Glossary: morphology and phonology

A word that can be the head of a verb phrase (VP). Verbs denote actions (e.g., jump), sensations (e.g., taste), and states (e.g., understand). In many languages, verbs inflect for tense, mood, aspect, or agreement with their subject. We can distinguish between auxiliary and main verbs. Auxiliary verbs (also called helping verbs) typically accompany another verb and express person, number, mood, or tense. In the sentence He is looking at me, is is an auxiliary verb, and looking is the main verb.

An older name for vocal folds.

Two membranes in the larynx, whose vibration provides voicing and most of the sound energy of speech. Sometimes referred to as vocal cords.

A popular name for creaky voice.

The air passages above the glottis, including the oral tract and the nasal passages.

A vowel or vowel-like sound with no major obstruction: the class of vowels and glides.

Distinction in the forms of a verb to indicate the relation of the subject to the action of the verb (active, passive, or middle). In active voice the semantic agent is the syntactic subject (John washes the car). In passive voice the patient is the syntactic subject (The car is being washed). In middle voice, the semantic agent acts upon itself (The casserole cooked in the oven).

See voicing.

The interval between the release of the occlusion (closure phase) of a stop consonant and the start (=onset) of the vibration of the vocal folds in a vowel or sonorant. Abbreviated as VOT. Voiceless stops typically have long VOT (=aspiration) whereas voiced stops have a short or even a negative VOT.

Having vibrations of the vocal folds during an articulation, as in English [ m ] in me. In a partially voiced (or partially devoiced) sound, vocal fold vibrations occur during only part of the articulation, as often in English [ d ] in die or bed.