Phonetics Glossary

adjective relating to the tongue

• The glossal muscles are responsible for moving the tongue during speech.
• I can feel my glossal muscles getting tired from talking so much.
• I need to work on my glossal strength for better pronunciation.
• Her sharp wit was like a glossal sword in conversation.

noun a mistake in the way a word is pronounced

• The mispronunciation of scientific terms can lead to misunderstandings in the field of research.
• I always get embarrassed when I make a mispronunciation in front of my friends.
• Her constant mispronunciations of common words made her the butt of many jokes.
• The mispronunciation of the company's name in the presentation symbolized a lack of attention to detail.

noun a nasal consonant sound

adjective relating to the nose or the sense of smell

• The doctor recommended using a nasal spray to alleviate congestion.
• I can't breathe properly through my nasal passages.
• I hate when my nasal allergies act up.
• His nasal voice annoyed everyone in the room.

noun the state of being retroflexed

• The retroflexion of the vocal cords is necessary for producing certain sounds in some languages.
• I learned about retroflexion in my linguistics class - it's pretty interesting!
• I can't believe I pulled off that retroflexion move on my skateboard!
• The retroflexion of her thoughts led her to reconsider her decision.

noun a speech sound produced with continuous, vocal cord vibration

adjective relating to or having a sound characterized by resonance or voiced speech

• The sonant quality of the vowel is crucial in determining its pronunciation.
• He has a sonant voice that carries well in a crowded room.
• I love listening to her sonant laugh, it's so contagious!
• The sonant melody of the wind chimes filled the air with tranquility.

noun a method of forming new words by using the initial letter or letters of a group of words

• Acrophony is the study of the original sounds of a language's alphabet.
• I just learned about acrophony in my linguistics class.
• Do you know anything about acrophony? It sounds interesting.
• In a way, acrophony can be seen as the 'voice' of a written language.

noun a medical term referring to a condition of hearing loss or impairment

• Presbycusis is a common type of -acusia that occurs as people age.
• My grandmother has -acusia and needs to use hearing aids.
• I can't hear you, I think I have a case of -acusia.
• Sometimes it feels like people have selective -acusia when they don't listen to me.