Phonetics and IPA
A sound that involves a significant constriction in airflow.
What is a CONSONANT?
The process that introduces a word from another language into English
What is BORROWING?
A vowel is the nucleus of this prosodic unit.
What is a SYLLABLE?
This menu bar item in an OED entry explains the history of a headword.
What is ETYMOLOGY?
What are VOWELS?
Consonants of English are described in terms of place, manner and this.
What is VOICING?
The words smog, motel and brunch are words of this type.
What are BLENDS?
One of the syllables in a rhythmic group called a 'foot' must bear this.
The OED uses these to document the development of a headword's meaning over time.
What is QUOTES?
The IPA symbol for this unstressed vowel looks like an upside down 'e'.
What is a SCHWA?
The word meat used to mean 'food', but now, due to this process, it means 'meat'.
What is SEMANTIC NARROWING?
This consonant or group of consonants occur at the beginning of a syllable.
What is an ONSET?
The different senses of a headword in the OED are presented in this order.
What is CHRONOLOGICAL?
Because language is commonly used to show this, a speaker might change their speech to be more like the local variety when they move to a new community.
What is SOLIDARITY?
These consonants are produced with a brief but complete obstruction of airflow.
What are STOPS?
The word 'fridge' was created through this process.
What is CLIPPING?
A foot of this type is made of two syllables with the main stress falling on the second syllable.
What is an IAMB?
Changes in the popularity of a headword over time are documented in this menu bar item.
What is FREQUENCY?
Written English has changed with the advent of texting and other informal modes of digital communication. Now it can be used in more of these.
What are REGISTERS?
This word's transcription in IPA is /ˌow.ʃi.ˈjæ.nik/
What is OCEANIC?
The word 'silly' used to mean 'happy, blissful, fortunate, blessed', but came to its current meaning through this process.
What is PEJORATION?
Two syllables do this when their nucleus and coda (but not their onset) match.
What is RHYME?
To browse headwords borrowed from a specific language, or words that entered English in a specific time period, or words in a specific register, go here.
What is ADVANCED SEARCH?
This type of English dialect does not use /ɹ/ in syllable codas.
What is NON-RHOTIC?