Sounds of English
The formal study of language and how it works.
What is linguistics?
A sound in which air flow is partially or completely cut off when the sound is produced.
What is a consonant?
Sounds formed by closing or blocking off air flow and then exploding a puff of air.
What are plosives?
A sound which is formed using one's lips and teeth.
What is a labiodental?
The study of speech sounds.
What is phonetics?
A sound in which air flow is unobstructed when the sound is made.
What is a vowel?
Sounds formed by narrowing the air channel and the forcing air through it, creating friction in the mouth.
What are fricatives?
A sound formed using the front of the mouth, where one's teeth arise.
What is an alveolar?
The smallest unit of sound that distinguishes one word from another.
What is a phoneme?
Another word for the slashes placed around sounds in writing.
What are virgules?
Sounds formed when the mouth is closed, forcing air through the nose.
What are nasals?
A sound formed using the roof of one's mouth.
What is a palatal?
A letter or cluster of letters representing one sound.
What is a grapheme?
Markings which aid in representing sounds in writing.
What are diacritical marks?
Sounds formed by slightly interrupting airflow, not resulting in friction.
What are liquids?
A sound formed using the soft palate in the back of one's mouth.
What is a velar?
The smallest meaningful unit in a language.
What is a morpheme?
A letter cluster that stands for one sound.
What is a digraph?
Sounds which are not vowels but which are formed in similar ways.
What are glides?
A sound in which the position of the mouth changes as the sound is produced.
What is a diphthong?