Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Environment

Definition: 

An environment is all the parts of an utterance that directly surround a given sound.

Discussion: 

The environment of a sound may be adjacent sounds, or a break in sound, such as at the beginning or end of a syllable, word or phrase.

Examples: 

(English)

Here is an example of the environment of the sound [Q] in the English word tap:

  • word: [tHQp] ‘tap’
  • environment: [tH…p]

(Spanish)

Here is an example of the environment of the sound [o] in the Spanish word gato:

  • word: [gAto] ‘cat’
  • environment: [gat…#]

(The symbol “#” represents the end of a word.)

Glossary Hierarchy