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Lexical Set
A lexical set is a group of words that share a particular vowel or consonant sound. A phoneme is a basic unit of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another. Most commonly, following the work of phonetician John C. Wells, a lexical set is a class of words in a language that share a certain vowel phoneme. As Wells himself says, lexical sets "enable one to refer concisely to large groups of words which tend to share the same vowel, and to the vowel which they share". For instance, the pronunciation of the vowel in ''cup'', ''luck'', ''sun'', ''blood'', ''glove'', and ''tough'' may vary in different English dialects but is usually consistent within each dialect and so the category of words forms a lexical set,Mesthrie, Rajend (2000). "Regional Dialectology". ''Introducing Sociolinguistics''. Edinburgh University Press, p. 50. which Wells, for ease, calls the set. Meanwhile, words like ''bid'', ''cliff'', ''limb'', ''miss'', etc. form a separate lexical set: Wells's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Word
A word is a basic element of language that carries semantics, meaning, can be used on its own, and is uninterruptible. Despite the fact that language speakers often have an intuitive grasp of what a word is, there is no consensus among linguistics, linguists on its definition and numerous attempts to find specific criteria of the concept remain controversial. Different standards have been proposed, depending on the theoretical background and descriptive context; these do not converge on a single definition. Some specific definitions of the term "word" are employed to convey its different meanings at different levels of description, for example based on phonology, phonological, grammar, grammatical or orthography, orthographic basis. Others suggest that the concept is simply a convention used in everyday situations. The concept of "word" is distinguished from that of a morpheme, which is the smallest unit of language that has a meaning, even if it cannot stand on its own. Words a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alveolar Consonant
Alveolar consonants (; UK also ) are articulated with the tongue against or close to the superior alveolar ridge, which is called that because it contains the alveoli (the sockets) of the upper teeth. Alveolar consonants may be articulated with the tip of the tongue (the apical consonants), as in English, or with the flat of the tongue just above the tip (the "blade" of the tongue; called laminal consonants), as in French and Spanish. The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) does not have separate symbols for the alveolar consonants. Rather, the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that are not palatalized like English palato-alveolar ''sh'', or retroflex. To disambiguate, the ''bridge'' (, ''etc.'') may be used for a dental consonant, or the under-bar (, ''etc.'') may be used for the postalveolars. differs from dental in that the former is a sibilant and the latter is not. differs from postalveolar in being unpalatalized. The bare letter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mirror–nearer Merger
In English, many vowel shifts affect only vowels followed by in rhotic dialects, or vowels that were historically followed by that has been elided in non-rhotic dialects. Most of them involve the merging of vowel distinctions, so fewer vowel phonemes occur before than in other positions of a word. Overview In rhotic dialects, is pronounced in most cases. In General American English (GA), is pronounced as an approximant or in most positions, but after some vowels, it is pronounced as ''r''-coloring. In Scottish English, is traditionally pronounced as a flap or trill , and there are no ''r''-colored vowels. In non-rhotic dialects like Received Pronunciation (RP), historic is elided at the end of a syllable, and if the preceding vowel is stressed, it undergoes compensatory lengthening or breaking (diphthongization). Thus, words that historically had often have long vowels or centering diphthongs ending in a schwa , or a diphthong followed by a schwa. * ''eart ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Weak Vowel Merger
The close and mid-height front vowels of English (vowels of ''i'' and ''e'' type) have undergone a variety of changes over time and often vary by dialect. Developments involving long vowels Until Great Vowel Shift Middle English had a long close front vowel , and two long mid front vowels: the close-mid and the open-mid . The three vowels generally correspond to the modern spellings , and respectively, but other spellings are also possible. The spellings that became established in Early Modern English are mostly still used today, but the qualities of the sounds have changed significantly. The and generally corresponded to similar Old English vowels, and came from Old English or . For other possible histories, see English historical vowel correspondences. In particular, the long vowels sometimes arose from short vowels by Middle English open syllable lengthening or other processes. For example, ''team'' comes from an originally-long Old English vowel, and ''eat'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Uriel Weinreich
