Theoretical phonetics of the english language

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Theoretical Phonetics of the English language

PHONETICS
AS A SCIENTIFIC DISCIPLINE
TOPIC 1

PHONETICS AS A BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS, ITS SUBJECT AND CONSTITUENTS OF THE SOUND STRUCTURE OF THE LANGUAGE.
BRANCHES OF PHONETICS.
CONNECTIONS WITH OTHER SCIENCES.
OUTLINE

What this course covers
Do you know?
What are blends, overlapping?
What is external / internal open juncture?
How to make the difference between my turn / might earn?
How to divide the word into syllables?
Extra? [e-kstrə] [ek-strə] [ekst-rə] [ekstr-ə]
[eks-trə]???
What’s the difference between broad and narrow transcription?
What the difference between the stress and accent? between the accent/ dialect/idiolect?

The subject of Phonetics
“Phonetics is the systematic study of the sounds of speech, which is physical and directly observable.
Phonetics is sometimes seen as not properly linguistic, because it is the outward, physical manifestation of the main object of linguistic research, which is language (not speech): and language is abstract” (Richard Ogden, 2009).

The subject of Phonetics
(Borisova, 1980)
Phonetics is a branch of linguistics which studies sounds in the broad sense, comprising segmental sounds and prosodic phenomena (pitch, stress, tempo, rhythm and pauses).
Phonetics occupies itself with the study of the ways in which the sounds are organized in the system of units and variations of these units in all styles of spoken language.
It also studies the acoustic properties of sound production and the sound phenomena that reveal the individual peculiarities of the speaker.

The subject of Phonetics
… phonetics is the science that “studies the sound system of the language, that is segmental phonemes, word stress, syllabic structure and intonation” (Sokolova & others, 2004 : 6).

The subject of Phonetics
Phonetics is more than descriptive; it is an experimental science that has theories and models that make testable predictions about the form of speech in different communicative situations. It legitimately addresses questions about how and why speech takes the forms it does (PLIN2108/PLING216 Intermediate Phonetics & Phonology).

Phonetics as a science
I.A. Baudouin de Courtenay – the first who found the branch of Phonetics as separate branch of linguistics;
Phonetics is more than 2000 years old;
Nowadays Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the whole sound system of language: sounds, phonemes, allophones, the phonetic phenomena; the syllabic structure, the distribution of stress and intonation;

Phonetic system of language
The system of segmental phonemes
the system of phonemes as discrete isolated units;
the distribution of the allophones of the phonemes;
the methods of joining speech sounds together in words and at their junctions, or the methods of effecting VC, CV, CC, and VV transitions;
The syllabic structure of words
syllable formation;
syllable division;

Phonetic system of language
The accentual structure of words
the physical nature of word stress;
the position of accent in words;
the degrees of word stress;
The intonational structure of utterances

segmental level
suprasegmental level
PHONETICS deals with

REASONS FOR DEVELOPING PHONETICS AS A SCIENCE
It is just interesting to investigate the sounds because the sound is the very beginning of oral speech in any language.
to teach and learn how to speak a foreign language
to form native speakers’ phonological awareness
to cope with individual problems of pronunciation in the native language
to create sound analyzing and sound synthesizing devices
to identify individuals by voices in criminology

Speech chain
(image by W. Murphey and A. Yeung).

BRANCHES OF PHONETICS
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
AUDITORY PHONETICS
FUNCTIONAL PHONETICS (PHONOLOGY)

DOMAINS IN WHICH PHONETICS INVESTIGATES SPEECH SOUNDS
ARTICULATION OF SOUNDS

ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
description of how individual sounds are made
description of how sounds interact in speech
classification of sounds on articulatory basis

Methods in articulatory phonetics
Palatography - helps to determine the interaction of tongue and palate in production of speech sounds;
Laryngoscopy – examining the interior of the larynx
Photography - helps to trace the position and movement of speech organs;
Cinematography
X-ray photography
X-ray cinematography
Electromyography – the graphical recording of the electrical activity of contracting muscles;
The method of direct observation

DOMAINS IN WHICH PHONETICS INVESTIGATES SPEECH SOUNDS
SOUND WAVES

ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
the form in which sounds exist between mouth and ear
physical properties of sounds
acoustic categorization of sounds

Methods of acoustic phonetics
Spectrograph – a device that records the frequencies of a given sound and its relative amplitudes in the form of spectrograms;
Oscilograph – for indicating and recording alternating sound vibrations of any frequencies (sound waves) and their changing in time
Intonograph – measures the fundamental tones of the vocal cords, the average sound pressure, the duration of speech;
Kymograph – (used until 1960s) graphically recorded motion or pressure of speech sounds and their qualitative variations in the form of tracing on smoked paper;

DOMAINS IN WHICH PHONETICS INVESTIGATES SPEECH SOUNDS
PERCEPTION OF SOUNDS

AUDITORY PHONETICS
mechanisms of sound perception
mechanisms of sound interpretation
connection between articulation and hearing

Methods of investigating in Phonetics
Objective / instrumental methods – applied in experimental phonetics based on facts obtained with the help of different laboratory equipment or devices and instruments;
Subjective / perceptive methods – applied in articulatory phonetics which are influenced by personal opinion; The methods of direct observation comprise three modes of phonetic analyses: by ear (auditory), by sight (visual) and by muscular sensation.

