Unlock hundreds more features
Save your Quiz to the Dashboard
View and Export Results
Use AI to Create Quizzes and Analyse Results

OR
Sign inSign in with Facebook
Sign inSign in with Google
Quizzes > English & Grammar

Phonetics Test: General Phonetics Exam Practice

Quick, free phonetics quiz to check your skills. Instant results.

Editorial: Review CompletedCreated By: Nelson Da SilvaUpdated Aug 28, 2025
Difficulty: Moderate
Questions: 15
Study OutcomesAdditional Reading
3D voxel art showcasing General Phonetics course material

This general phonetics quiz helps you check ear training, IPA basics, and how place, manner, and voicing work. Get 15 quick questions, instant results, and pointers for review. Keep learning with the ipa transcription quiz, build speed with the ipa practice test, and sharpen contrasts in the vowels and consonants quiz.

In IPA, which symbol represents the voiced dental fricative sound in the word this?
ð (eth) - Correct: ð represents the voiced dental fricative as in this.
ʞ - Not an IPA symbol for a common English phoneme.
z - Voiced alveolar fricative.
θ (theta) - Voiceless dental fricative as in thin.
undefined
A bilabial stop is produced by bringing both lips together to obstruct airflow.
True
False
undefined
Which articulatory feature distinguishes [p] from [b]?
Voicing - [p] is voiceless, [b] is voiced.
Manner - Both are oral stops.
Nasality - Neither is nasal.
Place - Both are bilabial.
undefined
Aspiration is the burst of turbulent air following the release of certain voiceless stops.
False
True
undefined
Which term refers to a sound produced with complete closure in the oral cavity and air escaping through the nose?
Fricative - Narrow constriction, not complete closure.
Affricate - Stop plus fricative release orally.
Approximant - Wide constriction, no turbulent airflow.
Nasal stop - Oral closure with nasal airflow.
undefined
In a spectrogram, the vertical axis typically represents frequency and the horizontal axis represents time.
False
True
undefined
High vowels generally have which acoustic characteristic for F1?
Random F1 - Not random; systematic relation exists.
High F1 - Opposite of the acoustic relationship.
Unchanged F1 - F1 varies with height.
Low F1 - High tongue position lowers F1.
undefined
The IPA symbol [ʌ] corresponds to which English vowel quality in cut for many dialects?
Mid central rounded - Not cut.
Open back rounded - That is [ɔ] or [ɒ] depending on system.
Open-mid back unrounded - Typical quality for cut in many accents.
Close front unrounded - That is [i].
undefined
Voice Onset Time (VOT) is the interval between stop release and the onset of voicing.
False
True
undefined
Which description matches an affricate?
A rapidly tapped closure - That is a tap or flap.
A stop closure followed by a homorganic fricative release - e.g., [tʃ].
A vowel-like resonant - That is an approximant.
Two simultaneous closures - That suggests a double articulation, not affrication.
undefined
Creaky voice (laryngealization) involves tightly adducted vocal folds vibrating at a low, irregular rate.
False
True
undefined
A click consonant is produced by an ingressive pulmonic airstream.
False
True
undefined
In source-filter theory, the source is the glottal airflow and the filter is the supraglottal vocal tract resonances.
True
False
undefined
Which pair is a minimal pair in English?
bat vs pat - Contrast in a single phoneme with meaning difference.
writer vs writer - No phonemic contrast.
spin vs pin - Initial allophony; cluster context differs in aspiration but meaning differs lexically, not a segmental minimal pair.
cats vs cat - Plural morpheme adds a segment; not a minimal pair of single phoneme contrast.
undefined
Ejectives use a glottalic egressive airstream mechanism.
True
False
undefined
Carryover assimilation refers to a segment being influenced by a following segment.
True
False
undefined
Which place and manner describe [ç]?
Voiceless palatal fricative.
Voiceless velar stop.
Voiceless alveolar fricative.
Voiced palatal approximant.
undefined
Which best describes a prenasalized stop?
A nasal stop with no oral closure.
A brief nasal murmur immediately preceding an oral stop closure.
A stop produced with ingressive airflow.
A stop released directly into a trill.
undefined
Which timing unit is used in moraic phonology to measure syllable weight?
Phoneme - Not a prosodic timing unit.
Syllable - Contains mora(e).
Mora - A unit contributing to syllable weight.
Foot - Larger prosodic unit than a mora.
undefined
Which acoustic visualization best reveals formant structure of vowels?
Waveform - Shows amplitude over time but not resonant frequencies directly.
Narrowband spectrogram - Emphasizes harmonic structure over clear formant bands.
Wideband spectrogram - Shows clear formant bands for vowels.
Pitch trace - Shows F0 only.
undefined
0

Study Outcomes

  1. Understand key concepts of phonetic transcription and pronunciation representation.
  2. Apply ear training techniques to accurately identify and transcribe speech sounds.
  3. Analyze the basic principles of phonetics through practical transcription exercises.
  4. Evaluate and compare phonetic symbols used in representing different pronunciations.

General Phonetics Additional Reading

Ready to dive into the world of phonetics? Here are some top-notch resources to get you started:

  1. This comprehensive resource from UC Berkeley covers everything from the basics of phonetic transcription to acoustic phonetics and prosody. It's a treasure trove for anyone looking to master the art of pronunciation and transcription.
  2. Offered by MIT OpenCourseWare, this exercise provides real-world audio samples for transcription practice, helping you hone your ear training and transcription skills with diverse dialects.
  3. This article introduces exercises designed to provide practice in phonetic transcription using the Alvin software, offering immediate feedback and a variety of drills to enhance your transcription proficiency.
  4. Developed by Cornell University, Earmaster is an interactive game that makes learning IPA transcription fun and engaging, allowing for modular exercises and immediate feedback to reinforce your learning.
  5. These exercises from UC Berkeley's 'A Course in Phonetics' provide practical tasks to apply your knowledge, including vowel plotting and transcription of sentences, enhancing both your theoretical understanding and practical skills.
Make a Quiz (FREE) Copy & Edit This Quiz Create a Quiz with AI

Language Studies Quizzes

Powered by: Quiz Maker