Phonetics Cheat Sheet

The core ideas of Phonetics distilled into a single, scannable reference — perfect for review or quick lookup.

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Quick Reference

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)

A standardized system of phonetic notation developed by the International Phonetic Association that uses a unique symbol for each distinct sound (phone) found in human languages, enabling consistent cross-linguistic transcription.

Place of Articulation

The location in the vocal tract where the airstream is obstructed or constricted during the production of a consonant. Major places include bilabial, labiodental, dental, alveolar, postalveolar, palatal, velar, uvular, pharyngeal, and glottal.

Manner of Articulation

The method by which the airstream is modified as it passes through the vocal tract to produce a consonant sound. Categories include plosives (stops), fricatives, affricates, nasals, laterals, trills, taps/flaps, and approximants.

Voicing

The vibration of the vocal folds (vocal cords) in the larynx during the production of a speech sound. Sounds produced with vocal fold vibration are voiced, while those produced without vibration are voiceless.

Vowel Formants

Resonant frequencies of the vocal tract that characterize vowel sounds. The first formant (F1) correlates with vowel height (openness), and the second formant (F2) correlates with vowel frontness or backness.

Voice Onset Time (VOT)

The interval between the release of a stop consonant and the onset of vocal fold vibration for the following vowel. VOT is a key acoustic cue for distinguishing voiced from voiceless stops across languages.

Coarticulation

The phenomenon whereby the articulation of a speech sound is influenced by the surrounding sounds. Adjacent phonetic segments overlap in time, causing their articulatory gestures to blend together.

Spectrogram

A visual representation of the acoustic signal of speech that displays frequency on the vertical axis, time on the horizontal axis, and intensity as darkness or color. Spectrograms are the primary tool of acoustic phonetic analysis.

Suprasegmentals (Prosody)

Phonetic features that extend over more than a single segment, including stress, tone, intonation, rhythm, and duration. These features convey meaning, grammatical structure, and speaker attitude beyond individual sounds.

Minimal Pair

Two words in a language that differ in only one phonetic segment in the same position and have different meanings. Minimal pairs are used to identify the phonemes (contrastive sound units) of a language.

Key Terms at a Glance

Affricate:A consonant that begins with a complete stop closure and releases into a fricative. Examples include /tʃ/ and /dʒ/.

Allophone:A predictable phonetic variant of a phoneme conditioned by its linguistic environment.

Alveolar:A place of articulation where the tongue tip or blade contacts or approaches the alveolar ridge behind the upper teeth. Examples: /t/, /d/, /n/, /s/, /z/, /l/.

Approximant:A consonant produced with a relatively open constriction in the vocal tract, allowing smooth airflow without turbulence. Examples: /w/, /j/, /ɹ/, /l/.

Aspiration:A period of voicelessness (breathy release) following the burst of a stop consonant, transcribed with a superscript [ʰ].

Bilabial:A place of articulation involving both lips. Bilabial consonants include /p/, /b/, and /m/.

Coarticulation:The overlapping of articulatory gestures for adjacent sounds, so that the production of one sound is influenced by neighboring sounds.

Consonant:A speech sound produced with a significant constriction or closure in the vocal tract, classified by voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation.

Diphthong:A vowel sound that involves a glide from one vowel quality to another within a single syllable, such as /aɪ/ in 'ride' or /aʊ/ in 'house'.

Formant:A concentration of acoustic energy around a particular frequency in the vocal tract, visible as dark bands on a spectrogram. Key to vowel identification.

Fricative:A consonant produced by forcing air through a narrow constriction, creating audible turbulence. Examples: /f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /θ/, /ð/.

Fundamental Frequency (F0):The lowest frequency of vocal fold vibration, perceived as pitch. Measured in Hertz (Hz).

Glottal:A place of articulation at the glottis (the space between the vocal folds). The glottal stop /ʔ/ and glottal fricative /h/ are produced here.

International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA):A standardized system of phonetic symbols for transcribing the sounds of spoken language, maintained by the International Phonetic Association.

Intonation:The pattern of pitch changes across a phrase or sentence, used to signal questions, statements, emphasis, and speaker attitude.

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