A Reference Glossary to Pronunciation Terms and Terminology

affricate

plosive followed immediately by a fricative

allophone

variations on a phoneme

alveolar

tip or blade of tongue against the gum just behind the upper teeth

articulation of a plosive

Approach- as the articulating organs come together, hold-as they stay together, release-as the separate and allow the blocked air to escape

aspiration

The release of a plosive not immediately followed by voicing for a vowel, a voiceless escape of breath (example voiceless plosives as in p, t, k)

assimilation

variances in phonemic pronunciation in connected speech
d followed by p, b or m is bilabial assimilation followed k or g is velar assimilation also t and n are possible assimilants as they are alveolar (known as de-alveolar assimilation)

back

tongue in back of mouth for articulation

bilabial

lips pressed together

blade

front line of tongue

centre

tongue in central part of the mouth for articulation

centering dipthongs

dipthong with vowel sound made by opening

clear L

used before vowels and j

close

vowel sound with tongue close to palate

closing dipthongs

dipthong with second vowel phoneme made by closure

clusters

groups of consonants, when preceding consonant is voiceless, the whole cluster is usually voiceless, and vice versa

coalescence

assimilation that eliminates phonemes

complementary Distribution

The differences in allophones for any given phoneme which are predictable (such as k being different based on the placement of the vowel)

contextual elision

elided and unelided forms both can be heard example last month in colloquial speech

contrastiveness

Two phonemes are contrastive by listing minimal pairs distinguished by the contrast being illustrated

dark l

used before consonants and before w and before a pause

dental

using the tongue against teeth

devoicing

after voiceless plosives voiced consonants become devoiced

egressive

outward direction of air

ejective consonant

consonant using egressive pharyngeal air stream

elision

when a phoneme is dropped in pronunciation as in Christmas, and listen

fall

high fall and low fall marked by asterisk respectively at top or bottom

fortis

plosives, affricates and fricatives strong articulation

free Variation

Choice between allophones is free in certain contexts without any apparent system

fricative

narrowing of passage above tongue

front

tongue in highest part of the mouth for articulation

glottal plosive

vocal folds blocking the passage of air, also glottal stop

glottis

space between the vocal folds

historical elision

dropped historically no question of inclusion Christmas, listen

homophone

word pronounced the same but spelled differently

implosive

ingressive pharyngeal air-stream

ingressive

direction of air movement inwards

inter-vocalic

consonant between vowels

labialization

lip rounding occurring at the same time as some other more important articulation

labio-dental

lower lip with upper teeth

lateral

blockage on the side

lateral Approach

from l phoneme sides of tongue have to rise to block air for the plosive

lateral Release

with l phoneme sides of tongue must drop to produce l after plosive

lenis

plosives, affricates and fricatives weak articulation

lip-rounding

lips playing a role in producing certain vowels and other sounds

manner

way of articulation

nasal

evident, lowered soft palate to allow air through

nasal approach

with plosives an approach consists solely in the rising of the soft palate

nasal release

with plosives when the release consists solely in the movement of the soft palate

non-Audible Release

When the release of the first plosive in an overlapping plosive sequence is not audible as it is masked by the second closure

open

vowel sound with tongue farther away from palate

oral egressive

reverse click

oral ingressive

air flowing inwards from the mouth, click

ordinary approach

tongue tip rises to produce plosive

ordinary approach/release

Since the opposite of nasal is ORAl and the opposite of lateral is MEDIAN, the "ordinary" approach/release, characterizing for example the d in eddy is properly termed MEDIAL ORAL (This stuff is great!) ;-)

overlapping plosive consonants

In a sequence of plosives with different places of articulation (grabbed it), release of first plosive articulation does not occur until after the approach phase of the second

pharyngeal

air set in motion holding the vocal folds together and using air above

pharyngeal eggressive

ejective

pharyngeal ingressive

implosive

place

place of articulation

plosive

complete blocking of the air-stream

plosive

sound in which air-stream is entirely blocked for a short time, p,b,t,d,k,g

plosive theory

with plosives described in a chart as first part of >-< scheme > being approach - being hold and < being release

pulmonic

air set in motion in the lungs

pulmonic egressive

egressive pronunciation from the lungs, ordinary speech

pulmonic ingressive

in-breathing speech

quality

Differing positions of the body of the tongue

rise

high rise or low rise marked by asterisk respectively at top or bottom

rise followed by unstressed syllables

The rise is spread out over the whole

roll or trill

rapid series of closures and openings

RP

Received Pronunciation or SBS

SBS

Southern British Standard or Received Pronunciation

secondary articulation

a secondary occurrence such as labialization, palatalization, velarization accompanying a more important primary articulation

soft palate

valve that controls the entry of air from the throat (pharynx) into the nose

stressed

given accent

strong form

see weak form

syllabic consonants

sounds which are rather longer than usual and have syllable making function like vowels, examples: '-l' and '-n'

tip

tip of tongue

unstressed

without accent

velar

raised back of tongue against soft palate

vocal Folds

in the larynx, behind the adam's apple

voiced

vibrating glottis

voiced implosive

voiced ingressive

voiceless

glottis wide open, non-vibrating glottis

voicing

voiced or voiceless

voicing diagram

diagram showing when a word is voiced and unvoiced in its phonemes i.e. sit = |--|"""|--|

voicing, place, manner

standard manner of expressing sound (i.e. voiced velar fricative)

weak form

used with articles, prepositions etc. to differentiate from strong form with different phoneme