Phonology & Phonetics

PHONOLOGY

In the previous discussion, we have known that Phonology is the study of speech sounds and their patterns. In other words, we can describe phonology as the study of rules and organization of sound units in a language.

Phonology involves two studies:

a. The study of speech sounds (known as “phonetics”);

b. The study of the sounds and sound patterns of a specific language (known as “phonemics”). As the most of subject matters of phonemics are included in phonology, linguists usually suppose phonemics as “phonology” itself.

Phonetics: The branch of Phonology that deals with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols. In other words, we learn phonetics to know how to produce sounds using organs of speech.

Phonemics: The study of phonemes (a group of sounds with distinctive characteristics). Thus, we learn phonemics to know how to distinct meaning (for instance, in ‘minimal pairs’) and sound patterns.

Phonology: The study of speech sounds (what is discussed in phonetics, and the sound patterns (what is discussed in phonemics).

Thus, the aspects of phonetics and phonemics are all included in phonology. However, as the subject matter of phonetics is exclusive because of the specific characteristics (such as phonetics transcriptions), which is considered as a broad and complicated discussion; then it is separated from phonology.

Kinds of Phonetics:

Phonetics is concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in the languages of the world.

The study of speech sounds is further divided into the study of sound articulation, sound transmissions (sound waves), and sound perception.

The branch of phonetics that studies sound articulation (how individual speech sound is articulated) is called articulatory phonetics;

The branch of phonetics that studies sound transmission (physical properties of sound transmission) is called acoustic phonetics; and

The branch of phonetics that studies sound perception (how a listener perceives and understands a sound) is called auditory phonetics.

A. Articulatory Phonetics:

Articulatory Phonetics deals with how individual speech sound is produced or articulated. In this case, the air and human speech organ (vocal tracks) play very important roles in the production of each individual speech sound. Sounds could not occur without air. The air required for most sounds comes from the lungs and is known as egressive (‘going out’).  However, certain sounds in languages can be made with air sucked in through the mouth, which is called ingressive (‘going in’). The ingressive sound is like ‘Tch! Tch!’. Most sounds of languages of the world are produced with an egressive airstream mechanism that is by pushing air out from the lungs, then through the mouth or nose.

We will begin by describing how speech sounds are made:

In nearly all speech sounds, the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing air out of the lungs.

Air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (trachea) and into the larynx, at which point it must pass between two small muscular folds called “vocal cords” (vocal folds). In other words, The air passages above the larynx are known as the “vocal cords”.

If the vocal cords are apart, as they normally are when breathing out, the air from the lungs will have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the vocal cords are adjusted, so that there is only a narrow passage between them, the airstream will cause them to vibrate.

Sounds produced when the vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.

In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound, try saying a long “v” sound, which we will symbolize as [vvvvv].

Now compare it with a long “f” sound [fffff], saying each of them alternately-[fffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv].

Both of those sounds are formed in the same way in the mouth. The difference between them is that [v] is voiced but [f] is voiceless.

You can feel the vocal cords vibrations in [v] if you put your fingertips against your larynx. You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations in [v] more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting [ffffffvvvvvv].

The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important in distinguishing sounds. In each of the pairs of words “fan” and “van”, “fail” and “veil”, and so on.

The shape of the speech organs (vocal track) is a very important factor in the production of speech.

The parts of the speech organs (vocal track) that can be used to form sounds are called articulators. The articulators that form the lower surface of the vocal track often move toward those that form the upper surface.

The names for the principal parts of the upper surface of the vocal track are generally shown in the following picture:

The Description of Each Part of Human Speech Organs:

Just behind the upper teeth is a small protuberance that you can feel with the tip of the tongue. This is called the alveolar ridge.

You can also feel that the front part of the roof of the mouth is formed by a bony structure. This is called hard palate.

If you curl the tongue up far enough, you can touch the soft palate (velum) at the back of the mouth. (You will probably have to use a fingertip to feel further back.)

In most languages (including English), speech sounds which are produced by human speech organs are classified into vowel and consonant:

Vowel sounds are normally further classified based on: the position of the tongue (high, mid, low) and the position of mandible (open, close), the part of the tongue (front, central, back),  and the shape of the lips (rounded, unrounded).

 

Consonant sounds are classified based on: The place of articulation (place in the mouth where the sound is produced or where there is the most contact or near contact of articulators) and the manner of articulation (used to classify sounds by how they are produced).

B. Acoustic & Auditory Phonetics:

As mentioned earlier, acoustics phonetics studies sound transmission; whereas the auditory phonetics studies sound perception. The transmission of sounds and their perception by a listener are closely related.

The very first stage of a comprehension process is the perception of speech signals that is the acoustic signals produced by a speaker.

                Sounds produced by a speaker can be the same or different in pitch (frequency) and loudness (intensity). These aspects of acoustic signals can be observed from sound waves with the help of (recorded with) such instruments as spectrographs or computer application (such as audacity, adobe audition, speech analyzer, and so on).

When the speech signals with such attributes as pitch and loudness reach a listener’s ear drum, the process of comprehension begins with the assistance of the listener’s knowledge of the speech sounds of a language and the knowledge of the grammar of the language, in general.