Vowels
This part of the syllable is the part at which the vocal tract is the least obstructed.
Peak
The voiceless, post-alveolar fricative
/ʃ/
Phenomenon whereby a vowel assimilates to the following /r/ within the same syllable, taking some of its retroflex quality and sometimes even becoming "less different" from otherwise similar vowels
r-coloring
Only context where voiced obstruents are fully voiced.
These abstract phonological units lack meaning in themselves but a change of one for another generates a different word in a given language.
Phonemes
The low, central vowels of NAE
/ɑ/ and /ʌ/
The two phonemes of NAE that undergo flapping
/t/ and /d/
Two contexts where vowels become nasal
Before a nasal consonant, after a nasal consonant, and between nasal consonants
The two consonant phonemes that are most likely to become syllabic
/n/ and /l/
Of the approximately ___ consonants in the languages of the world, ___ are used in NAE.
600 and 25
The three phonemic diphthongs of NAE
/ɑʊ, ɑɪ, ɔɪ/
These criteria are used for the classification of consonants
Voicing, manner, and place of articulation
Three contexts where vowels become longer
1- Word-finally
2- Before sonorants
3- Before voiced non-sonorants
Contexts where voiceless C are aspirated.
1- Word-initially in stressed syllables
2- Word-medially in stressed syllables
3- Word-finally (except p, k, t)
Three obstruents
Stops, fricatives, and affricates
Four criteria for categorizing vowels
Frontness/backness, height, tension, and lip rounding
Stops (plosives), fricatives, affricates, nasals, and approximants (liquids and glides)
Four characteristics of tense vowels
Muscular tension, distribution (both open and closed syllables, higher position than lax counterparts, longer than lax counterparts
Four pairs of vowels with high functional load
/i-ɪ/, /ɔ-oʊ/, /æ-ɑ/, /ɑ-ʌ/
Substitution, deletion (aka omission), distortion, and addition (epenthesis)
The five lax vowels of NAE
/ɪ, ɛ, æ, ʌ, ʊ/
Five points of articulation of consonants in NAE
Bilabial, labiodental, interdental, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, and glottal
The 5 reduced vowels of NAE
[ə, ɪ, i, o, ʊ]
Other consonant-related phenomena
Velarization of /l/, glottalization of /t/, palatalization of alveolars, deletion of /t/ after /n/, devoicing of approximants in clusters, affrication of /r/, deletion of interdentals, dentalization of /l/, assimilation of alveolar stops
The 5 stages of Celce-Murcia et al.'s communicative framework