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Language: Pronunciation | |
| ablaut | a variation in root vowel, as in sing, sang, song, sung, explained by former accentuation (aka gradation). |
| accent | to pronounce with prominence. |
| affricate | a consonant that begins as a PLOSIVE and ends as a FRICATIVE; (verb) to sound a consonant in that way. |
| affrication | the act of making a sound AFFRICATIVE. |
| affricative | (a sound) like an AFFRICATE. |
| allophone | any of several speech sounds regarded as variants of a given PHONEME. |
| allophonic | of or like an ALLOPHONE. |
| alveolar | of a sound, pronounced with tongue and alveolus: ALVEOLARLY; (noun) a sound so pronounced: ALVEOLARS. |
| anaptyctic | relating to ANAPTYXIS, the insertion of a vowel between two consonants for ease of pronunciation. |
| anaptyxis | the insertion of a vowel between two consonants for ease of pronunciation: ANAPTYXES. |
| aphaeresis apheresis | the taking away of a syllable at the beginning of a word: APHAERESES, APHERESES. |
| aphaeretic apheretic+ | relating to APHAERESIS, the taking away of a syllable at the beginning of a word. |
| aphesis | the loss of unaccented vowel at beginning of word, e.g. squire for esquire: APHESES. [Gk. aphesis, letting go]. |
| aphetic | relating to APHESIS, the loss of unaccented vowel at beginning of word: APHETICALLY. |
| aphetise aphetize | to shorten by APHESIS. |
| aphonous | without voice; voiceless; nonvocal. |
| aphony | loss of voice or vocal utterance: APHONIES. Also APHONIA. |
| apocopate | to cut off the end of a word. |
| apocope | the omission of the last sound, syllable, or part of a word, e.g. mag for magazine, fab for fabulous. |
| apocopic | relating to APOCOPE, the cutting off of the last sound or syllable of a word. |
| apophony | variation in the root vowel of words to change meaning, aka ABLAUT. |
| asperate | to make (a sound) rough or harsh. |
| aspirata | a type of PLOSIVE: ASPIRATAE. |
| aspirate | to pronounce the sound of h at the beginning of a word. |
| assibilate | to pronounce with a hiss or sibilant. |
| assibilation | speaking with a sibilant sound. |
| assonant | a word or syllable that resembles another in sound. |
| assonate | to correspond in sound. |
| betacism | the pronunciation of the sound B as V. |
| bilabial | a sound or consonant produced by both lips touching, for example p, b, m. |
| brei+ | to speak with uvular r, especially in Afrikaans: BREIS, BREIING, BREID. Also BREY. |
| brey+ | to speak with uvular r, especially in Afrikaans: BREYS, BREYING, BREYED. Also BREI. |
| brogueish broguish | having a slight BROGUE. |
| broguery | the use of an Irish accent. |
| burr | the rough sound of r pronounced in the throat, as by many Northumberland people; a continual humming sound as of a machine; (verb) to speak with a burr. |
| cacoepistic+ | relating to CACOEPY, incorrect pronunciation. |
| cacoepy | incorrect pronunciation. |
| cacuminal | (a sound) pronounced with the tongue-tip curled up towards the hard palate: CACUMINALS(+). |
| cerebral | pronounced with the tongue-tip curled up towards the hard palate: CEREBRALLY; (noun) a cerebral consonant: CEREBRALS. |
| clitic | a word not capable of being pronounced with full word stress but dependent on, and pronounced as though part of, the preceding or following word. |
| cliticise+ cliticize+ | to pronounce as part of following or preceding word. |
| cockneyfy cocknify | to make (an accent) COCKNEY i.e. a London dialect spoken in the East End. |
| consonant | consistent with: CONSONANTLY; (noun) any speech sound other than a vowel. |
| continuant | continuing; prolonged; sustained; as, a continuant sound. |
| correption | shortening in pronunciation. |
| crackjaw | (a word) hard to pronounce: CRACKJAWS. |
| crasis | blending; the melding of two VOWELS into a DIPHTHONG: CRASES. [Gk. krasis, mixture]. |
| dental | a sound produced by applying the tongue to the teeth or gums: DENTALS, DENTALLY. |
| dentality+ | use of the teeth in pronouncing words. |
| dentilingual | (a sound) pronounced (as th) with tongue against teeth: DENTILINGUALS. |
| devocalise | to make VOICELESS. |
| devoice | to make VOICELESS. |
| diphthong | a union of two vowels pronounced in one syllable. |
| disyllabic | having two syllables. |
| disyllable | a word with two syllables. |
| drawl | to speak slowly with vowels greatly prolonged. |
| drawler | one who drawls. |
| drawlingly | in a drawling manner. |
| drawly | in a drawling manner: DRAWLIER, DRAWLIEST. |
