Arrondissement (phonétique)En phonétique, la notion d'arrondissement des voyelles s'applique à la forme plus ou moins ronde prise par les lèvres lors de l'articulation d'une voyelle. Pour prononcer une voyelle arrondie, les lèvres forment une ouverture circulaire, alors que les voyelles non arrondies sont prononcées les lèvres relâchées. Dans la plupart des langues, les voyelles antérieures ont tendance à être non arrondies, alors que les voyelles postérieures sont plutôt arrondies.
Complementary distributionIn linguistics, complementary distribution, as distinct from contrastive distribution and free variation, is the relationship between two different elements of the same kind in which one element is found in one set of environments and the other element is found in a non-intersecting (complementary) set of environments. The term often indicates that two superficially-different elements are the same linguistic unit at a deeper level, though more than two elements can be in complementary distribution with one another.
Homorganic consonantIn phonetics, a homorganic consonant (from homo- "same" and organ "(speech) organ") is a consonant sound that is articulated in the same place of articulation as another. For example, p, b and m are homorganic consonants of one another since they share the bilabial place of articulation. Consonants that are not articulated in the same place are called heterorganic. Descriptive phonetic classification relies on the relationships between a number of technical terms that describe the way sounds are made; and one of the relevant elements involves that place at which a specific sound is formed and voiced.
Underlying representationIn some models of phonology as well as morphophonology in the field of linguistics, the underlying representation (UR) or underlying form (UF) of a word or morpheme is the abstract form that a word or morpheme is postulated to have before any phonological rules have been applied to it. In contrast, a surface representation is the phonetic representation of the word or sound. The concept of an underlying representation is central to generative grammar.
Fortis and lenisIn linguistics, fortis and lenis (ˈfɔːrtᵻs and ˈliːnᵻs,_ˈlɛnᵻs; Latin for "strong" and "weak"), sometimes identified with 'tense' and 'lax', are pronunciations of consonants with relatively greater and lesser energy, respectively. English has fortis consonants, such as the p in pat, with a corresponding lenis consonant, such as the b in bat. Fortis and lenis consonants may be distinguished by tenseness or other characteristics, such as voicing, aspiration, glottalization, velarization, length, and length of nearby vowels.
Variante libreEn linguistique, on parle de variante libre quand l'usager a la possibilité d'utiliser plusieurs allophones, allomorphes ou allographes sans changer le sens de l'énoncé. Un phonème, un morphème ou un graphème peut avoir plusieurs formes ; chacune de ses réalisations s'appelle une variante. Alors que la variante contextuelle (également appelée variante combinatoire) dépend d'un contexte exclusif, la variante libre est substituable quel que soit le contexte. Les variantes libres sont donc commutables, alors que les variantes contextuelles ne le sont pas.
Pirahã (langue)Le pirahã ou múra-pirahã, en pirahã xipaitíisí, est la langue parlée par les Pirahãs (qui se dénomment eux-mêmes Híatíihí, soit « ceux qui sont droits »). Ce peuple, qui ne compte plus qu'environ , vit au Brésil, le long de la rivière Maici (affluent de l'Amazone), dans l'État de l'Amazonas. Il s'agirait de la dernière des encore parlée, les autres langues de ce groupe linguistique s'étant éteintes à des époques relativement récentes. Par conséquent, il s'agit techniquement d'un isolat, sans rapport avec d'autres langues actuelles.
Alternation (linguistics)In linguistics, an alternation is the phenomenon of a morpheme exhibiting variation in its phonological realization. Each of the various realizations is called an alternant. The variation may be conditioned by the phonological, morphological, and/or syntactic environment in which the morpheme finds itself. Alternations provide linguists with data that allow them to determine the allophones and allomorphs of a language's phonemes and morphemes and to develop analyses determining the distribution of those allophones and allomorphs.
RotokasLe rotokas est une langue de Bougainville du Nord parlée sur l'île de Bougainville, dans l'Est de la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, par environ . Selon Allen et Hurd (1963), il est distingué en trois dialectes : le rotokas central, l'aita et le pipipaia ; un autre dialecte est parlé dans le village d'Atsilima dont le statut linguistique est flou (selon Robinson, l'influence du kariaka sur le dialecte a été importante). Le rotokas central est connu pour son inventaire phonémique extrêmement réduit et son alphabet (possiblement le plus petit au monde).
OcclusiveIn phonetics, an occlusive, sometimes known as a stop, is a consonant sound produced by occluding (i.e. blocking) airflow in the vocal tract, but not necessarily in the nasal tract. The duration of the block is the occlusion of the consonant. An occlusive may refer to one or more of the following, depending on the author: Stops, or more precisely, oral stops—also known as plosives—are oral occlusives, where the occlusion of the vocal tract stops all airflow—oral and nasal. Examples in English are (voiced) b, d, ɡ and (voiceless) p, t, k.
