Articulatory phonetics focuses on how speech sounds are perceived by the hearer.

Vowels are produced with a complete or partial obstruction of the airflow in the vocal tract.

Consonants can be classified based on place of articulation and manner of articulation.

A bilabial consonant is produced with the upper teeth and lower lip.

Voiced consonants are produced without vibration of the vocal cords.

A phoneme is the smallest distinctive unit in the sound system of a language.

Allophones are different realizations of the same phoneme.

The phonetic form of a phoneme never varies in different phonetic environments.

Minimal pairs are pairs of words that differ in only one phoneme.

"Ship" and "sheep" form a minimal pair in English.

English allows the consonant cluster "ksm" at the beginning of a word.

Assimilation occurs when a sound is influenced by a neighboring sound and becomes similar to it.

A syllable must contain a vowel or a syllabic consonant.

Stress refers to the degree of loudness with which a syllable is pronounced.

English is a tone language where pitch changes can distinguish word meanings.

Tone languages use pitch variations to signal different grammatical meanings.

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) provides a unique symbol for each phoneme in every language.

Nasal consonants are produced with the soft palate raised, blocking airflow through the nose.

Fricatives are produced by forcing airflow through a narrow gap, creating friction.

A diphthong is a single vowel sound produced with a steady articulatory position.