1.1 Sounds like [t], [d], [n] as in the words top, dip, nut are examples of this
sound.

Approximant: /əˈprɑːksɪmənt/

Noun

1. A speech sound made by bringing the parts of the mouth that produce
speech close together but not actually touching.

1.1 For example, /r/ and /w/ in right and wet in many accents of (equal ways
of pronouncing) English

Articulatory phonetic: /ɑːrˈtɪkjələtɔːri fəˈnetɪk/

Noun
 1. Articulatory phonetics is the branch of phonetics concerned with describing
the speech sounds of the world's languages in terms of their articulations,
that is, the movements and/or positions of the vocal organs (articulators).

Assimilation: /əˌsɪməˈleɪʃn/

Noun

1. The act of making two sounds in speech that are next to each other more
similar to each other in certain ways.

1.1 For example, the pronunciation of the /t/ in football as a /p/ is an

example of this process.

Auditory phonetic: /ˈɔːdətɔːri fəˈnetɪk/

Noun

1. Phonetic feature which deals with the way speech sounds are perceived by
the listener.

2. Auditory phonetics focuses on the perception of sounds or the way in which

sounds are heard and interpreted.

2.1 Thus, auditory phonetics deals with an important participant in verbal

communication, the listener.

B
Back vowels: /bӕk ˈvaʊəlz/

Noun
 1. Type of vowel sound used in spoken languages. The defining characteristic
of a back vowel is that the tongue is positioned as far back as possible in
the mouth without creating a constriction that would be classified as a
consonant.
1.1 Examples of these sort of vowels are [u] [ɑ] [ɔ] in words as cool,
complement and forty accordingly.

Bilabials: /ˌbaɪˈleɪbiəlz/

Noun

1. Sounds produced by using the lips, where the upper lip is the passive
articulator and the lower lip is the active articulator.

1.1 For example [p], [b], [m] as in the English words pat, bat and mat.

C
Cardinal vowels: /ˌkɑːrdɪnl ˈvaʊəlz/

Noun

1. Set of reference vowels used by phoneticians in describing the sounds of

languages. This set of theoretical vowel sounds are based on the shape of
the mouth needed to articulate them, and they can be used to classify the
vowel sounds of any speaker in any language.

1.1 For instance, the vowel of the English word "feet" can be described with
reference to cardinal vowel 1, [i], which is the cardinal vowel closest to it. It
 is often stated that to be able to use the cardinal vowel system effectively
one must undergo training with an expert phonetician, working both on the
recognition and the production of the vowels.

Chain shift: /tʃeɪnʃɪft/

Noun

1. It is a set of sound changes in which the change in pronunciation of one

speech sound (typically, a phoneme) is linked to, and presumably causes, a
change in pronunciation of other sounds as well.

1.1 Perhaps the best known example of this is The Great Vowel Shift, which
was a series of changes that took place in England primarily between
1350 and 1700s.

Close /high vowel: /ˌkləʊz ˈvaʊəl/

Noun

1. A sound produced when the tongue is in its highest position.

1.1 [i] in greet, and [u] in cool are close vowels.

Central vowels: /ˌsentrəl ˈvaʊəlz/

Noun

1. The sounds that occur during the production of which the central part of the
tongue is raised towards the area between the hard palate and soft palate.

1.1 [ə] in leader, or [Λ] in but are examples of central vowels.

Cluster: /ˈklΛstər/

Noun

1. A group of consonants pronounced in immediate succession in a word or

phrase, for example /str/ at the beginning of string.

1.1 a consonant cluster.

Complementary distribution: /ˌkɑmpləˈment(ə)ri ˌdɪstrɪˈbjuʃ(ə)n/

Noun

1. It is the mutually exclusive relationship between two phonetically similar

segments.

2. It exists when one segment occurs in an environment where the other

segment never occurs.

3. Aspirated and unaspirated allophones are one example of complementary

distribution: where the one (e.g. the aspirated p) occurs, the other cannot
occur. Aspirated [aspirated p], as you can see in this example, occurs only
at the beginning of words. [aspirated p] and [p as in pit] are only allophones
of the same phoneme /p/.

Consonants: /ˈkɑːnsənənts/

Noun

1. Sounds which show greater constriction of the vocal tract than vocalic
sounds and have less prominence.

1.1 [t]; [p]; [s]; [l]; [m], are examples of consonants.

Content words: /kənˈtent wɜ(r)ds/

Noun

1. They are usually nouns, verbs, adjectives, and sometimes adverbs.

2. Those are the words that help us form a picture in our head; they give us the
contents of our story and tell our listener where to focus his or her attention.

Contrastive distribution: /kənˈtræstɪv ˌdɪstrɪˈbjuːʃn/

Noun

1. A feature of phonemes that produces minimal pairs.

2. Contrastive distribution is where two sounds in a language, when placed in

identical contexts, produce different meanings.

2.1 For example, in English we have two bilabial consonants, [b] and [p].
These consonants are in contrastive distribution — “bear” and “pear”.
However, we also have an aspirated p sound in English, which is not
contrastive with the unaspirated form; they both act as a standard [p]
sound.

Constriction: /kənˈstrɪkʃn/

Noun

1. Some blockage of airstream.

2. An articulated narrowing of the vocal tract that in consonants audibly

obstructs the flow of air and in vowels defines an interconnection between or
among resonance cavities.
D
Diphthong: /ˈdɪfθɔːŋ/

Noun

1. It is a phonetic sequence, consisting of a vowel and a glide that is

interpreted as a single vowel.

2. Complex vowel sounds in which the tongue moves from one position to
another to make a vowel that changes from one sound to another.

2.1 Example of a diphthong can be found in words such as ‘gate’, ‘hope’,

‘sight’.

