Glossonomia Podcast
Glossonomia, Conversations on the Sounds of Speech is a podcast by Eric Armstrong and Phil Thompson. Each week we talk about a different vowel or consonant sound in English. 
Glossonomia
In Part Two of this series on Diacritics, Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong discuss the intricacies of diacritic symbols and what they mean when applied to vowel and consonant symbols of the IPA. The...
Though Phil and Eric had intended to cover all the diacritical marks in the IPA in this podcast, they just couldn’t do it. In fact, Eric’s recorder stopped recording after 45 minutes, though they kept...
In this episode, Phil and Eric tackle two of the “centering diphthongs” (aka the r-colored diphthongs in rhotic accents), square and start. Much of the episode is spent tackling the very subtle...
This week we delve deeper into the topic of weaken vowels that behave similarly to schwa /ə/, namely the weakened forms of the /i/ and /u/ vowels [usually realized as somewhere in the range of [i̽] or...
We’re tackling strings of consonants in this episode! Phil and Eric talk about clusters of consonants and how they “work” for us. Eric refers to J.C. Catford’s book A Practical Introduction to...
Phil and Eric managed to do an episode on the Lexical Set choice this week, in spite of Phil’s never-ending cold and Eric’s dogs (who wanted to go out when they were in, and in when they were out...)...
We tackle the consonants that don’t conveniently fit within the Pulmonic Consonant chart of the IPA — the Non-pulmonics and the so-called “Other Symbols” area. Many of these consonants are a review of...
Phil and Eric tackle the mouth lexical set, and compare it, briefly to the price set. We reference Robbie Burns’ To a Mouse, and talk about how it evolved through the Great Vowel Shift from an /u/...
Eric and Phil tackle the entire Pulmonic Chart of the IPA, focusing on the Non-English sounds. We move quickly, and don’t focus on what languages you might here these consonants. Instead we focus on...
After a YEAR on hiatus, Phil and Eric return to Glossonomia with an episode about the lexical set price. We cover the history of the /aɪ/ sound, how it evolved from the /i/ sound we hear in fleece...
Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong work their way across the Pulmonic Consonant Chart, focusing in on the Fricative row. Though they do cover English fricatives [θ ð f v s z ʃ ʒ], they go into...
Today, Phil and Eric finish off our four part trifecta on R, with a deep discussion of linking r, instrusive r, triphthongs and other R-ful tidbits to delight and enthral you.
In this Episode, Phil and Eric talk about the consonant sounds known as Affricates. The sounds, which begin with a stop and release into a fricative, are important in English, as there are two...
In this episode, Phil and Eric start to unpack the overstuffed suitcase known as rhotic vowels, or r-colored vowels. They cover things like what a rhotic vowel is, the possible use of syllabic...
After our overview episode last week, Phil and Eric look in greater detail at the full range of R consonant variation. We follow the Rhotic Consonants page on wikipedia as a means of tracking the...
We’ve been moaning about this one, and now we have to face it: we’re tackling the category of sounds that have an R quality, and this episode gets Phil and Eric talking about vowel and consonant R,...
We’re going to get your goat with this episode: Phil and Eric tackle the lexical set goat, that mirrors the set in last episode, face. They discuss the sound of the diphthong and monophthong versions...
Phil and Eric face the music on this one: they tackle the ticklishly intriguing face lexical set, and discuss diphthongs, monophthongs and other phthings, er, things related to the set! And Eric...
Dark and Light (or is it “clear”?) /l/ forms the core of this episode, where Phil and Eric tackle all the elements of the “el” sounds in English and the world’s languages.
In our silver anniversary episode, Phil and Eric talk about the lexical set dress, and all the various vowels that are associated with it. That includes [e] or is it [ɛ]? The guys try to uncover the...
Recorded at the 2011 VASTA Conference in Chicago IL at Roosevelt University, Phil and Eric take the show to their audience. It’s a “show about the show” where we talk about the magic behind the...
Glossonnnnnnommmmmia is comin’ through the nose this week: we’re talking about Nasals, both consonants and vowels – nasalized vowels, that is. Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong discuss not only...
In their third and final episode on lot, cloth and thought, co-hosts Eric Armstrong and Phil Thompson not only think about, but actually talk about the thought lexical set. What it is, how to identify...
