Basic Concepts in Phonetics

By William Orellana

What is phonetics?

• Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds: their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological status.

Branches

• Phonetics is divided into three branches:• Articulatory phonetics• The study of how speech sounds are produced by the human

vocal apparatus.• Acoustic phonetics• The study of the sound waves made by the human vocal organs

for communication.• Auditory phonetics• The study of how speech sounds are perceived by the ear,

auditory nerve, and brain.

What is Phonology?• Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural

languages.• Discussion• The phonological system of a language includes• • an inventory of sounds and their features, and• • rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.• Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other

aspects such as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.• Here is an illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting

hierarchy of levels in linguistics:

What is the difference between phonology and phonetics?

• Phonetics and phonology are the two fields dedicated to the study of human speech sounds and sound structures. The difference between phonetics and phonology is that phonetics deals with the physical production of these sounds while phonology is the study of sound patterns and their meanings both within and across languages.

Comparison: Phonology and phonetics

Phonetics … Phonology …

Is the basis for phonological analysis.

Is the basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, and orthography design.

Analyzes the production of all human speech sounds, regardless of language.

Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language by

determining which phonetic sounds are significant, and

explaining how these sounds are interpreted by the native speaker.

What is a phoneme?Definition• A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system

of a language.

Discussion• Phonologists have differing views of the phoneme. Following are

the two major views considered here:• In the American structuralist tradition, a phoneme is defined

according to its allophones and environments.• In the generative tradition, a phoneme is defined as a set of

distinctive features.

What is an allophone?• DefinitionAn allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language.

Examples (English)[p] and [pH] are allophones of the phoneme /p/.[t] and [tH] are allophones of the phoneme /t/.

Examples (Spanish)[b] and [B] are allophones of the phoneme /b/.[d] and [D] are allophones of the phoneme /d/.

Here is a chart that compares phones and phonemes:

A phone is … A phoneme is …

One of many possible sounds in the languages of the world.

A contrastive unit in the sound system of a particular language.

The smallest identifiable unit found in a stream of speech.

A minimal unit that serves to distinguish between meanings of words.

Pronounced in a defined way. Pronounced in one or more ways, depending on the number of allophones.

Represented between brackets by convention.

Represented between slashes by convention.

Example: /b/, /j/, /o/ Example: [b], [j], [o]

• Examples (English): Minimal pair• Here are examples of the phonemes /r/ and /l/ occurring in a

minimal pair:

• • rip• • lip

• The phones [r] and [l] contrast in identical environments and are considered to be separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from the word lip.

What is a grapheme?•  Linguistics one of a set of orthographic symbols

(letters or combinations of letters) in a given language that serve to distinguish one word from another and usually correspond to or represent phonemes, e.g.

the f in fun, the ph in phantom, and the gh in laugh[from Greek graphēma a letter]

• Examples (English): Distinctive features

Here are examples of the English phonemes /p/ and /i/ specified as sets of distinctive features:

/p/ /i/

-syllabic +consonantal -sonorant +anterior -coronal -voice -continuant -nasal+syllabic -consonantal +sonorant +high -low -back -round +ATR –nasal

Refer to the English most distinctive features chart provided by the teacher.

Sources• Burquest and Payne, 1993

• http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/GlossaryLinguisticsP.htm

• www.wikipedia.com