Diphthongization: /ˌdɪfθɔːŋəˈzeɪʃn/

Noun

1. Vowel shift in which a monophthong becomes in a diphthong.

2. A clear example of this process is the phenomena occurred in Europe
around the fifteenth (15th) century named The Great Vowel Shift, in which
some vowels were raised.

Diacritic: /ˌdaɪəˈkrɪtɪk/

Noun

1. Extra symbol used in allophonic transcription.

 2. For example, the symbols in red written in the following transcription are

known as diacritic /ˌdaɪəˈkrɪtɪk/

E
Elision: /ɪˈlɪʒn/

Noun

1. Omission of a sound (a phoneme) in speech. Elision is common in casual

conversation.
2. More specifically, elision may refer to the omission of an unstressed vowel,
consonant, or syllable. This omission is often indicated in print by an
apostrophe.
2.1 For example: I’d like… from (I would like)

Epenthesis: /ɪˈpɛnθəsɪs/

Noun

1. A phonological problem that occurs for adding sounds where there is not. In

other words epenthesis is the insertion of an extra sound into a word.

2. According to some linguists, "vowel epenthesis is often motivated by the

need to make consonant contrasts more distinct" (The Handbook of Speech

Perception, 2005).
F
Free variation: /fri: veriˈeɪʃn/

Noun

1. The interchangeable relationship between two phones, in which the phones

may substitute for one another in the same environment without causing a
change in meaning.
1.1 "For some speakers, [i] may be in free variation with [I] in final position
(e.g. city [sIti, sItI], happy [hӕpi, hӕpI]). The use of final unstressed [I] is
most common to the south of a line drawn west from Atlantic City to
northern Missouri, thence southwest to New Mexico," (Yavas 2011).

Fricatives: /ˈfrɪkətɪvz/

Noun

1. Sounds produced when the articulators come very close together such that
the air is released gradually but causes audible friction.
1.1 English words like [f], [s] etc. as in the words far and sat are examples of
fricatives.

Front vowels: /frΛnt ˈvaʊəlz/

1. It refers to the sounds during the production of which the front of the tongue
is raised towards the hard palate.
1.1 Examples of these vowels are [i]; [ɪ]; which can be found in words like
beach or birth.
Function word: /ˈfΛŋkʃn wɜ:rd/

Noun

1. It is a word which have no lexical meaning, and whose sole function is to

express grammatical relationships.
2. Examples of these sort of words are the prepositions, conjunctions and
auxiliaries.
2.1 In daily basis speech they are not as stressed as their counterpart, the
content words.

G
Glides: /glaɪds/

Noun

1. Sounds produced as transition sound. These sounds are also called semi-
vowels.
2. The constriction of the sounds is more than that of the consonant but less
than a vowel. The sounds [w] and [y] as in the words we, wet, you, yes etc.
are called glides sounds.

Glottal: /ˈɡlɑːt(ə)l/

Adjective

1. Classification of sounds produced in the larynx when the vocal cords are

held tightly. The symbol for this sound is [ʔ].

 1.1 This pretty common in words such as mountain, important, better,

water, when pronouncing by British speakers.

H
Hiatus: /haɪˈeɪtəs/

Noun

1. It is a paused. A break in sound between two vowels that occur together

without an intervening consonant, both vowels being clearly enunciated. The

two vowels may be either within one word, as in the words Vienna and

naive, or the final and initial vowels of two successive words, as in the

phrases “see it” and “go in.”

Homonyms: /ˈhɑːmənɪm/

Noun

1. Words that have the same pronunciation as another. They differ from each
other in meaning, origin and usually spelling.
2. Common examples of homonyms are:
a) bore and boar
b) two and too
c) flower and flour
Homorganic: /ˌhoʊ mɔrˈgæn ɪk,/

Adjective

1. Sounds produced through the same manner of articulation using the same
speech organs.
2. For example, the consonants [p], [b], and [m] are all bilabial. So that, they
are considered as homorganic sounds in phonetic contexts.

I
Intonation: /ˌɪntəˈneɪʃn/

Noun

1. The melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of

variation in the pitch level of the voice (see also tone), but in such languages

as English, stress and rhythm are also involved. Intonation conveys

differences of expressive meaning (e.g., surprise, anger, wariness).

2. The system of levels (rising and falling) and variations in pitch sequences

within speech.

IPA: /ˌaɪ piː ˈeɪ/

Noun

1. Group of symbol that helps how to pronounce every single language sound.

2. IPA means International Phonetic Alphabet.

L
Labiodentals: /ˌleɪbiəʊˈdentlz/

Noun

1. The sounds produced by the lower lip and the upper teeth, where the lower

lip is the active articulator and the upper teeth are the passive articulator.

2. They are represented by the sound [f] and [v] as in words like fat and vat.

Laterals: /ˈlætərəlz/

Noun

1. The sounds produced when the air escapes through the sides of the tongue

as it make contact with the alveolar ridge are called lateral sounds.

2. An English example of lateral is [l] as in led.

M
Metathesis: /məˈtæθəsɪs/

Noun
 1. A phonological problem which has to do with the change of the order of

consonants.

2. This transposition of two phonemes in a word can be found as in the

development of crud from curd or the pronunciation \ˈpər-tē\ for pretty.

P
Phonology: /fəˈnɑːlədʒi/

Noun

1. The study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.

2. Branch of linguistics concerned with the study of speech sounds with

reference to their distribution and patterning.

Phonetics: /fəˈnetɪk/

Noun

1. The study of human speech sounds.

2. The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their
production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols.
Adjective: phonetic. Pronounced [fah-NET-iks]. From the Greek, "sound,
voice"
3. A linguist who specializes in phonetics is known as a phonetician. As
discussed below, the boundaries between the disciplines of phonetics and
phonology aren't always sharply defined.
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