Glossary
- Allophonic rules
Allophonic rules are phonological rules that describe how phonemes (the smallest distinctive sound units in a language) are realized as different allophones (variants of a phoneme) in specific contexts. These rules explain the predictable variations in the pronunciation of a phoneme based on its phonetic environment.
- Minimal pairs
Minimal pairs are pairs of words or phrases in a language that differ by only one sound (phoneme) in the same position and have different meanings. They are used to demonstrate that two sounds are distinct phonemes in a language because substituting one sound for the other changes the meaning of the word.
- Morphophonemics
Morphophonemics (or morphophonology) is the study of the interaction between morphology (the structure of words) and phonology (the sound system of a language). It examines how the pronunciation of morphemes (the smallest meaningful units of language) changes depending on their context or the rules of the language.
- Neutralization
Neutralization in phonology refers to the loss of a phonological distinction between two or more sounds in a specific context. This means that sounds that are normally distinct (i.e., separate phonemes) become indistinguishable in a particular environment, often merging into a single sound.
- Syllable structure
It refers to the organization of sounds within a syllable, which is a unit of speech that typically contains a vowel sound and may be accompanied by consonants. Syllables are the building blocks of words, and their structure plays a key role in pronunciation, rhythm, and stress patterns in language.
- Tonal languages, tone
Tonal languages, tone refers to the use of pitch (the highness or lowness of a sound) to distinguish meaning between words or grammatical forms. In these languages, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have entirely different meanings depending on the pitch pattern or tone used.
- Voicing
In phonetics, it refers to whether the vocal cords vibrate during the production of a speech sound. It is a key feature that distinguishes between different types of consonant sounds.