Lecture 5: Phonetics and Phonology as different branches of Linguistics

Lecture 5: Phonetics and Phonology as different branches of Linguistics

Definition of Phonetics: Nowadays phonetics is a “science which studies the phonetic substance and the expression area of the language, or otherwise a physical media of a language (sounds, syllables, stress, and intonation)” [A.Abduazizov, 2007, 6].

Phonetics is the study of minimal units that make up a language in general. For spoken languages, minimal units are the sounds of speech: the consonants, vowels, melodies, and rhythms (Dawson and Phelan, 2016). Phoneticians may also study the minimal units of signed languages.

Phonetics: description

Phonetics is the study and classification of speech sounds. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds, including their physiological production, acoustic properties, and auditory perception. Basically, phonetics studies how sounds are produced, transmitted and received. Based on these three primary functions, phonetics can be classified into three subcategories: articulatory phonetics, acoustic phonetics, and auditory phonetics. Articulatory phonetics studies the production of speech sounds by the articulatory and vocal tract of the speaker. Acoustic phonetics studies the physical transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to the listener whereas auditory phonetics studies the reception and perception of speech sounds by the listener.

Four main aspects of phonetics

Articulatory (Physiological)

• the functioning of one’s speech apparatus and mechanism;
• It is based on profound knowledge of physiology and the structure of one’s speech apparatus. It is about production of sounds.

Acoustic (Physical)

• the acoustic properties of sounds (quantity, timber/voice quality, intensity, the pitch of the voice and temporal factor) in terms of the frequency of vibration. It is about transmission of sounds.

Perceptual (Auditory)

• the hearing process which is the brain activity. It is about perception of sounds.

Phonological (Social, Functional, Linguistic).

• the discriminatory (distinctive) function of speech sounds.