Phoneme. A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another (e.g., /p/ and /b/ in "pat" and "bat").
Allophone. An allophone is a variation of a phoneme that does not change the meaning of a word. For instance, the aspirated 'p' in "pin" and the unaspirated 'p' in "spin" are allophones of the phoneme /p/.
Gradation (or Weak Forms) In phonology, many function words in English (like for, at, can) have two different pronunciations: a strong form and a weak form. The strong form is used when the word is stressed or spoken in isolation. The weak form, which usually involves a reduced vowel sound like the schwa (/ə/), is used when the word is unstressed within a sentence. This variation is known as gradation or the use of weak forms.
Voiceless bilabial plosive. Sounds produced with both lips (bilabial), involve a complete stop of airflow (plosive), and the vocal cords do not vibrate (voiceless). Example: /p/.
Labiodentals. Labiodentals are consonants produced by bringing the lower lip into contact with the upper teeth. The /f/ sound, as heard in laugh, cough, and photo, is a common labiodental fricative.
Alveolar: Those sounds during the production of which the tip or blade of the tongue moves against the alveolar ridge (the gum ridge just behind the upper teeth). Alveolar sounds: /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, and /l/. Examples: /t/ as in tap, /n/ as in nap.
Post-alveolar (or Palato-alveolar): The blade of the tongue just behind the alveolar ridge. The post-alveolar english consonants are as follows:
/ʃ/ as in “shot” or “brash”,
/ʒ/ as in “vision” or “measure”
/tʃ/ as in “chick” or “match”
/dʒ/ as in “jam” or “badge“
Palatal: The body of the tongue against the hard palate (the hard roof of your mouth). English has only one palatal consonant: /j/ as in “yes”.
Velar: The back of the tongue against the velum (the soft palate).
/ŋ/ as in “going” and “uncle”
/k/ as in “kite” and “back“
/g/ as in “good” and “bug“
/w/ as in “wet” and “howard”
A syllable is a unit of pronunciation having one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants, that forms the whole or a part of a word.
Monosyllabic words are words that consist of only one syllable. Examples: cat, dog, run
Disyllabic words are words that consist of exactly two syllables. Examples: water (wa-ter), table (ta-ble)
Trisyllabic Word A trisyllabic word is a word that contains exactly three syllables. For example, the word "impatient" can be divided into three syllables: im-pa-tient.
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