Glossary: morphology and phonology

Information about the semantic roles and syntactic functions of a verb. Also called valency.

See valence.

In a variable stress language, primary stress is not fixed on a particular position in the word.

The place of articulation of a consonant that involves a constriction involving the back of the tongue and the soft palate.

The name of an airstream mechanism in which the airflow is initiated by a closure of the back of the tongue on the velum. Clicks are produced with a velaric airstream mechanism.

A secondary articulation formed by approximating the back of the tongue towards the soft palate. 'Dark l' in English is a velarized sound.

Involving the upper surface of the velum, or soft palate, and the pharynx. A velic closure prevents air from escaping through the nose.

Another term for velic.

The soft palate, one of the places of articulation, where velars such as [k] and the velar nasal (engma) are produced.

See false vocal folds.

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.

Pronounced without vibrations of the vocal folds, as in English [ s ] in see.

The presence of vocal fold vibrations during the production of a sound produces voicing. See also phonation.

See Voice Onset Time.

A sound produced without a close constriction in the vocal tract, and which forms the centre (peak or nucleus) of a syllable.

The tendency for vowel systems to consist of qualities that are widely and evenly (i.e. symmetrically) dispersed in perceptual space.

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.