Phonetic

$ phonetic: the study of speech sounds of a language.

$ consonant vs. vowel

all consonants are either obstruent(塞音) or sonorant(響音).

* place of articulation

- bilabial

- labiodental

- interdental

- alveolar

- palatal

- velar

- glottal

* manner of articulation: consonants are further classified according to their manner of articulation

> voiced/voiceless

> oral/ nasal

> aspirated/unaspirated

> stop

> fricative

> africate

> liquid

> glide

vowels:

- the position of the tongue

> high/ mid/ low

> front/ central/ back

- lips

> rounded / unrounded

> long/short (tense/lax)

tone language: two words may have different meaning if their pitch is different, such as Chinese.

intonation language: the words may have different meaning because of the stress, such as English.