Glossary: morphology and phonology

Agreement in a particular domain for one or more distinctive features between vowels that are not adjacent to one another (cf. consonant harmony). Languages that display vowel harmony include Hungarian, Finnish, Turkish and many others.

The timbre of a vowel caused almost entirely by the frequencies of the vowel formants. Compare with vowel quantity.

The approximate length of a vowel, especially as compared to other vowels in the same vowel system.

The set of contrastive vowel qualities found in a particular language.

A common format for storing sounds as computer files.

A display of the amplitude (=loudness) of sound during time.

The form in which a word is pronounced when it is unstressed. This term is usually applied only to words that normally occur unstressed, such as English to, a. Cf. strong form.

See lenition.

A property of syllables, which may be divided into light and heavy syllables: heavy syllables typically have a long vowel or diphthong, or sometimes a short vowel plus consonant (see also mora).

The smallest free form found in a language.