DOMAINS IN WHICH PHONETICS INVESTIGATES SPEECH SOUNDS
FUNCTIONS OF SOUNDS IN A LANGUAGE

FUNCTIONAL PHONETICS (PHONOLOGY)
establishment of the sound system of a language
selection of the sounds which perform the discriminatory function in a language
identification of irrelevant characteristics of sounds

Branches of Phonetics
General phonetics (общая фонетика) – analyses, describes and compares phonetic phenomena as common to all languages;
Synchronic / descriptive phonetics
( синхронная, описательная) – investigates phonetic units at a single stage in language development to discover the sound patterns that can occur;
Diachronic / historical phonetics ( диахроническая / историческая) – examines and constructs theories about the changes and modifications in speech sounds over a period of time;

Branches of Phonetics
Experimental phonetics – studies the material level, i.e. how the message formed in the speaker’s mind is further transmitted along the nervous system to the speech organs; how it is articulated by the speaker, and perceived by the listener;

The place of Phonetics in Linguistic disciplines
The sub-disciplines of Linguistics
Syntax Semantics Pragmatics Morphology
Sociolinguistics Phonology Phonetics

Connection with other sciences
Connection with grammar
Morphology
1) the differences in pronunciation of morpheme -ed after voiced and voiceless consonants in past forms of verbs:
beg – begged, clog – clogged stop – stopped; knock – knocked
2) the differences in pronunciation of root consonants observed in singular and plural forms of nouns:
leaf – leaves, house – houses, bath – baths
3) the vowel interchanges helping to distinguish the singular and plural forms of nouns and the tense forms of irregular verbs:
nouns verbs
basis – bases [si:z]
crisis – crises [si:z]
thesis – theses [si:z]

Connection with syntax
Different communicative types of sentences are pronounced differently:
He 'went to his \office – a statement of fact.
He 'went to his /office – a question.
↓He went to his \/office – an implication (surprise, correction).

Connection with syntax
The sense of sentence depends upon the intonation of it:
I have plans to ˋleave (a speaker is going to leave).
I have ˋplans to leave (a speaker must leave his plans not cards).

Connection with syntax
Prosodic means are responsible for dividing the sentence into syntagms:
Those who sold ˇquickly| made a ˎprofit (Прибыл была получена теми, кто быстро продавал).
Those who ˇsold| quickly made a ˎprofit (Прибыль была быстро получена теми, кто продавал).

Connection with lexicology
nouns – verbs adjectives – verbs homographs
an 'accent – to ac'cent 'separate – to sepa'rate row [rau] – row [rəu]
a 'desert – to de'sert 'predicate – to predi'cate lead [li:d] – lead [led]
an 'object – to ob'ject graduate – to graduate wind [wInd] – wind [waInd].
A 'moving-͵van – фургон для перевозки мебели
A 'moving 'van – любой фургон

Connection with stylistics
speed of delivery helps to differentiate formal and informal styles;
intonation helps to distinguish various types of utterances;
He 'went to his \office – a statement of fact.
He 'went to his /office – a question.
↓He went to his \/office – an implication (surprise, correction).
Parallelism – the repetition of sounds: rhyme, alliteration and assonance;

Connection with dialectology
Study the peculiarities of intonation of people with different dialects and regional pronunciation;

Connection with other non-linguistic sciences
Connection with sociolinguistics – new branch of phonetics – sociophonetics – study of the pronunciation of people of different age, profession and national identity;
Connection with anatomy and physiology – study of organs of speech;
Connection with acoustics – study of the physical properties of sound;
Connection with psychology – study what happens in brains at the moment of speaking;

Phonostylistics
A branch of linguistic stylistics which studies the functioning of various phonetic means in a particular speech situation influenced by a number of extralinguistic factors;

Physiology
Deals with the functions and activities of an organism or any of its parts.

Psycholinguistics
Studies the mental activities involved in the perception, production and acquisition of language, combining linguistics and psychology;

Studies the way phonetics, lexical and grammatical aspects of language function in society;
Sociolinguistics

Studies the interaction between pronunciation and the social, natural and regional groups of society;
Sociophonetics

The study of the devices in a language that produce expressive level;
Stylistics

BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Леонтьева С.Ф. Теоретическая фонетика современного английского языка: Учеб. для студентов педагогических вузов и университетов. – 3-е изд., испр. и доп. – М.: Издательство „Менеджер”, 2002. – 336с.
2. Теоретическая фонетика английского языка / М.А. Соколова, И.С. Тихонова, Р.М.Тихонова, Е.Л.Фрейдина. – Дубна: ФЕНИКС+, 2010. – 192с.
3. Gimson A.C., Crutenden A. An Introduction to the Pronunciation of English, 1994. – 304p.
4. Jones D. The Pronunciation of English. – Cambridge: the Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge, 1909. -223p.
5. O’Connor J.D. Phonetics. – London: Penguin Books, 1973. – 320p.