A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

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ceneme (n.) (1) A term used in glossematics to refer to the minimal unit in
a language’s phonological system. Cenematics and cenetics are the terms used
to refer to the analysis of cenemes at levels corresponding to those of phonology
and phonetics respectively.
(2) In the study of writing systems, a sign which denotes only linguistic form;
opposed to plereme, where meaning is also involved. There are two main types:
syllabaries (e.g. Japanese kana) and alphabets. Systems of cenemic signs are
more economical in their use of elementary units, and are often thought to
represent a more advanced state of writing.
centre (n.) (1) The top part of the tongue, between front and back, and
used especially in the production of ‘central vowels’ (also called ‘neutral’
vowels), such as the [v] sound which opens the word asleep and closes the word
sofa. In a sense, when compared with the theoretical extremes of vowel articulation
which define the cardinal vowels in phonetics, all real language
vowels are centralized; but the term is usually used to refer to cases where a
vowel normally articulated in the periphery of the vowel area comes to be
produced nearer the centre of the mouth, as when bacon and [= and] eggs
becomes, in normal colloquial speech, bacon [vnd] eggs. Several degrees of
this process of centralization can be heard. Markedly ‘centralized vowels’ are
common in several urban British dialects, for example. A diphthong which
involves a glide towards the centre of the mouth may be referred to as a
‘centring’ diphthong.
(2) The most sonorous part of a syllable may be referred to as the ‘centre’
(or nucleus), e.g. the [up] in the word boot [bupt].
(3) In those types of grammatical phrase where several words depend on one
head word (endocentric constructions), the head is often referred to as the
‘centre’ of the phrase.
centre-embedding
see self-embedding
centring diphthong see centre (1)
centum language /ckentvm/ An Indo-European language in which the velar
stop /k/ of Proto-Indo-European was retained in such words as Latin centum
‘hundred’; opposed to a satem language, where this sound changed to an alveolar
fricative /s/ in such words as Avestan satem ‘hundred’. Celtic, Romance,
and Germanic languages are among the centum group; Balto-Slavonic and
Indo-Iranian languages are among the satem group.
chain (n.) (1) In communication studies, a term used to describe a model
which presents the communicative act as an interrelated sequence of stages
between a speaker and a receiver. With reference to speech (the speech chain),
the model usually distinguishes psychological, neurological, physiological and
anatomical stages of sound production, an acoustic stage of transmission,
and anatomical, physiological, neurological and psychological stages of sound
reception.