Subject matter of phonetics

Components of the Phonetic System of English
Speech sounds
The syllabic structure of words
Word stress
Intonation (prosody)

Components of Phonetics
Segmental phonetics
Deals with individual
speech sounds
(“segments” of speech)
Suprasegmental phonetics
Is concerned with larger units of connected speech:
syllables
words
phrases
texts

Phonemes - Allophones
Phonemes
Serve to distinguish words and morphemes
Don’t depend on the phonetic environment
Allophones
Variants of one and the same phoneme.
Depend on the position of the sounds within the word

Phonemes
bit /b/ - pit /p/
set /e/ - sat /æ/
lid /ɪ/ - lead /i:/

Allophones
light - fell
[l] in light is more palatalized
than [l] in fell
bit – bid
[ɪ] in bit is shorter than [ɪ] in bid

Transcription symbols
// - slant brackets
[] – square brackets
[ˌ] – syllabic consonants
[ɪɡˌzæmɪˈneɪʃən] –
secondary and primary stress

Phonological mistakes
(wrong position of the nuclear tone)
Isn’t she unˏwell?
(general question)
Isn’t she un ̀well!
(exclamation)

Phonological mistakes
(wrong position of the nuclear tone)
It’s ̀Tom’s fault.
It’s →Tom’s ̀fault.

Stages of speech production
psychological
↓
physiological
↓
physical (acoustic)
↓
reception
↓
transmission
↓
linguistic interpretation

Stages in the passing of a spoken message
sound waves

Mechanisms of Speech Production
The power mechanism
2. The vibrator mechanism
3. The resonator mechanism
4. The obstructor mechanism

The Power Mechanism
the diaphragm
the lungs
the bronchi
the windpipe (trachea)
the glottis
the larynx
the mouth cavity
the nasal cavity

The Vibrator Mechanism
(the Voice Producing Mechanism)
The vocal cords

The Resonator Mechanism
the pharynx
the larynx
the mouth cavity
the nasal cavity

The Obstructor Mechanism
The tongue
(blade with the tip, front, back or dorsum, rims – the edges of the tongue)
The lips
The teeth
The soft palate with the uvula
The hard palate
The alveolar ridge

Branches of Phonetics
Articulatory (physiological) phonetics
Auditory (perceptive) phonetics
Acoustic phonetics
Phonology or functional (linguistic) phonetics

Articulatory Phonetics
(Physiological)
studies the way in which the air is set in motion, the movements of speech organs and the coordination of these movements in the production of single sounds and trains of sounds

Auditory (Perceptive) Phonetics
investigates the hearing process

Acoustic phonetics
studies the way in which the air vibrates between the speaker's mouth and the listener's ear

Phonology
(Functional or Linguistic Phonetics)
studies the linguistic function of consonant and vowel sounds, syllabic structure, word accent and prosodic features, such as pitch, stress and tempo

Phonetics↔Grammar
Sound Interchange
Interchange of [f-v], [s-z], [θ-ð]
(plural and singular form)
calf – calves, house – houses
Tense forms of irregular verbs
write – wrote - written

Phonetics↔Grammar
Vowel Interchange
Nouns and verbs bath – bathe
Adjectives and nouns hot – heat
Verbs and adjectives moderate – moderate
Nouns and nouns shade – shadow
Nouns and adjectives type – typical

Phonetics↔Grammar
Intonation Component
He came out.
He came home.
He came home.

Phonetics↔Lexicology
ˈabstract – to abˈstract
ˈobject – to obˈject
ˈtransfer – to transˈfer
Homographs
Homonymous words and word groups