Lesson two
PHONETICS SUBJECT
Phonetics is the branch of linguistics that is composed of:
(1) Phonetics /fə'netɪks/ is the subfield of linguistics that deals with (studies)
the physical properties (aspects/characteristics) of human sounds
(phones/voices), and the processes of their physiological production. The
minimal linguistic unit in phonetics is the speech sound ‘phone’ in a
language. The field of phonetics is divided into three sub-disciplines based on
the research questions involved on how humans plan and execute movements to
produce speech; how different movements affect the properties of the resulting
sound; and how humans convert sound waves to linguistic information. This
can be summarized as follows:
1. Articulatory Phonetics is concerned with the articulation of human speech
sounds (how sounds are produced), i.e., the position, shape and movement of the
different articulators (speech organs, such as the tongue, lips, the vocal cords,
etc. It studies the voicing, places of articulation and manners of articulation
(V.P.M) of sounds. In general, what a person does to produce the different
speech sound utterances.
2. Acoustic Phonetics is concerned with the physical properties of the sound
waves, such as frequency & harmonies (resulting from the disturbance of air by
some kind of movement). These disturbances of air are called sound waves.
Acoustic Phonetics is what goes on between the speaker and the listener. We can
hear, feel, touch, and measure the movement of speech sounds, i.e., energy in
movement.
3. Auditory Phonetics is concerned with speech perception. ( how sounds are
Perceived, interpreted and understood by the inner ear and the brain). This is
referred to as a neuro-physical process. It entails the study of the relationship
between speech stimuli and the listener’s response to such stimuli. The auditory
perception includes sound loudness, pitch, sound quality, and length. In a
nutshell, phonetics broadly deals with two aspects of human speech: the
production process __ how humans produce sounds, and the process of
perception __the way human speech is understood. Languages with oral-aural
modalities such as English produce speech orally (using the oral cavity ’mouth’)
and perceive speech aurally (using the ears).
(2) Phonology /fə'nɒlədʒi/ is grounded in phonetics and is a subfield of
linguistics that studies the sound system of a specific language or different
languages. It describes the way sounds function within a given language or
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across languages. In other words, phonology is the abstract study of sounds and
how these sounds are combined to convey meaning. The minimal functional
distinctive unit of phonology is the phoneme /'fəuni:m/. It is the mental
representation of a speech sound or different sounds (no physical reality). It is a
meaningful unit having a contrastive function (it is responsible for the change of
meaning). It is a unit of sound that can distinguish one word from another in a
particular language. For example, if we substitute the consonant phoneme /f/
for /r/ in a word like ‘rat’ /ræt/, it would result in ‘fat’ /fæt/. Similarly, the sound
pattern /sin/ ‘sin’ and /sɪŋ/ ‘sing’ are two separate words distinguished by
substituting one phoneme, /n/ for /ŋ/. In this situation, when two words differ in
meaning through the contrast of a single phoneme, these words form what is
referred to as a ‘minimal pair’.
Speech sounds that differ but do not create a change in meaning in words are
known as‘allophones’ /ælə'fəunz/ of the same phoneme. Allophones are the
different realizations of the same phoneme in particular phonetic environments.
They may be free and vary in the articulation of different speakers of languages
or dialects, although this articulation would have no effects on word meaning.
Phonemes usually fall into two classes: consonants and vowels. Differences in
words may depend on differences between these classes in different
environments. Phonemes are conventionally placed between slashes in
transcription / /, whereas speech sounds (phones) are placed between square
brackets ] ].
Examples of the contrast of phonemes in different environments are as follows:
In monosyllabic words:
1. Initially: ‘bat’ /bæt/ and ‘rat’ /ræt/ differ in only one consonant, i.e., /b/
and /r/. (initial phonemes are in contrast)
2. Medially: ‘hit’ /hɪt/ and ‘hat’ /hæt/ differ in only a vowel, i.e., /ɪ/ and /æ/.
(medial phonemes are in contrast)
3. Finally: ‘ring’ /riŋg/ and ‘rink’ /riŋk/ differ in only one consonant, i.e., /g/
and /k/. (final phonemes are in contrast).
In disyllabic words:
1. Initially: ‘harden’ /ha:dən/ and ‘garden’ /ga:dən/ differ in only one
consonant, i.e., /h/ and /g/ (Initial phonemes are in contrast)
2. Medially: ‘rider’ /'raɪdə/ and writer /'raɪtə/ differ in only a vowel, i.e., /d/
and /t/. (medial phonemes are in contrast)
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3. Finally: ‘riddle’ /ridl/ and ‘ridden’ /ridn/ differ in only one consonant, i.e., /l/
and /n/ (final phonemes are in contrast).