Uriel Weinreich (, ; May 23, 1926 – March 30, 1967) was a Jewish–American linguist. Life Uriel Weinreich was born in Wilno, Poland (since 1945, Vilnius, Lithuania), the first child of linguist Max Weinreich () and Regina Szabad, to a family that paternally hailed from Courland in Latvia and maternally came from a well-respected and established Wilno Jewish family. He served as a first lieutenant in the United States Army from 1944 to 1946. He earned his BA at Columbia University in 1948, during which time he was also elected a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned his MA from Columbia in 1949 and his PhD in 1951. From 1951 to 1952 he was an editor and information specialist with the State Department at which point he joined Columbia University's faculty. There he specialized in Yiddish studies, sociolinguistics, and dialectology and was named the Atran Professor of Yiddish. In 1959, he was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship. He advocated the increased accep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Father-bother Merger
The phonology of the open vowel, open back vowel, back vowels of the English language has undergone changes both overall and with regional variations, through Old English, Old and Middle English to the present. The sounds heard in modern English were significantly influenced by the Great Vowel Shift, as well as more recent developments in some dialects such as the ''cot–caught'' merger. Overview Old and Middle English In the Old English vowels, Old English vowel system, the vowels in the open back area were unrounded: . There were also rounded back vowels of mid-height: . The Old English orthography, corresponding spellings were and , with the length distinctions not normally marked; in modern editions of Old English texts, the long vowels are often written , . As the Old English (OE) system developed into that of Middle English phonology, Middle English (ME), the OE short vowel Pronunciation of English ⟨a⟩, merged with the fronted to become a more central ME . Meanwhile ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rhotic And Non-rhotic Accents
The distinction between rhoticity and non-rhoticity is one of the most prominent ways in which varieties of the English language are classified. In rhotic accents, the sound of the historical English rhotic consonant, , is preserved in all phonetic environments. In non-rhotic accents, speakers no longer pronounce in postvocalic environments: when it is immediately after a vowel and not followed by another vowel. For example, a rhotic English speaker pronounces the words ''hard'' and ''butter'' as and , but a non-rhotic speaker "drops" or "deletes" the sound and pronounces them as and . When an ''r'' is at the end of a word but the next word begins with a vowel, as in the phrase "bette''r a''pples," most non-rhotic speakers will preserve the in that position (the linking R), because it is followed by a vowel. The rhotic dialects of English include most of those in Scotland, Ireland, the United States, and Canada. The non-rhotic dialects include most of those in England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
:Category:Splits And Mergers In English Phonology
A split in phonology is where a once identical phoneme diverges in different instances. A merger is the opposite: where two (or more) phonemes merge and become indistinguishable. In English, this happens most often with vowels, although not exclusively. See phonemic differentiation In historical linguistics, phonological change is any sound change that alters the distribution of phonemes in a language. In other words, a language develops a new system of oppositions among its phonemes. Old contrasts may disappear, new ones ... for more information. Due to the wide geographic distribution of the English language and the number and variety of speakers, there are phonemic pairs which are distinguished in some accents and varieties, but considered identical in others. English phonology History_of_the_English_language Homonymy Germanic sound laws ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newfoundland English
Newfoundland English refers to several accents and dialects of Atlantic Canadian English found in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Most of these differ significantly from the English commonly spoken elsewhere in Canada and North America, reflecting the province's history and geography. Newfoundland was one of the first areas settled by England in North America, beginning in small numbers in the early 17th century and peaking in the early 19th century. After the 1783 independence of the colonies that formed the United States of America, Newfoundland remained part of British North America, becoming a Dominion within the British Empire in 1907. It joined Canada in 1949 as the last province to join the confederation. The dialects of Newfoundland English developed in relative isolation due to the province’s geography. Newfoundland is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, separated from Labrador by the Strait of Belle Isle. This isolation allowed the dialects to develo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
