So I'm a student of linguistics. And I frequent various language-related threads (mostly Japanese) in the Gaia International forum.
Being as that is the case, you're likely to come across a lot of linguistics jargon in my posts, since the only efficient and unambiguous way to talk about the mechanics of language is to use the proper linguistics terms. Here's an overview of what you're likely to come across, in no particular order:
Phone: A sound. Phones are indicated by the square brackets, []. The study of phones is called phonetics.
Phoneme: A sound recognised by any given language. Phonemes are indicated by the slant brackets, //. The study of phonemes is called phonemics or phonology.
Allophone: A phone which falls under a phoneme in a given language. For example, in most languages, [t] and [d] are the separate phonemes /t/ and /d/; but in Australian Aboriginal languages, which lack a voicing distinction, [t] and [d] are both allophones of the phoneme /t/. Allophones observe a complementary distribution -- that is, the phoneme will always be realised as one phone in one position or set of positions (say, at the start of words), and another phone in a different position or set of positions (say, before the vowel /i/ or at the end of a word).
Voicing: An attribute of consonants. Voicing occurs when the vocal folds vibrate. In English, the consonant /t/ is "voiceless", whereas /d/ is "voiced". The same distinction for /p/ vs. /b/; /k/ vs. /g/; etc.
Place of articulation: Where the tongue touches in the mouth to produce a consonant. "Labial" means the lips (and "bilabial" means the lips touch each other, and the tongue is not involved); "dental" means the teeth; "alveolar" means the hard ridge behind the teeth; "palatal" means the soft roof of the mouth; "velar" means the back of the oral cavity; "glottal" means the throat.
Rhotic: An r-like consonant.
Liquid: An l-like consonant.
Approximant: A consonant which barely interrupts the flow of air.
Stop: A consonant which completely stops the flow of air, and then usually releases it.
Fricative: A consonant which restricts the flow of air through the oral cavity, without stopping it completely.
Apical: A consonant involving the very tip of the tongue.
I might add to this list if I think of other relevant items.
PAnZuRiEL Community Member 
|
|
