Phonetics & Phonology

Phonetics and Phonology

Introduction

Phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds, focusing on how they are articulated, transmitted, and received, whereas phonology studies how these sounds function within a specific language and organizes them accordingly.

Main Areas of Phonetics

Phonetics encompasses three main areas:

1. Articulatory Phonetics: Examines how speech sounds are produced by the movement of articulators.

2. Acoustic Phonetics: Looks at the physical properties of speech sounds as they travel through the air.

3. Auditory Phonetics: Investigates how humans perceive speech sounds through hearing.

Phonetic Alphabet

• Phonetic Alphabet: Utilizes symbols enclosed in square brackets ([-]) to represent specific sounds.

• IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet): A comprehensive system of symbols used worldwide for transcribing the sounds of all human languages.

Phonetic Symbols

• Consonant Symbols: Each symbol corresponds to specific sound examples, for instance, [p] for 'play', [t] for 'tree', and [g] for 'game'.

• Vowel Symbols: Vowels also have corresponding symbols, like [i] for 'see', [u] for 'two', and [æ] for 'bag'.

Consonants in Phonetics

Consonants have three dimensions:

1. Glottal State: This indicates whether the vocal folds vibrate during the articulation of the sound.

   • Voiced: Sounds produced with vocal fold vibration (e.g., [z]).

   • Voiceless: Sounds articulated without vibration (e.g., [s]).

2. Place of Articulation: Refers to where the airflow is obstructed in the vocal tract. Common places include:

   • Bilabial (e.g., [b], [m])

   • Alveolar (e.g., [d], [t], [s])

   • Velar (e.g., [k], [g])

3. Manner of Articulation: Identifies how the sound is produced. Types include:

   • Plosives: Complete stop of airflow (e.g., [p], [t]).

   • Fricatives: Nearly blocking airflow to create friction (e.g., [f], [s]).

   • Affricates: Combination of a stop followed by a fricative (e.g., [dʒ], [tʃ]).

   • Nasals: Airflow redirected through the nose (e.g., [m], [n]).

   • Liquids and Glides: Sounds with less obstruction, allowing airflow around the tongue (e.g., [l], [w]).

Dimensions of Vowels

Vowels are produced with minimal obstruction in the vocal tract and can be categorized based on three dimensions:

1. Tongue Height: Ranges from high, mid, to low positions.

2. Tongue Advancement: Indicates how far forward or back the tongue is positioned - classified as front, central, or back.

3. Lip Rounding: Describes lip position during articulation as rounded, neutral, or unrounded.

Types of Vowels

• Monophthongs: Simple vowels that maintain a single articulatory position. Examples include [i] in 'see' and [u] in 'blue'.

• Diphthongs: Vowels that glide from one position to another within a single syllable, such as [ai] in 'my' and [au] in 'how'.

Understanding Phonology

Phonology explores how sounds function in a language:

• Phones: Concrete representations of speech sounds using square brackets.

• Phonemes: Abstract units of sound that can distinguish meaning, represented by slashes (e.g., /b/).

• Allophones: Variants of phonemes that do not change meaning when pronounced differently (e.g., [p] in 'pin' vs. [pʰ] in 'spin').

Key Phonological Concepts

• Minimal Pairs: Words differing by a single sound that alters meaning (e.g., 'bat' vs. 'pat').

• Contrastive Distribution: Where two sounds can occur in the same environment but produce a change in meaning.

• Complementary Distribution: Sounds that never occur in the same environment.

• Phonotactics: Rules governing the permissible combinations of sounds in a particular language.

Phonological Processes

1. Assimilation: Sounds become more like neighboring sounds.

2. Dissimilation: Sounds become less alike to aid articulation.

3. Epenthesis: Insertion of sounds into words (e.g., 'hamster' as 'hampster').

4. Elision: Omission of sounds (e.g., 'comfortable' becomes 'comfterble').

5. Vowel Reduction: Changes a vowel to a schwa in unstressed positions (e.g., 'I can go' becomes 'I ken go').

Conclusion

Understanding phonetics and phonology is essential for analyzing how speech sounds are produced, transmitted, and organized within languages, laying the groundwork for linguistics and communication studies.