Define the term 'Phonetics'.
What are the different branches of
phonetics? Elaborate your answer with specific examples.
Abstract
Phonetic is an indispensable component that constitute in any linguistic
studies and speech technology. Without phonetics, any communication
that we make in a daily basis would be meaningless. To further make the
communication meaningful, phonetic is divided into three most
significant branches. This paper will make an attempt to define phonetic
by referring some of the prominent persona in the world of phonetic. It
will further make an analysis of the most three significant branches of
phonetic such as Articulatory phonetics, Acoustic phonetics and
Auditory phonetics with examples.
Key words: Phonetic, linguistic, Articulatory phonetics, Acoustic
phonetics, Auditory phonetics
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Phonetic is an indispensable component in any linguistic studies and
speech technology. Phonetics plays a very important role in improving
our day to day communications. Without integrating the Phonetics in the
linguistic, would mean to talk English to an illiterate person. Linguistic
in broad term is basically connected with language or
the study of language. According to (Nordquist, 2019) Phonetics is the
branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their
production, combination, description, and representation by
written symbols.
The most popular persona in the phonetic world (Roach, 2019) claims
that the important purpose of language students having to learn
phonetics is to let understand how English is pronounced in the accent
normally chosen as the standard for the people speaking the English. He
further asserts that phonetic reading is very important in the education of
English learning because it will help in learning how to spell words,
recognize sounds of the letter used in forming the words. Thus, it helps
in improving ones reading comprehension because it is impossible for
anybody to understand a word that is not properly pronounced.
Besides phonetics playing crucial role in speech sounds it also appears
that in all human languages it represents the meanings through its three
most significant branches. (Deepjot Kaur, Navjot Kaur, 2013) declares
of having three main branches of phonetics. They are Articulatory
phonetics, Acoustic phonetics and Auditory phonetics.
As per (Harrington, 2013), Articulatory phonetics tells us how speech
sounds are made by the organs. It identifies the sounds of human
language. Particular parts of the human body referred to as "organs of
speech," are used to articulate words. The organs of speech include
lungs, tongue, voice box, teeth and the lips. To further understand the
term, a pictorial representation has been attached as follows.
The second vital branch of phonetic is Acoustic phonetic. (Roach, 2019)
declares that acoustic phonetic would determine how speech waves are
transmitted between speakers. While articulatory phonetics focuses on
the speech organs, acoustic phonetics focuses on the sound properties of
human speech. These are the characteristics of sound waves which carry
speech sounds between ear and mouth.
Further (Nordquist, 2019) compares acoustic phonetic to an acoustic
guitar. Just like a guitar belonging to a musical instrument family that
creates vibration so is the acoustic phonetic belongs to a sound
producing (vibration) family. Like acoustic guitar projects the sounds of
its vibrating strings acoustically through the air acoustic phonetic the
acoustic phonetic works on frequency (pitch) and amplitude (‘loudness’
or intensity) of a sound which can be analyzed on a waveform.
Frequency can be calculated through the number of cycles on a periodic
waveform with a repeating pattern. The higher the number of cycles per
second, the higher the frequency and perceived pitch. Frequency is
usually expressed in Hertz (Hz).
The acoustic speech signal carries not only the linguistic
(Harrington, 2013)
structure of the utterance but also a wealth of information about the
speaker (physiology, reginal affiliation, attitude and emotional state).
Auditory phonetic study of the response to speech sounds through ear,
nerve, brain. Articulatory phonetics is mainly concerned with the
speaker, auditory phonetics deals with the listener. In another way it can
be called as the study of the way people perceive speech sounds, in other
words, it investigates the hearing process.
Picture courtesy: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc.
Hence, one could deduce from here that without phonetic in sound study
and speech technology would make any communication valueless.
Phonetic is a prime component in the field of linguistic. However, one
must bear in mind that phonetic alone cannot stand on its own. Thus its
significant branches such as Articulatory phonetics, Acoustic phonetics
and Auditory phonetics would also have to be equally important to be
understood with examples.
References
Deepjot Kaur, Navjot Kaur. (2013). A Review: An Efficient Review of
Phonetics . International Journal of Computer Science &
Engineering Technology (IJCSET).
Harrington, J. (2013). The Handbook of Phonetic Sciences. UK: John
Wily & Sons, Ltd, Publication.
Nordquist, R. (2019, July 03). ThoughtCo. Retrieved from ThoughtCo.:
https://www.thoughtco.com/phonetics-definition-1691622
Roach, P. (2019). English Phonetics and Phonology. New Delhi:
Cambridge University Press.
