Sound Terminology

The following parsings of the sound terminology used in class and in Chapter 5 are provided to help you understand and remember the terms, and in part to reinforce your parsing knowledge and experience.

Most of the following terms come from Latin. The exceptions are glottal, glottis which are based on a Greek root.

Places of articulation

bilabial        bi  + lab + i +     al    'produced with the two lips'
                two   lip  (linker) ADJ


interdental     inter +  dent + al        'produced with tongue between
                between  tooth  ADJ        the teeth'
                    

alveolar        alveol    +    ar         'produced at the alveolus,
                a small        ADJ         i.e. the alveolar ridge'
                hollow                     (so called because it
                                           abuts on the tooth sockets,
                                           or alveoli 'little hollows')


alveo-palatal   alveo(l)  +  palat + al   'produced starting at the 
                a small      palate  ADJ   alveolar ridge then immediately
                hollow                     afterwards at the palate'
                                           

                alveol is from alveol-us, the diminutive form
                of alveus 'a cavity, hollow'


palatal         palat +  al               'produced at the palate'
                palate   ADJ                  
 
                (palate has an uncertain etymology; possibly
                 Latin borrowed it from Etruscan)


velar           vel   +    ar             'produced at the velum,
                flap,      ADJ             or soft palate'
                covering
                veil


glottal         glott/gloss  + al         'produced at the glottis'
                glottis        ADJ         (see below)

     
(glottis        glott  +    is            'the vocal chord part of
                tongue,     'N'            the upper larynx'
                speech, 
                language' 
 
                Glottis can be thought of meaning literally 'speech organ',
                but its actual present meaning is of course more specific.)

Manners of articulation

stop           (native word)             'sound produced with total
                                          stoppage of airflow in the
                                          mouth'
same as: 
plosive        plod/plos  +  ive          (see above)
               burst,        ADJ
               explode


fricative      fric + at/ate + ive       'sound produced with partial
               rub    V        ADJ        occlusion of vocal tract,
                                          producing audible friction'


affricate      ad/af +   fric  +  ate    'sound produced by stopping
               to,       rub      ADJ     airflow and then partial
               towards                    release into a fricative
                                          at or near same point of
                                          articulation'


nasal          nas    +  al              'sound produced by stopping
               nose      ADJ              airflow in mouth, but allowing
                                          it to continue flowing through
                                          nasal tract'


liquid         liqu   +  id              'l and r sounds.' So called because
               fluid     ADJ, N           they give the acoustic impression 
                                          sounding like water flowing


lateral        later  +  al              'sound produced by touching tongue
               side      ADJ              to roof of mouth and letting 
                                          air pass at one or both
                                          sides of the tongue' l is
                                          the only lateral in English.


approximant    ad/ap  +  proxim  + ant   'consonant produced with relatively
                         near,     ADJ    wide opening between articulators;
                         nearest          an in-between sound that approxi-
                                          mates or comes near to a vowel 
                                          sound.' y and w are the main English
                                          approximants; sometimes l is 
                                          called a lateral approximant.