| eclipsis | the omission of sounds or words in speech: ECLIPSISES. |
| ectasis | the lengthening of a syllable from short to long: ECTASES. |
| ectatic | relating to ECTASIS, the lengthening of a syllable from short to long. |
| ecthlipsis | omitting one or more sounds in pronouncing a word. |
| ejective | a sound produced with air compressed above the closed glottis. |
| ejectively+ | (adv.) EJECTIVE, of a sound produced with air compressed above the closed glottis. |
| emphatic | uttered with emphasis; (noun) an emphatic consonant: EMPHATICS(+) |
| emphatical | uttered with emphasis. |
| emphaticalness | the state of being EMPHATICAL. |
| enunciation | the act of enunciating. |
| enunciatory | relating to ENUNCIATION. |
| enunciate | to pronounce distinctly. |
| epenthesis | the insertion of an extra sound into a word, e.g. fillum for film: EPENTHESES. |
| epenthetic | inserted in the body of a word; as, an epenthetic letter or sound. |
| etacism | the pronunciation of eta as close e. Cf. ITACISM. |
| euphonia euphony | an agreeable sound; a pleasing, easy pronunciation. |
| faucal faucial | of or produced in the fauces, as are certain Semitic guttural sounds. |
| formant | a component of a speech sound determining its particular quality. |
| fortis | pronounced with tension and strong articulation (fortis consonants: f, p). [L. strong]. |
| fricative | produced by the forcing of air through a restricted passage, as with 'f'’. |
| gradation | another name for ABLAUT. |
| guttural | a sound: produced in the throat, or by the back of the tongue and the (soft) palate: GUTTURALS, GUTTURALLY. |
| haplologic+ | showing HAPLOLOGY, the contraction of a word by the omission of one or more similar sounds or syllables. |
| haplology | the contraction of a word by the omission of one or more similar sounds or syllables (as in mineralogy for mineralology or prob-ly for probably): HAPLOLOGIES. |
| hirrient | (a sound) roughly trilled: HIRRIENTS. |
| homophonous | exhibiting HOMOPHONOUS, sameness of sound. |
| homophony | sameness of sound: HOMOPHONIES. |
| homorganic+ | articulated at the same point in the vocal tract as a consonant in a different class. |
| implodent | an IMPLOSIVE sound. |
| implosion | in the formation of voiceless stops, compression of enclosed air by simultaneous stoppage of the mouth parts and the glottis. |
| implosive | of or relating to implosion: IMPLOSIVELY(+); (noun) an implosive consonant: IMPLOSIVES. |
| ingressive | pronounced with inhalation rather than exhalation of breath. |
| interdental | pronounced with the tip of the tongue between upper and lower teeth. |
| iotacism | the conversion of other vowel sounds in Greek to iota: IOTACISMS. |
| itacism | pronunciation of the Greek letter eta as the modern Greeks pronounce it, that is, like e in the English word be. Cf. ETACISM. |
| jawbreaker | a word hard to pronounce. Cf. CRACKJAW. |
| jawbreaking | difficult to pronounce. |
| labdacism lambdacism | a fault in speaking or in composition, which consists in too frequent use of the letter l, or in doubling it erroneously. |
| labial | (a sound) pronounced with the lips: LABIALS, LABIALLY. |
| labialise labialize | to pronounce with rounded lips |
| labialism | the quality of being LABIAL. |
| labialize | see LABIALISE. |
| labiodental | (a sound) pronounced with lips and teeth, such as f. |
| labionasal+ | (a sound) a sound produced with nose and closed lips. |
| labiovelar | (a sound) produced by the lips and soft palate together, such as w. |
| lall | to articulate R as L: LALLS, LALLING, LALLED. |
| lallation | infant's talk, or speech similar to it; the pronunciation of r as l: LALLATIONS. |
| lambdacism | see LABDACISM. |
| lenis | a sound with little or no aspiration: b and d, compared to p and t: LENES. [L. lenis, soft]. |
| lenite+ | to undergo LENITION. |
| lenition | a softening of articulation, common in Celtic languages: LENITIONS. |
| lingual | pronounced with the tongue: LINGUALLY; (noun) a sound pronounced using the tongue: LINGUALS. |
| lisp | to pronounce the letters S and Z imperfectly: LISPS, LISPING, LISPED. |
| lisper | one who lisps: LISPERS. |
| lispingly | (adv.) LISPING. |
| media | 1. (Lat.) a voiced consonantal stop: MEDIAE. 2. a channel of communication: MEDIAS. |
| metanalysis | incorrect placement of 'n' at the start of a word following an indefinite article: METANALYSES. |
| metathesis | the transposition within a word of letters, sounds, or syllables, as in the change from Old English brid to modern English bird or in the confusion of modren for modern: METATHESES. |
