Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics.pdf

Dictionary of language and linguistics 1114speech synthesisThe production of speech sounds by mechanical means, generally from text input. Speechsynthesis is now a common technology, used in telephone information systems (in theUnited States) and in reading machines for the blind. Speech recognition reverses theconversion, extracting text from acoustic signals.ReferenceDenes, P. 1973. The speech chain: the physics and biology of spoken language. Garden City, NY.spellingorthographyspirant [Lat. spirare ‘to breathe’]Term denoting fricatives, any kind of constrictive, or a median without friction.phoneticsReferencesspirantizationReplacement of plosives through homorganic fricatives. For example, in the Old HighGerman consonant shift, where Gmc p, t, k are shifted to the double fricatives ff, zz, hhinitially and after vowels; compare OHG offan with OS opan ‘open,’ OHG mahhon withOS makon ‘make.’ Spirantization with sonorization is found in the historical developmentof Danish: compare [t h ] with in Icelandic; with Dan. ‘street.’