Phoneme - The basic building blocks of language; a fundamental, distinctive unit of a language.

 

Vowels - The largest phoneme group, divided into three subgroups based on the location of the tongue hump                      within the mouth. Generally, vowels are produced by quasi-periodic puffs of air through the                      vibrating vocal folds: Front, Center, and Back.

 

Diphthongs - Characterized by a transitional state between two vowel sounds.

 

Semi-Vowels - Similar to vowels because they are produced by vibrating vocal folds, they are more closely                              related to diphthongs due to their transitional nature, commonly preceding, following, or                              surrounded by vowel sounds; divided into two subcategories: Glides, and Liquids.

 

Affricates - Characterized by a transitional state between a plosive sound and a fricative sound; immediately                          before the production of the fricative, there occurs a complete constriction of the oral cavity.

 

Consonants - The second largest phoneme group, consisting of nasals, plosives, whispers, and fricatives.

Whispers - Similar to the unvoiced fricative, but the glottis is open and there is no vocal chord                        vibration.

Nasals - Sound radiated by the nostrils when the oral cavity is completely constricted; the type of                     sound produced is dependent upon where the constriction occurs.

Plosives - Characterized by a turbulent release of air pressure built up during a period of closure                      of the oral tract.

                              Fricatives - Noise generated by turbulent air flow within a frontal cavity created by the partial constriction of the oral                                                      cavity at back, center, front, teeth, or lips.