| linguistics comparative psycholinguistics sociolinguistics phonetics phonology phonemes syntax morphology morphemes semantics lexicon classification analytic (isolating) synthetic agglutinating fusional (inflecting) amalgamating word order SVO SOV VSO speaking larynx (voice box) vocal folds (vocal cords) voicing pitch glottis glottal stop glottal fricative articulation pharynx epiglottis uvula velum (soft palate) palate (hard) alveolar (teeth) ridge lips tongue tip blade rim vowels high (close) mid low (open) rounded vs unrounded glides (diphthongs) nasalization rhotacization (r-coloring) |
consonants plosive affricate fricative nasal roll flap lateral semivowels voiced vs unvoiced aspirated bilabial labio-dental dental alveolar retroflex palato-alveolar palatal velar uvular pharyngeal glottal clicks tones hi level hi rising lo falling-rising hi falling accent pitch accent writing semanto-phonetic scripts cuneiform (5000 bc) hieroglyphics (3000 bc) chinese (2000 bc) pictographs ideographs syllabaries syllabic alphabets abjads alphabet phoenician aramaic brahmi greek latin cyrillic |