Linguistics seminar 1

Phonology is the study of pattern of sounds in a language and across languages

phoneme smallest units of sound that has meaning in any language

phone is any distinct speech sound or gesture

allophone phonetically distinct variants of a phoneme

complementary distribution example p and ph are allophones of the phoneme p

minimal pair pairs of words or phrases that differs in only one phonological element

minimal pair example fan-van

minimal set has more than two items

minimal set example weep, weak, weed, wean, wheel

phonotactics restricts the possible sound sequences and syllable structure in a language

syllable stavelse

onset the consonant that precedes the vowel of the syllable

rhyme part of the syllable that consist of its vowel and any syllable that come after it

nucleus central part of the syllable, often a vowel

coda the consonant (s) following the nucleus

open syllable a syllable that ends in a vowel

closed syllable words that ends with a consonant

consonant cluster groups of consonants which has no intervening vowel

coarticulation effects example large consonant cluster may be reduced if they occur in the middle of a word

assimilation One sound become more similar to a nearby sound

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