Linguistics

Linguistics - scientific study of language.

Phonetics - the science of human speech sounds.

Three Categories of Sounds: Phoneme, Phone and Allophone

  • Phoneme - abstract: unit to distinguish meaning (concept)

  • Phone - concrete: physical realization (use).

  • Allophone -non-distinctive:variant of phoneme.

Phoneme- abstract minimal sound unit of a particular language; capable of distinguishing different words in that language.

Minimal Pair Technique- words that are almost identical except for one sound in the same position (one phonemic difference)

Types of Minimal Pair: Initial, Vowel, and Final

  • Initial Minimal Pair

  • Vowel/ Central Minimal Pair

  • Final Minimal Pair


Branches of Phonetics: Articulatory, Acoustic, and Auditory(A.A.A)

  1. Articulatory Phonetics- (production) oldest branch. Examines the articulatory (vocal) organs and their role in the production of speech sounds.

  2. Acoustic Phonetics-(transmission) deals with the physical properties of speech sounds as they travel through the air in the form of sounds.

  3. Auditory Phonetics- (perception) examines the way in which human beings perceive speech sounds through the medium of the air.

Main Tasks of Phonetics: Notation & Description

  1. Notation- transcription symbols (assign a symbol for the sound) to make an accurate and unambiguous record of what goes on in speech.

    • International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) - transcription symbol that contains symbols for the hundred or so speech sounds that can be distinguished in human language.

  2. Description - description (characterization) of speech sound. Which body part is used to deliver the sound (vocal tract).

Classification of Phoneme (Segment)

Vowel- produced by shaping the oral cavity to give the sound a particular color or timbre.

“All Vowels are voiced”

Monopthong- (1) single vowel sound

Dipthong- (2) complex two-vowel sound

Tripthong- (3) three-vowel sound that glides together. (Dipthong+Monopthong)

Consonant- produce with partial restrictions of the vocal tract.