Version of 2010-06-15
Wersja polska • Bilanguage version • Wersja dwujęzyczna
Grzegorz Jagodziński
How to Construct a Language
1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9
A look at linguistic typology
- Affricate – a consonant that is produced by short stopping the air stream and then forcing it through a narrow passage; English affricates are ch and j.
- Allophone – one of two or more phones which are members of the same phoneme. Ex. [pʰ] and [p] are allophones of the phoneme /p/ in English.
- Alveolar – articulated with the tip of tongue and gums (apical-alveolar), ex. English s, z, t, d, l, n, Spanish s, Spanish or Polish l, r, or with the front edge of the tongue and gums, ex. German sch or Polish cz, dż, sz, ż.
- Alveolo-palatal – articulated with the tip and the back of the tongue, ex. Polish ś, ź, ć, dź, ń.
- Apical – articulated with the very tip of the tongue. See coronal, dorsal.
- Approximant – a consonant similar to a fricative but produced with a little more open passage between speech organs; English approximants can be y, w (esp. as the second elements of diphthongs as in boy, cow, etc.). Lateral and coronal approximants (English l, r) are considered to be sonants while the others are termed half-vowels.
- Aspiration – an expiratory breath puff such as follows /p/, /t/, /k/ in English, esp. when initial; also – the sound /h/. Aspiration is a result of the glottis being spread. It is not known in Slavic or Romance languages. See also glottal.
- Cacuminal – articulated with the tip of the tongue raised toward the palate behind the gums.
- Cerebral – the term is used in the meaning retroflex or cacuminal.
- Click – a stop sound pronounced by touching the tongue to the roof of the mouth, drawing in the breath, and abruptly withdrawing the tongue from the roof of the mouth (in some African languages and in English tsk).
- Consonant – a speech sound (phone or phoneme) that is formed (1) by stopping and then releasing the air stream (flow of air from the lungs), (2) by forcing it through a more (2a) or less (2b) narrow passage, (3) by stopping it at one point while escaping at another, or (4) by using a combination of these means. Among consonants, stops (1, like p, t, d), fricatives (2a, like v, s, th), approximants or half-vowels (2b, like w, y, r), sonants or half-consonants (3, like l, ng) and affricates (4, like ch, j) can be distinguished.
- Coronal – articulated with the front edge of the tongue. The shape of the tongue reminds a spoon. See also apical, dorsal, cacuminal, retroflex.
- Dental – articulated with the tip of tongue and teeth, ex. French, German, Spanish or Polish t, d, n, French or Polish s, z, Polish c, dz. English has no true dental sounds.
- Dorsal – articulated with the back (upper part) of the tongue.
- Ejective – pronounced with the simultaneous glottal stop; ejective sounds are voiceless, ex. in Georgian.
- Epiglottal – articulated with the epiglottis (the thin, triangular piece of cartilage that folds back over the opening of the windpipe during swallowing), ex. ʜ, ʢ, ʡ in Agul which is a northeast Caucasian language.
- Flap – see tap.
- Fricative – a consonant that is produced by forcing the air stream through a narrow passage which forms a noisy air stream; English fricatives are f, v, th (in think), dh (th in this), s, z, sh, zh (s in usual), h (the latter is also considered to be a special kind of consonants); y, w (and wh if it is pronounced as a voiceless consonant) can be fricatives as well.
- Geminates – long or double consonants, present in Italian, Swedish, Finnish, Hungarian, Japanese, Korean, Avar (a northeast Caucasian language). Their exact nature can vary in different languages.
- Glottal – articulated in the larynx, ex. h, glottal stop (ʔ).
- Glottalization – articulation with some non-pulmonic features. Clicks, ejective and implosive consonants are glottal or glottalized.
- half-consonant – see sonant.
- half-vowel – see approximant.
- Hard – see velarized. This term is sometimes used for “stop” which is incorrect.
- Implosive – pronounced with the sudden rush of air into the pharynx causing implosion; ex. implosive voiced stops in some African languages like Fulani (Fulbe).
- Interdental – articulated between upper and lower teeth, ex. English th /θ/ as in think, th /ð/ as in this, Spanish z.
- Labial – articulated with lips, ex. p, b, m, English w, Polish ł.
- Labialized – articulated with rounded lips, ex. consonants in some Caucasian or Semitic languages as well as vowels like u in Luke.
- Labiodental – articulated with lips and teeth, ex. f, v, Polish and German w, German pf.
- Larynx – the organ of voice, the structure of muscle and cartilage at the upper end of the human trachea, containing the vocal cords.
- Lateral – articulated with the air stream escaping along one or both sides of the tongue. There exist lateral approximants (English l), lateral fricatives and lateral affricates (both known only in “exotic” languages).
- Lateral affricate – a stop with lateral release of the air stream, ex. tl in many Amerindian languages.
