Phonetics and other disciplines
Theoretical Phonetics
Course outline
· Introduction into theoretical phonetics
· Segmental phonetics
· The Phoneme
· Transcription
· Methods of Phonological Analysis
· The System of English Phonemes
· The system of consonants
· The system of vowels
· Modifications of sounds in connected speech
· Suprasegmental phonetics
· Syllable (syllabic structure of the English words)
· Stress
· Intonation (patterns and intonation notation)
· Rhythm
· Phonostylistics
· Phonetic styles and their peculiarities (informational, academic, conversational, etc.)
· Social and territorial varieties of English
· English-based pronunciation (British (English English, Welsh English), Irish, Australian and New Zealand, South African
· American-based pronunciation (American English, Canadian English)
Lecture 1
Introduction into phonetics
Terms:
phonetician [ˌfəʊnɪˈtɪʃən] - фонетист
phoneme [ˈfəʊniːm] - фонема
rhythm [ˈrɪðəm] - ритм
bronchi [ˈbrɒŋkaɪ] - бронхи
trachea [trəˈkiːə] – дыхательное горло
larynx [ˈlærɪŋks] - гортань
glottis [ˈglɒtɪs] – голосовая щель
vocal cords [ˈvəʊkəl kɔːdz] – голосовые связки
pharynx [ˈfærɪŋks] - глотка
nasal cavity [ˈneɪzəl ˈkævɪtɪ] – носовая полость
alveolar ridge [ælˈvɪələ rɪʤ] – альвеолярный бугор
velum [ˈviːləm] – мягкое небо
palate [ˈpælɪt] - небо
articulatory ph. [ɑːˈtɪkjʊlətəri] – артикуляционная фонетика
auditory ph. [ˈɔːdɪtəri] – фонетика восприятия
suprasegmental [su:prəsəgˈmentl] – суперсегментный
prosody ['prɔsədi] - просодия
informant [ɪnˈfɔːmənt] - информант
kinesics [kaɪ'ni:sɪks] - кинесика
inherent [ɪnˈhɪərənt] – внутренне присущий
Subject matter of phonetics (What does phonetics study, what is it for?)
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Speech organs
Branches of phonetics
Methods of phonetic research
Phonetics and other disciplines
Practical application of phonetics
Subject matter of phonetics (What does phonetics study, what is it for?)
Phonetics studies noises made by human beings as a way to express their thoughts, the nature of these noises, how they combine, and, as a whole, the sound system of the language: phonemes, stress, syllables, rhythm, and intonation. It is mainly about the expression level, but content level is constantly present somewhere (for example, when we distinguish between words, like in cold eyes and cold ice, or when we pronounce Oh, great! with a high-fall or a low-fall). So it is connected with lexicology, as sounds distinguish meanings, and with grammar, as phonetics can change the meaning of a sentence.
Why is theoretical phonetics needed? – For explanation, for systematization, and for research & development (i.e. moving forward).
Speech organs
There are three stages of speech production:
· Psychological
At this stage, a message in formed in the brain and transmitted via the nervous system to speech organs.
· Physiological (articulatory)
Here the speech organs are at work. There are the following substages.
Initiation
Lungs expel air, through bronchi and the wind-pipe (trachea) it is passed to the larynx with the vocal cords (the opening between them is called glottis).
Phonation
The vocal cords vibrate, producing voice. The height of the voice is the frequency of vibrations, how fast they vibrate (women speak in higher voices because their vocal cords vibrate more frequently). The loudness of the voice is the amplitude of vibrations.
Articulation
From the larynx the air is passed into the pharynx, the mouth and the nasal cavities. There the sound is given its final shape by the articulating the following organs:
The tongue
The lips
The teeth
The lower jaw
The alveolar ridge
Hard palate
Soft palate (velum)
Uvula
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| Mechanisms | |||
| power | vibrator | resonator | obstructor |
| diaphragm lungs bronchi windpipe or trachea glottis larynx oral and nasal cavities | pharynx mouth cavity nasal cavity | vocal cords | tongue lips teeth soft palate with the uvula hard palate alveolar ridge |
· Physical (Acoustic)
The movement of the speech organs produces sound waves. (They are received by ear-drums, and the reverse process takes place – the impulse goes via the nervous system to the brain where they are decoded into thoughts).
