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 FSI Language Courses Forum : Learning Languages : General Discussion
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pokerswami
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Quote pokerswami Replybullet Topic: Basic Linguistics Info. Needed
    Posted: 05 June 2007 at 1:53am
Greetings All.
 
I appreciate all the work done by those contributing to this site.
 
I have no background in foreign languages or linguistics. After looking at a couple of the FSI written texts available here I have a very basic question.
 
Since I have no background in linguistics I have no idea of the meaning of terms apparently in common use by many foreign language learners. Some are:
 
Voiced, bilabial nasal
Voiceless, labio-dental fricative
Voiceless, apico-alveolar fricative
Voiced, apico-alveolar lateral
Voiced, high front, unrounded semivowel
Voiceless, glottal fricative
 
Well, you get the idea.
 
So, can any of you point me towards good resources, including websites or recordings where I can learn about these descriptions?
 
There is a long entry in Wikipedia on the International Phonetic Alphabet, but I need more basic background knowledge to make sense of it. Really I don’t need to know the IPA as much as I need to know what the individual and conglomerate terms such as those I listed above are and how I can apply them.
 
If there is a download or CD that could help me learn these without taking dozens of hours of college credits, I’d like to find it.
 
Thanks for your help.
pokerswami
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toivo
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Quote toivo Replybullet Posted: 05 June 2007 at 11:56am
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pokerswami
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Quote pokerswami Replybullet Posted: 05 June 2007 at 4:07pm

Thank you very much.

The link you provided has a labyrinth of linked pages that look to have a lot of information. I've only looked at a few, and this one stands out so far.
 
 
Note that you can get the vocalizations online by clicking on the underlined rows/ columns.
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Poetry
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Quote Poetry Replybullet Posted: 07 July 2007 at 1:45am
The index of sounds on that page should give you really good examples of what those terms you mentioned sound like.  All of the terms you mentioned in your first post are sounds made by the...um...mouth. 
 
The fancy words tell you how and where the sound is made.  It's really a lot easier to hear it.
 
Thanks also for that site!  I'll point people to that one as needed. 
 
--Poetry
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