Pronunciation and Phonetics Flashcards

Which term describes the smallest unit of sound in a language that can distinguish meaning between words?

Answer: Phoneme

A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change word meaning, such as the difference between /p/ and /b/ in 'pat' and 'bat'.

In English, the words 'ship' and 'sheep' are distinguished by which phonetic feature?

Answer: Vowel length and quality

The short /ɪ/ in 'ship' versus the long /iː/ in 'sheep' represents a difference in vowel length and quality.

What is the term for the rise and fall of pitch in speech that conveys meaning or emotion?

Answer: Intonation

Intonation refers to the melodic pattern of pitch changes across an utterance that signals meaning, attitude, or sentence type.

Which of the following correctly describes a voiced consonant?

Answer: The vocal cords vibrate during its production

Voiced consonants are produced with vibration of the vocal cords, which is what distinguishes /v/ from /f/ and /z/ from /s/.

In the word 'photograph', which syllable receives primary stress?

Answer: pho-

In 'photograph' (PHO-to-graph), primary stress falls on the first syllable, which is why the vowels in the unstressed syllables are reduced.

Which phonetic process occurs when a sound takes on features of a neighboring sound, as in the pronunciation of 'handbag' as 'hambag'?

Answer: Assimilation

Assimilation occurs when one sound becomes more like an adjacent sound; here /n/ assimilates to the bilabial /b/, becoming /m/.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is primarily used to:

Answer: Represent speech sounds consistently across all languages

The IPA provides a standardized set of symbols to accurately transcribe the sounds of any spoken language regardless of spelling conventions.