Hosts Eric Armstrong and Phil Thompson focus on lot-cloth mergers in this unusually short episode. [Recorded in March but not published until May, this (hopefully) marks the end of a long hiaitus!]...
Great Scott! Hosts Phil & Eric think awfully hard on the sounds of the lexical sets lot, cloth, thought. A set up for the trifecta (tetrafecta?) of our next few shows, in this episode we talk through...
In thish show, Phil and Eric talk their way around the shounds of "sh" and "zh", [ʃ] and [ʒ], post-alveolar fricatives. This pair of consonants provide ample room for discussion of how the sounds are...
In this Episode, hosts Phil and Eric dig down deep into the sound of the palm lexical set. After a LOOOONG Hiatus, we're back, and exploring the sound of the ɑː vowel.
Phil and Eric are in fine form in this third (but, not final, alas...) part of their trilogy on the three lexical sets known as trap, bath & palm.
We set out to do three things: correct an error...
We set out to do three things: correct an error...
We're back at it, back in the bath lexical set, exploring the realm of trap, bath and palm. Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong continue on from Episode 15 with more on these lexical sets.
Show...
Show...
We're starting Season Two off with a bang! After a season away (i.e. summer), we're diving into the vowels found in the three lexical sets known as trap, bath & palm. The vowels associated with these...
So, zis iz eet! Our show about those two hissy consonants, /s/ and /z/. Phil and Eric chat their way through a discussion of sibilance, and spend a lot of time talking about so-called-gay-speech, and...
Goodness! It's our lucky thirteenth episode, and Phil and Eric tackle the /ʊ/ vowel and the lexical set foot. We talk about symbols used to represent it in phonetic notation, spellings of the sound,...
What the...??? Is it an episode dedicated to all thing dubya? Why yes: in this wepisode, we, Phiw and Ewic, wallow in what is well-know to be one the the most wonderful consonants in English, nay, in...
Ooooo! It's the goosonomia episoode! Yes, in the eleventh instalment of Glossonomia, Phil and Eric talk for a very long time (1:36) about the [u] vowel. In it, we talk about the evolution of the /u/...
This is our "Fava" episode: great with a nice Chianti (you can leave the liver out, Dr. Lecter...) Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong talk their way through the sounds /f/ and /v/ in this episode....
Word! Shut. Up. This week, Phil and Eric explore the mid-central vowel space, including [ɘ, ɵ, ə, ɜ, ɞ, ɐ] and even discuss the (completely theoretical at this point) new symbol [a]. Yes, we do...
Seeing how his daughter, Maja, was studying Spanish and knew a lot more about seseo/ceceo/distinción than we did, Phil chose to interview her for a short briefing on the ins and outs of the “th” sound...
Think about this: hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong are delving into the sounds represented by the spelling “th” this week. In the course of it, they’ll chat about how the sound is rare in the...
It’s the “Schwapisode” this week! Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong get right into the middle of things (or at least, into the middle of the vowel space) to talk about the mid-central vowel, the...
Episode 6 sees Eric and Phil dissecting the final pair of stop/plosive sounds in English: /k/ and /ɡ/. As always, we work our way around the task of describing the sounds, their history, and usage in...
Eric Armstrong and Phil Thompson whistle a happy tune: this week, we’re exploring the vowel sound found at the end of words like "happy."
Show Notes:
• for some this is perceived as being an /i/...
Show Notes:
• for some this is perceived as being an /i/...
We’re digging into /t/ and /d/ on Glossonomia this week. Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong discuss how we make this cognate pair of consonants, voiceless and voiced alveolar stop/plosives....
This is it. Hosts Phil Thompson and Eric Armstrong chat about the phoneme /ɪ/ and the lexical set ‘kit’. On the way, they discuss the history of the vowel, compare it to the /i/ ‘fleece’ vowel, and...
In this episode, we talk about the stop plosive consonant pair [p] and [b], also known as bilabial plosives, “exploding” consonants made with both lips. In the course of our chat, we talk about...
In this episode of Glossonomia, Phil and Eric introduce the new podcast and talk through the “ee” vowel (IPA [i]), found in the lexical set word fleece. We cover the history of the sound and its...