| mispronounce | to pronounce wrongly. |
| missound | to sound wrongly; to utter or pronounce incorrectly. |
| monophthong | two written vowels representing a single sound, e.g. oo, oa. |
| mouille | of certain consonants, having a 'liquid' or softened sound. |
| nasal | through the nose: NASALLY; (noun) a sound uttered through the nose: NASALS. |
| nasalise nasalize | to make nasal in pronunciation; utter with a nasal sound |
| nasalism+ | nasal pronunciation. |
| nasality | the quality or state of being nasal. |
| nasalize | see NASALISE. |
| nonrhotic+ | denoting or speaking a dialect of English in which preconsonantal r's are not pronounced. |
| obstruent | a sound characterized by obstruction of the airstream: a plosive, fricative, or affricate. |
| occlusive | a consonantal sound produced with stoppage of breath. |
| orinasal | (a sound) pronounced through both the mouth and nose: ORINASALS: ORINASALLY(+). |
| orthoepic orthoepical | relating to ORTHOEPY, the study of correct pronunciation. |
| orthoepy | the customary pronunciation of a language; the study thereof. |
| orthotone | (a word) taking an accent in certain positions but not in others: ORTHOTONES(+). |
| orthotonic | taking an accent in certain positions but not in others. |
| oxytone | a word bearing an acute accent on the last syllable. [Gk. oxys, sharp + tonos, tone]. |
| palatal | of or pertaining to the palate: PALATALLY; (noun) a sound made with the palate: PALATALS. |
| palatalise | to make (a sound) PALATAL. |
| paragoge paragogue | the addition of a sound to the end of a word. |
| paragogic | relating to a PARAGOGE, the addition of a sound to the end of a word. |
| paralalia | abnormality of speech sounds. |
| paralexia | transposition of words or syllables in reading, due to brain damage. |
| paralexic+ | relating to PARALEXIA, transposition of words or syllables in reading, due to brain damage. |
| paroxytone | a word having an acute accent on the penultimate syllable. |
| phonal | of or relating to the voice; as, phonal structure. |
| phonation | the production of vocal sound. |
| phonatory | relating to PHONATION, the production of vocal sound. |
| phoneme | the smallest significant unit of sound in a language. |
| phonemic | relating to a PHONEME: PHONEMICS. |
| phonetician | a student of PHONETICS. |
| phonetics phonics | the branch of linguistics that deals with pronunciation and speech production. |
| phonetism | the science which treats of vocal sounds. |
| phonetist | one versed in phonetics; a phonologist. |
| phonics | see PHONETICS. |
| phonologist | a student of PHONOLOGY, the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds. |
| phonology | the branch of linguistics that deals with systems of sounds. |
| plateasm | a pronunciation with a wide mouth-opening, as in Doric Greek. |
| plosion | the articulation of a plosive sound such as p in lop or d in adorn. |
| plosive | an explosive (sound), as p. |
| pretonic+ | denoting the syllable before the one bearing the primary stress in a word. |
| proclisis | the pronunciation of a word as a proclitic. |
| prolate | drawn out: PROLATELY; (verb) to lengthen out in utterance. |
| prolateness | the state of being PROLATE. |
| pronounce | to articulate one's words. |
| prothesis | the development of an extra initial sound at the beginning of a word: PROTHESES. |
| prothetic | of or pertaining to PROTHESIS, the development of an extra initial sound at the beginning of a word. |
| provection | the carrying forward of a sound at the end of a word to the beginning of the next (as 'a newt' from original from 'an ewt'). |
| psellism psellismus | a defect in articulation or pronunciation: PSELLISMS, PSELLISMUSES. |
| resonant | resounding, ringing: RESONANTLY; (noun) a liquid or nasal consonant: RESONANTS. |
| rhinolalia | nasal speech. |
| rhotacise rhotacize | to change to an r- sound, esp. from z. |
| rhotacism | the excessive use or faulty pronunciation of the letter R. |
| rhotacist+ | one whose speech shows RHOTACISM. |
| rhotacistic+ | relating to RHOTACISM, the excessive use or faulty pronunciation of the letter R. |
| rhotacize | see RHOTACISE. |
| rhotic | r- pronouncing, as defining a dialect. [Gk. rho, the Greek R]. |
| rhoticity+ | the quality of being RHOTIC, r- pronouncing, as defining a dialect. |
| sandhi | the modification of a sound of a word by its context, e.g. the difference in pronunciation of the in 'the house' and in 'the other house': SANDHIS. |