- Lateral approximant – articulated with the air stream escaping along one or both sides of the tongue without a noise (English l); lateral approximants are considered to be sonants.
- Lateral fricative – articulated with the air stream escaping through a narrow passage along one or both sides of the tongue, ex. in some Bantu languages.
- Minimal pair – two words which differ with only one sound (phoneme), ex. pin : bin.
- Nasal – articulated with air going out through the nose. See nasal sonant, nasal vowel.
- Nasal sonant – articulated with the air going out through the nose blocked from going through the mouth, ex. Eng. m, n, ng.
- Nasal vowel – articulated with the air going out through both the mouth and nose, ex. in French.
- Oral – not nasal, articulated with air going only through the mouth (Eng. b, d, g, a, i are oral).
- Palatal – articulated with the back of the tongue and the palate (the front part of the top or the roof of the mouth), ex. English y, German ch in ich, Spanish ch, y, ll, ñ, Polish j.
- Palatalized – articulated with the tongue raised towards the palate; Irish and Slavic languages (like Russian or Polish) have palatalized sounds.
- Palato-alveolar – articulated with the tip of tongue and the place behind the gums, ex. English ch, j, sh, zh (s in pleasure, usual).
- Palato-velar – articulated at the place between the palate and the velum, ex. Polish ki, gi, chi.
- Pharyngeal – articulated with the root of the tongue and the back face of the throat (in the pharynx), ex. Arabic ḥ, ʕ. Pharyngeal sounds are not present in “western” languages.
- Pharyngealized – articulated with the tongue raised towards the back face of the throat, ex. in some Turkish languages.
- Phone – any single speech sound (considered as a physical event) without reference to its function. Phones are written in square brackets: [pʰ], [æ], [w].
- Phoneme – a set of similar speech sounds which are heard as the same sound by native speakers. Phonemes are written between slashes: /p/, /æ/, /w/.
- Phonemic – related to a phoneme or to phonemics.
- Phonemics – the study of the whole sound system of the language.
- Phonetic – related to a phone or to phonetics.
- Phonetics – the study of all the possible speech sounds of the language, their production and combination.
- Phonology – the study of speech sounds, including phonetics and phonemics.
- Plosive – see stop.
- Postalveolar – see palato-alveolar.
- Prepalatal – see alveolo-palatal.
- Prevelar – see palato-velar.
- Retroflex – articulated with the tip of the tongue raised and bent slightly backwards toward the hard palate, ex. American r.
- Rounded – see labialized.
- Soft – see palatalized. The same term is sometimes used for “fricative”, which is not correct.
- Sonant – a consonant that is produced by stopping the air stream at one point while escaping it at another; English sonants are l, m, n, ng (as in bang). Sonants contains lateral approximants, trills, taps (flaps) and nasal sonants.
- Sonorant – a nasal consonant, an approximant, or a sonant. English y, w, r, l, m, n, ng are all sonorants.
- Stop – a consonant that is produced by stopping and then releasing the air stream, with complete closure of the vocal tract; English stops are p, b, t, d, k, g (in get).
- Strong – articulated with stiff vocal cords; Eng. strong consonants (ex. t, ch, s) are always voiceless.
- Tap – articulated with the tip of the tongue making a single rapid contact (or: a single vibration) with the palate, ex. Spanish r.
- Transcription – a recording of speech with the help of letters and letter-like symbols that have strictly defined phonetic or phonemic values. For the word book, /bʊk/ can be its phonemic while [bʊkʰ] its phonetic transcription, with the use of IPA symbols.
- Trill – articulated with the lips, or the tip of the tongue, or the uvula set into vibration by the air stream, ex. Polish r, Spanish rr.
- Uvular – articulated with the back of the tongue and the uvula (the small, fleshy process hanging down from the middle of the soft palate above the back of the tongue), ex. Scottish ch (in loch), German ch (in ach), Spanish j, Arabic q, ḫ, ġ, German r.
- Velar – articulated with the back of the tongue and the velum (soft palate, the deeper part of the top of the mouth), ex. k, g, ng.
- Velarized – articulated with the tongue raised towards the velum; velarized sounds are w and “dark” l in English; other velarized sounds are present in Irish, Arabic, Russian but not in modern Polish.
- Voiced – articulated with simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords, ex. always Polish d, z, and also Eng. d, z except some positions.
- Voiceless – articulated without simultaneous vibration of the vocal cords, ex. Eng. t, ch, s and also final d, z in beds.
- Vocal cords – membranous cords or folds in the larynx; when the cords are vibrating, voice is produced.
- Weak – articulated with neutral or slack vocal cords; Eng. d, j, z are weak and voiced (usually) or voiceless (ex. in the final position).
Remark: see also another vocabulary of grammar terms, written by me.
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