Final answer:
Phonological representations, consisting of Symbols, which contain just information about contrasts. On the other hand, there are phonetic representations, made up of detailed descriptions, which contain a great deal of additional information about the details of pronunciation.
The correct answer is: A) Symbols; detailed descriptions
Step-by-step explanation:
The student's question deals with the distinction between phonological and phonetic representations in linguistics. Phonological representations consist of phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound in a language that can distinguish one word from another.
These representations contain only information about contrasts necessary for understanding different words in a language. In contrast, phonetic representations are made up of detail-rich allophones which include information about the variations in pronunciation that occur in the real-world production of these phonemes. Therefore, the answer to the fill-in-the-blank question the student posed would be: A) Symbols; detailed descriptions.