Branches of phonetics
According to the above stages, there are 3 branches of phonetics:
Articulatory phonetics – studies how the sounds are produced by the organs of speech.
Acoustic phonetics – studies sound waves.
Auditory phonetics – studies the perception of sounds by ear, how we discriminate sounds, pitch, etc.
Functional phonetics (phonology) – does not study the physical (biological) aspects of speech, as the previous three branches do, but tries to present the whole sound system based on oppositions between its sounds (the term phoneme is more appropriate).
General phonetics – discovers phonetic laws, regardless of a particular language, though based on the data provided by special phonetics.
Special phonetics – studies the phonetic system of a particular language, using the laws found by general phonetics. Special phonetics is further subdivided into:
Descriptive phonetics – studies the phonetic structure of the language synchronically (at one time, e.g. now).
Historical phonetics - studies the phonetic structure of the language diachronically, what happens to the phonetic system as time moves on (for example, from how Middle English developed compared to Old English; part of the history of the language).
Segmental phonetics – studies individual sounds
Suprasegmental phonetics (prosody) – studies larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, sentences, and, hence, intonation, stress, rhythm, tempo, timbre, etc.
Methods of phonetic research
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There two main methods of phonetic research:
Direct observation
Instrumental methods
Direct observation
The phonetician observes and analyses his own or the informant’s speech, like teachers who listen to how their students pronounce sounds. A good phonetician can associate the quality of a sound with articulation used to make it (e.g. determine what is wrong in students’ articulation). It may take some time learn such skills, or, in certain cases a gift is required. Direct observation may be quite subjective.
Instrumental methods
Technical devices are used.
In articulatory phonetics:
A mirror
X-ray photography
Cinematography
Laringoscope
MRI (МРТ)
In acoustic phonetics:
Microphone –converts air stream into electric signals
Oscilloscope - graphically displays varying signal voltages
Spectrograph – displays sound properties as different colours
Intonograph – displays the curve of the tone
There are virtual (digital) versions of these devices. Computer technologies are used for storing the vast amounts of sound data and processing it.
Phonetics and other disciplines
Phonetics is closely connected with linguistic and some non-linguistic disciplines.
In grammar, phonetic knowledge is necessary to:
- pronounce grammatical forms correctly (e.g. “-es” ending after sibilants “miss”- “misses”, or voiceless “t” in “stopped” and voices in “robbed”),
- emphasize meaningful parts of the sentence (nouns, verbs, adjectives – strong forms) , while de-emphasizing less meaningful ones (articles, prepositions, pronouns, auxiliaries – weak forms): “I think I’ll give him some time”.
- use appropriate intonation in different types of sentences, like rising in general questions and falling in special,
- distinguishing parts of speech in cases, where stress shift occurs (permit (v.)-permit (n.), increase (v.)- increase).
In lexicology, phonetic knowledge is necessary for:
- word-building, for example, when adding a suffix changes the stress and pronunciation of words (icon-iconic, nature-natural, insane-insanity);
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- pronunciation of borrowed words: bronchi, venom, cello
- distinguishing between homographs: sow (verb) /soʊ/ – to plant seed sow (noun) /saʊ/ – female pig, lead /lɛd/ /liːd/, wind /wɪnd/ /waɪnd/ , minute /ˈmɪnɪt/ /maɪˈnjuːt/
Another phonetic-related science is kinesics – the study of non-verbal means of communication. It is believed that 7% of communication is conveyed by words, 38% by sounds and intonation and 55% - by non-verbal means. They are: facial expression, gestures and postures.
The non-linguistic phonetics-related disciplines are primarily physiology, anatomy and acoustics, as well as analytical disciplines: mathematics, statistics, and computer science.
There is also a number of so-called interdisciplinary subjects, where phonetics is involved. Sociophonetics studies how pronunciation changes in different social situations, e.g. when we are talking to equals, superiors (bosses) or subordinates (employees), when we are on the job or at home, when we are young or old, male or female, etc. Phonosemantics studies sounds (not words) as having inherent meanings. E.g. /l/ can be described as positive (“soft” and “soothing”), /d/ as positive (“precise”), while fricative as negative. Phonostylistics studies how pronunciation is influenced by different styles of speech (e.g. academic vs conversational (dropped sounds etc.)).
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