Phonetics vs.
Phonology
English Phonetics and Phonology I Universitat de Barcelona - 2011
Phonetics
! Empirical science (not a branch of LINGUISTICS) that
studies human speech sounds
! It deals with: ! How sounds are produced PRODUCTION / description of articulatory & acoustic features of sounds ! How humans are capable of producing sounds ! Examination of the whole range of possible speech sounds ! APPLICATIONS:
! Teaching of foreign languages ! Acquisition of good diction ! Speech Therapy for people with speech impediments ! Sound transmission
Phonetics: 3 branches
! ARTICULATORY PH: ! How sounds are produced/modified in the vocal tract physiology ! It deals with NATURE / LIMIT of human ability ! Static classification of sounds description of sounds bearing in mind the organs and the anatomical processes inolved ! ACOUSTIC PH: ! Physical properties of speech sounds sound waves produced when speaking SPEACTOGRAMS [SPECTOGRAPHY] ! Transmission SPEAKER hearer ! AUDITORY PH: ! Perception of speech general knowledge required ! How sounds are interpreted in the brain through audition
Phonetics
SPEAKER MESSAGE HEARER
PRODUCTION
TRANSMISSION
AUDITION
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
AUDITORY PHONETICS
Phonetics
! Phonetic ALPHABET International Phonetic Association
(IPA)
! Meta-language to represent all the sounds used in all the
worlds language CONSISTENT
! CAVEAT! Not all dictionaries use their own alphabets!!!
Phonology
! Branch of Linguistics / Scientific Theory that studies how the
sounds of a language are systematically structured
! It deals with the rules that govern the use of allophones ! It deals with:
! How speakers perceive sounds so as to see the knowledge
speakers of a language have COMPETENCE
! It is the concrete FRAMEWORK of language
! How sounds are produced and received ! How they are stored
Phonology
! Within
!
each language, CONTRASTS
SOUNDS
form
system
of
CONTRASTIVE or DISTINCTIVE FEATURES
! PHONES units (sound) ! PHONEMES
! Abstract units basic units of phonology ! Semantic value / phonemic opposition (Trubetzkoy School of
Prague) // Feature (minimal unit that forms the phoneme)
! Idealisation that comprises all the allophones of a particular sound
in a particular language
Phonology
! PHONEMES and their OPPOSITION
Taxonomy depending on the features involved:
! PRIVATIVE: 1 phoneme is determined by a particular
feature / the other phoneme is not.
! Voiced vs. Unvoiced
! GRADUAL: degree of a particular feature ! Openness in vowels ! EQUIPOLLENT: a feature is determined by a set of
possible features
! Articulatory features
Phonology
! Yet, not all the different sounds in a language are contrastive
! ALLOPHONES ! Non-contrastive (non-distinctive) sounds [similar] ! No semantic value / no phonemic opposition ! Concrete unit the actual sound ! Contextually-dependent ! SPANISH & ENGLISH / ENGLISH & RUSSIAN [Examples]
Transcription - Types
! PHONEMIC / BROAD
! Distinctive ! /pen/
! ALLOPHONIC / NARROW
! Symbols & diacritics ! How a sound is produced in a particular environment ! [phen]
Phonemes
! MINIMAL PAIRS 2 phonetically similar sounds occur in the
same environment
! Commutation test Vowels & Consonants ! seat/sheet // sheet/shit // sheet/cheat
! NEAR MINIMAL PAIRS When MP cannot be found
(uncommon sounds /defective distribution)
! vision / mission
Allophones
(also phonemes)
Allophones, in order to belong to the same phoneme, must have COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION or FREE VARIATION
! COMPLEMENTARY DISTRIBUTION
! 2 allophones do not occupy the same positions in words ! 2 sounds are said to be in CD they are 2 allophones of the
same phoneme (they are phonetically similar) they are 2 contextually determined realisations of the same phoneme ! Distribution of allophones may be expressed by means of PHONOLOGICAL RULES ! Spanish [Example]
! Not all sounds in CD are allophones of the same phoneme
they belong to different phonemes, because they are not phonetically similar
Allophones
! FREE VARIATION / PARALLEL DISTRIBUTION
! When the allophones occupy the same position ! They are interchangeable in the same position ! They are 2 optional or free variants of the same phoneme
! NEUTRALIZATION
! Loss of a phonological opposition in a given context ! Example: flapping in AmE
Phonotactics
! Statements of permissible strings of phonemes ! Combinations of sounds <st-> English & Spanish ! Sounds may be restricted as to their positions in syllables &
words
! Foreign language ! One can make a guess at what language a text is written ! Internalisation of the language - guessword
Phonotactics
! Number of consonants that can be grouped together
varies depending on the language:
! English 3 or 4 consonants together (glimpsed) ! Eng C0-3VC0-4 structure ! Japanese CV structure
Read Chapter 1
