A syllable must contain a vowel (or diphthong), and its permissible patterns and “consonant clusters” described (e.g.Phonotactics = permitted arrangements of sounds.Allophone = set of all phones of a phoneme, these are distinguished by symbols, i.e.the various allophonic phones of a language’s phoneme) many distinguishable phones are treated identically by a language, i.e. members of a “ natural class“, with have similar phonological behaviors (e.g. Basis prediction is that sounds with similar features (e.g.does exchanging sounds change the meaning Phonemes are essentially contrastive, and this is the basis for a basic operational test of their existence, i.e.Phoneme = a meaning distinguishing sound.is essentially concerned with the idea of the sounds rather then physical articulation the abstract set of sounds whose differentiation allows meaning to be distinguished. Phonology = description of the systems of speech sounds in a language, nb.“shwa” = most common sound in English, e.g. Diphthongs = two vowel combination, as vocal organs move from one position to another.Relaxing pleasure vowels tend to be lower, which may require opening the mouth wider (e.g.Vowels – described based on space in mouth and tongue elevation, per front to back, high to low.American English speakers tend to flap and consonants between vowels.when saying “butter” as “budder”, the sound is represented as Flap = tongue tapping alveolar briefly, e.g.in the middle of “Oh oh” or Cockney speech Glottal stop = represented as, when the glottis is briefly completely closed, e.g.Glides = involving tongue moving forward, e.g.Liquids = – “lateral liquid”, air flows around tongue as it points at mid alveolar ridge – tongue tip raised and curled back near the ridge.raised velum blocks nasal air flow except if lowered Affrictives = combine brief stop with obstructed release, e.g.Frictives = blocking and pushing through air stream, e.g.Stops = by briefly stopping air stream, e.g.voiceless sounds are produced with an open glottis – space between vocal folds).

Glottals = produced without active use of mouth, i.e.Velars = tongue against the soft palate (velum), e.g.Palatals = produced with the tongue and hard palate, e.g.Alveolar = tongue tip at alveolar ridge, e.g.Labiodentals = upper teeth and lower lips, e.g.Bilabials = (bi/both + labia/lips) e.g.,, when they are drawn together, vibrating as air passes between ,, when they are open and air passes unimpeded Articulatory phonetics = how speech sounds are made.Phonetics = characteristics of speech sounds.Editorial notes: The content below is Shai’s summary of “The Study of Language” (4th Edition) by George Yule.

The study of language 4th edition