| segholate segolate | in Hebrew, a disyllabic noun form with a tone-long vowel in the first and a short seghol (vowel-point) in the second syllable. |
| semivocal+ | of or relating to a semivowel. |
| semivowel | a speech sound having the nature of both a vowel and a consonant. |
| sibilance sibilancy | pronunciation with a hissing sound. |
| sibilate | to pronounce (words) with, or produce, a hissing sound. |
| sigmatism | repetition of the sigma sound. |
| sonance | a sounding. |
| sonancy | the quality of being SONANT. |
| sonant | a voiced sound; a syllabic consonant. |
| sonantal sonantic | of a sound, uttered with vibration of the vocal chords. |
| sonorant | a voiced consonant regarded as a syllabic sound e.g. the n in sudden. |
| spirant | (a sound) pronounced with friction of breath against part of mouth, as f or s. |
| spirated | voiceless. N.B. no SPIRATE*. |
| subvocal | of words formed in speech order in the mind with or without (inaudible) movements of the speech organs: SUBVOCALLY. |
| suctional | as in suctional stop, a stop consonant in which the contact of the articulating organs is followed by an inrush of air. |
| superfix | a recurrent pattern of stress in speech. |
| syllabic | a syllabic sound; a unit of sound capable by itself of forming a syllable, or constituting the essential element of a syllable. |
| syllabify | to divide into syllables. |
| syllabise syllabize | to form or divide into syllables. |
| syllabism | division into syllables. |
| syllabize | see SYLLABISE. |
| syllable | to utter or express in (or as in) syllables or articulate speech. |
| synaeresis syneresis | the running together of vowels into a diphthong: SYNAERESES, SYNERESES. |
| synalepha synaloepha | the melting of a final vowel or diphthong into the initial vowel or diphthong of the next word. |
| syncopal syncopic syncoptic | of or showing SYNCOPE, the shortening a word by the omission of a sound, letter, or syllable from the middle of the word. |
| syncopate | to shorten a word by cutting out its middle. |
| syncopic | see SYNCOPAL. |
| syncoptic | see SYNCOPAL. |
| syneresis | see SYNAERESIS. |
| tautophony | repetition of the same sound. |
| tenuis | an unaspirated voiceless stop consonant, such as k, p or t: TENUES. |
| throat | to utter or articulate in or from the throat; to express throatily: THROATS, THROATING, THROATED. |
| throaty | of a voice, vocal sound, etc: produced or modified in the throat; guttural: THROATIER, THROATIEST; THROATILY. |
| toneme | in a tone language, a phoneme that can be distinguished from another only by its tone intonation. |
| tonemic | relating to a TONEME. |
| tonetic | of or relating to tonal pronunciation or languages: TONETICS, TONETICALLY. |
| tonetics | the study of pronunciation. |
| triphthong | three vowel sounds pronounced as one. |
| trisyllabic | having three syllables. |
| twang | a nasal tone in speaking; (verb) to sound with a twang. |
| unround | to articulate without rounding the lips. |
| unstress | a syllable with relatively weak stress. N.B. this is not a verb: no UNSTRESSING*. |
| unstressed | pronounced without stress, or with relatively weak stress. |
| unvoice | to pronounce a voiced consonant without voice. |
| uptalk+ | to speak with a rising inflection at the end of each sentence, as if asking a question. |
| uvular | relating to the uvula: UVULARLY; (noun) a sound produced by use of the uvula: UVULARS. |
| velar | of the velum, the pendulous soft palate; (noun) a consonant produced by the back of the tongue: VELARS. |
| velaric | relating to a VELAR, a back consonant. |
| velarisation | the pronunciation of a word with the back of the tongue touching the soft palate. |
| velarise velarize | to articulate a sound by retracting the tongue toward the soft palate. |
| vibrant | vibrating, resonant: VIBRANTLY; (noun) a sonant, a voiced sound; a syllabic consonant: VIBRANTS. |
| vocalic | of or pertaining to vowel sounds: VOCALICALLY; (noun) a vowel sound: VOCALICS. |
| vocalise vocalize | to form with the voice; to articulate |
| vocaliser vocalizer | one who VOCALIZES. |
| vocule | a slight vowel sound completing the articulation of certain consonants. |
| voice | to sound with resonance of the vocal chords. |
| voiceless | sounded without resonance of the vocal chords. |
| vowel | a speech-sound produced by the unimpeded passage of the breath: VOWELLY; (verb) to articulate the words in singing: VOWELS, VOWELLING, VOWELLED. |
| vowelise vowelize | to give the quality, sound, or office of a vowel to. |
| vowelless | without vowels. |
| vowelly | full of VOWELS. |