This phenomenon of transposing or switching sounds in a word is called metathesis.

这种在单词中换位或调换音的现象被称为 " 音位转换" 。

What factors determine whether a phoneme enters common use, or is relegated to silence?

什么因素决定一个音位常用还降至发音呢？

B) Explicit instruction in phonemic awareness.

B) 音位意识的明确指导。

So many, in fact, that each individual language contains only a subset of potential sound units, or phonemes.

事实上，其种类之丰富以至于每种语言只含有一种潜在音位子。

You could call it phonetic, but it might  be more accurate to call it phonemic.

你可以称之为音标，但更准确的说法可能音位。

Phonemic transcription is put in square brackets for this purpose.

依照惯例，音位转写在双斜线 (//) 内，语音转写在方括号 ([」) 内，音位转写也用于太关注发音细节时的语音讨论（常见于词典和教材中），或者关注点在于特定语音对照，每个发音的细节。这种情况下就，音位转写又称为宽式转写，给出发音细节的符号则称为严式转写，作为宽式转写的音位转写符号也可以在方括号当中。

First, Phonetics. This level focuses on the smallest unit of structure in language, the phoneme.

首先，音位学。这一层面关注语言结构中最小的单位，即音素。

He lowered his voice four or five notches and added " What was the name again" ?

他压低了四五个音位， 又加了一句“叫什么名字” ？

One phoneme that occurs in only about 20 percent of the world's languages is the ejective consonant, such as p' or k'.

有一种音位仅出现在全世界 20% 的语言中——那就“爆破辅音”，比如“p”或“k”。

That brings us to a new concept: the phoneme.

然，在很多情况下并每次都要表现出这种同音变体，并且我们常用普通符号 [r] 来代替 [x] 这个常用的符号。这就导出一个新的概念：音位。

Definition: Allophones are variant pronunciations of a phoneme in specific contexts.

定义：音位变体音素在特定上下文中的变体发音。

Some sociolinguists believe that analyzing such variables as the use of a particular phoneme can predict the direction of language change.

一些社会语言学家认为，分析诸如特定音位的使用这样的变量可以预测语言变化的方向。

In English, the " p" sound in " pat" and the " p" sound in " spat" are allophones of the same phoneme.

在英语中，“pat”中的“p”音与“spat”中的“p”音同一个音素的音位变体。

It utilizes a wider range of IPA symbols, diacritics, and additional notation to capture specific articulatory details, coarticulatory effects, and allophonic variations within speech.

它利用更广泛的 IPA 符号、变音符号和附加符号来捕获语音中的特定发音细节、协同发音效果和音位变体。

A century later, and after a few revisions, it's now used around the world by linguists, but also phonologists, speech pathologists, singers, and loads more people.

一个世纪后，经过几次修订，它现在被全世界的语言学家、音位学家、言语治疗师、歌手以及更多的人使用。

(4) Assimilation: It refers to the change of a sound by the influence of an adjacent sound, which is more specifically called " contact" or " contiguous" assimilation.

(1) 脱落：语音脱落指音位系统中作为音位的某个语音的消失。语音脱落也可以在语句中发生，往往某些非重读元音发生脱落。(2) 添加：添加指把某些语音添加到语音原有的链条上。(3) 换位：换位指语流中一种可供选择的方法。(4) 同化：同化指由于邻近语音的影响产生的语音变化，更明确的叫法" 接触" 同化或" 邻近" 同化。

For  example the word " the" has two phonetic sounds, " th" and " uh" , but " the" only has one  " phoneme" : the sound, or syllable " the" .

例如，单词“the” 包含两个音素，“th” 和“uh” ，但“the” 只有一个音位，即音或音节“the” 。

Once he has been accepted, Dr Kaufman and his colleagues start chipping away at the language's phonology (the sounds of which it is composed) and its syntax (how its meaning is changed by the order of words and phrases).

一旦他被录用，考夫曼博士及其同事就开始断研究那种语言的音位学（即组成这个体系的各种发音）和句法（其词汇和短语的次序如何改变意思）。

(4) Narrow Transcriptional called phonetic transcription, which shows more phonetic details, either just by using more specific symbols or by also representing some allophonic differences. The use of diacritics is a means of increasing precision.

(4) 狭义转录称为语音转录，它通过使用更具体的符号或还表示一些音位差异来显示更多的语音细节。使用变音符号提高精度的一种手段。

The one really big thing that stands out to me in the phonemic inventory of Ket is the fact that it lacks both P and G, which is rather rare to lack both of these at the same time.

在我看来， Ket 音位清单中真正引人注目的一点它缺少 P 和 G，同时缺少这两个音的情况相当罕见。