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SPEECH SOUND
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(phonetics) an individual sound unit of speech without concern as to whether or not it is a phoneme of some language
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("speech sound" is a kind of...):
language unit; linguistic unit (one of the natural units into which linguistic messages can be analyzed)
Domain category:
phonetics (the branch of acoustics concerned with speech processes including its production and perception and acoustic analysis)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "speech sound"):
phoneme ((linguistics) one of a small set of speech sounds that are distinguished by the speakers of a particular language)
vowel; vowel sound (a speech sound made with the vocal tract open)
glide; semivowel (a vowellike sound that serves as a consonant)
consonant (a speech sound that is not a vowel)
orinasal; orinasal phone (a speech sound produced with both the oral and nasal passages open (as French nasal vowels))
sonant; voiced sound (a speech sound accompanied by sound from the vocal cords)
Holonyms ("speech sound" is a part of...):
utterance; vocalization (the use of uttered sounds for auditory communication)