General Linguistics
The definition of linguistics.
What is the scientific study of language?
The phonetic characterization of this sound: [ɹ].
What is a voiced alveolar liquid?
e.g. "root" [ɹut]
What are allophones?
The term for the phonological process that causes voiceless stops to be produced with a puff of air when occurring at the start of a word.
What is aspiration?
The three characteristics used to describe consonants in the IPA.
What are voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation?
The facet of human language that allows meaningful units to be created out of both meaningful and non-meaningful units.
What is duality of patterning?
The phonetic characterization of this sound: [ʒ].
What is a voiced palatal fricative?
e.g. "vision" [vɪʒn̩]
This is the term for the consonants at the start of a syllable.
What is the onset?
The allophones of /t/ in English.
What are [t], [tʰ], [ɾ], and [ʔ]?
e.g. "stop", "top", "bottle", and "butter"
The three characteristics used to describe vowels in the IPA.
What are tongue height, tongue advancement (or "frontness"), and lip rounding.
This is the knowledge shared by speakers that determines what words and sentences are allowed in a language.
What is grammar?
The IPA characterization of this symbol: [æ].
A front low unrounded lax vowel.
e.g. "cat" [kæt]
This is what we call it when two sounds do not appear in the same phonetic environment.
What is complementary distribution?
The number of rounded front vowels in English.
What is zero?
Consonants that are produced with friction resulting from a near-closure of articulators.
What are fricatives?
The term for someone who speaks many languages.
What is a polyglot?
The phonetic characterization of this sound: [ɾ].
What is a voiced alveolar flap?
e.g. "butter" [bʌɾɹ̩]
In this phonological phenomenon, one sound changes to become more similar to an adjacent sound
What is assimilation?
The phonetic transcription of "linguistics" in English.
What is [lɪŋgwɪstɪks]?
This is the term for consonants produced at the gum ridge above the upper teeth.
What is alveolar?
The facet of language that permits people to speak about things that are not physically present.
What is displacement?
The phonetic characterization of this symbol: [ʔ].
What is a voiceless, glottal fricative?
e.g. "button" [bʌʔn̩]
This is the definition of a "natural class"
What is any non-arbitrary grouping of sounds?
The three syllabic consonants used in English.
What are [l̩], [ɹ̩], and [n̩]?
Vowels that are produced closer to the extremes of the vowel space.
What are tense vowels?