Glossary: morphology and phonology

The articulator that moves to form a constriction in the vocal tract. For example, in palatal sounds the active articulator is the front of the tongue which moves towards the hard palate (cf. passive articulator).

Bringing the vocal folds together. Contrast abduction.

A word that can function as the head of an adjective phrase (AdjP). Adjectives qualify or describe the referents of nouns. Examples of adjectives include the English words large, quiet, indispensable, and ambiguous.

A term that refers collectively to prepositions and postpositions.

Produced slightly further forward in the vocal tract. For instance, the first consonant in the English word keen is an advanced velar and is produced with a closure towards the front of the velum (cf. retracted).

Phonological feature, abbreviated as [ATR]: Having the root of the tongue pulled forward so as to widen the pharynx (and, often, to raise the body of the tongue nearer to the roof of the mouth). Pharyngeal sounds are [−ATR], as the pharynx is narrowed.

A word that modifies a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a preposition, or a larger unit such as a phrase or sentence. It often expresses some relation of manner or quality, time, or degree. Examples from English include quickly, often, carefully, soon, and very.

A form which is conjoined with another word (the root) and cannot be used in isolation. Affixes can be prefixes (before the root, e.g. re- in rewrite) or suffixes (after the root, e.g. -ity in nicety). Circumfixes and infixes also exist.

A consonant sound produced with a complete closure between two articulators and with a velic closure preventing air escaping through the nasal cavity. The articulators part relatively slowly and the compressed air escaping between them becomes turbulent, resulting in an audible friction noise [ts t∫ kx] are examples of affricates.

A semantic role; the instigator of an action.