Glossary: morphology and phonology

A membrane stretched across the auditory canal and dividing the outer ear from the middle ear. The eardrum converts pressure variation into mechanical movement.

A phonetic force that impacts linguistic sound systems so that patterns that are easier to produce are more likely than difficult patterns.

Of an airstream: one that pushes air out of the vocal tract.

A stop consonant produced by raising the larynx with the glottis closed, which creates pressure in the oral cavity. When the oral constriction is released, relatively powerful plosion noise is heard. Also referred to as glottalization.

In case systems, the case that expresses the meaning ‘motion away from’.

An instrumental technique for investigating the pattern of contact of the tongue with the roof of the mouthduring speech sounds. Tongue contact is recorded by electrodes embedded in an artificial palate worn by the speaker.

The deletion of one sound under the influence of another (e.g. French ce est --> c'est).

A clitic which occurs on the right side of its host, e.g. English 'em in brand 'em (cf. proclitic). English possessive 's (Jack's) is also an enclitic.

See suffix.

Said of compound words that have a head. For example, the head of school bus is bus; a school bus is a type of bus. See also head.