A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

ascriptive 37
detailed understanding of articulation is possible than using traditional visual
and kinaesthetic methods.
articulatory phonology A theory which aims to integrate phonetics and
phonology, using basic units of contrast defined as gestures – abstract characterizations
of articulatory events, with an intrinsic time dimension. Utterances
are modelled as organized patterns (constellations) of gestures, in which
the gestural units may overlap in time. The resulting phonological structures
provide a hierarchy of articulatorily based natural classes, which are used to
describe the phonological structure of specific languages and to account for
phonological variation.
articulatory setting In phonetics, a global configuration of all the articulators
in relation to each other, which one adopts and maintains during speech; also
called a phonetic setting. This accounts for some of the broad qualitative differences
between languages and dialects, e.g. a characteristic nasal twang, or
marked degree of lip-rounding. Phonatory setting is sometimes distinguished:
a habitual setting of the larynx which results in such voice qualities as
whispery or creaky phonation. In the most general application, ‘phonetic
setting’ refers to any tendency towards co-ordination underlying the production
of a chain of speech segments, so that a particular configuration of the vocal
apparatus is maintained. It thus subsumes coarticulation, assimilation,
vowel harmony and other such segmental features, as well as the nonsegmental
effects noted in relation to paralanguage and voice quality.
articulometer (n.) An instrument in articulatory phonetics which plots
the simultaneous movement of several articulators during speech. It is a pointtracking
device which uses magnetic fields to measure individual fleshpoints, by
tracking the movements of tiny pellets attached to the articulators.
artificial language A language which has been invented to serve some particular
purpose. Artificial languages include those which have been devised to
facilitate international communication (where they are a type of auxiliary
language, such as Esperanto), programming languages (e.g. basic), languages
which communicate with computers or robots in artificial intelligence (e.g. shrdlu),
and simplified languages which are used by people with learning difficulties
(e.g. Bliss symbols).
ascension (n.) A term used in relational grammar for a class of relationchanging
processes in which a noun phrase which is part of a larger noun
phrase comes to bear the grammatical relation previously borne by the larger
noun phrase. See also promotion (1).
ascriptive (adj.) A term used in grammatical analysis to refer to a sentence
of the type The cat is angry, where there is an attributive identity between
the pre- and post-verbal elements, but no permutability (unlike the otherwise
similar equative sentence – cf. *Angry is the cat, but Freda is the leader/The
leader is Freda). Sentences of the type Freda is a doctor are also sometimes
called ascriptive, but are more problematic to analyse.