Flashcards on Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology
Introduction to Phonetics & Phonology: A Student Guide
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Phonetics and Phonology
12 cards
Card 1
Question: What is the difference between phonetics and phonology?
Answer: Phonetics studies the physical, measurable aspects of speech sounds (production, transmission, perception). Phonology studies the abstract organizatio
Card 2
Question: What are the three main branches of phonetics and what does each study?
Answer: Articulatory phonetics: how sounds are produced by the vocal tract. Acoustic phonetics: how sounds travel through the air. Auditory phonetics: how sou
Card 3
Question: Give an example that shows how phonetics and phonology address the same sounds differently.
Answer: Phonology explains that /p/ vs /b/ distinguishes meaning in English (pat vs bat). Phonetics describes how /p/ and /b/ are physically articulated, tran
Card 4
Question: What is meant by the 'speech mechanism'?
Answer: The coordinated activity of several organs that produce speech, divided into respiratory, phonatory, and articulatory systems.
Card 5
Question: What role does the respiratory system play in speech?
Answer: The respiratory system (lungs, diaphragm, trachea) provides the airflow that powers speech.
Card 6
Question: What is the phonatory system and what does it do?
Answer: The phonatory system is in the larynx and contains the vocal folds; their vibration produces voiced sounds, and when apart produces voiceless sounds.
Card 7
Question: What are active and passive articulators in the articulatory system? Give examples.
Answer: Active articulators move to shape sounds (e.g., tongue, lips). Passive articulators are stationary surfaces the active articulators contact or approac
Card 8
Question: How do articulators create different speech sounds?
Answer: By precise positioning and movement of active and passive articulators, which shape airflow into distinct speech sounds.
Card 9
Question: What is the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) used for?
Answer: To represent speech sounds accurately and consistently, showing how words are pronounced with a one-to-one correspondence between sounds and symbols.
Card 10
Question: What does it mean that IPA symbols represent phonemes?
Answer: IPA symbols are meant to represent distinct sounds (phonemes); some symbols resemble letters but many represent sounds not directly shown by conventio