Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology: Sounds and Speech Production

Posted on Sep 2, 2024 in English

Phonetics

Phonetics is an empirical science that studies human speech sounds. It explains how sounds are produced and provides methods for their classification. Based on the observation of facts, phonetics is not considered part of linguistics. Phonetics is divided into three branches:

Branches of Phonetics

  1. Articulatory Phonetics: Studies the nature and limits of the human ability to produce speech sounds and describes how these sounds are delivered.
  2. Acoustic Phonetics: Studies the physical properties of speech sounds during transmission from speaker to hearer.
  3. Auditory Phonetics: Concerned with hearing and the perception of speech.

Phonetics is used in various fields, including teaching diction, teaching the pronunciation of foreign languages, speech therapy, helping deaf-mutes identify and reproduce sounds, sound transmission, etc.

Phonology

Phonology is a branch of linguistics that studies the sound systems of languages. It applies linguistic criteria to the material provided by phonetics, focusing on scientific theory and studying the linguistic functions of sounds.

Linguistic Use of Sound

  • Phone: Any speech sound.
  • Phoneme: The minimal distinctive unit of phonology that serves to distinguish meaning. Example: English has two principal types of (l), labeled as clear and dark. The clear one occurs before vowels (e.g.,”lak”), while the dark (l) occurs after vowels (e.g.,”tall””chil”).
  • Allophones: Phoneme subtypes, representing a particular way of realizing a phoneme in a specific phonetic environment. Other examples of allophones include the (k) sounds in”coo” and”keep” the (p) sounds in”spo” and”pot” etc.

In English, certain consonants are aspirated before stressed vowels, like the (p) in”pot” However, if (s) precedes (p), as in”spot” no aspiration is heard. Words like”shi” and”chip” distinguished by one phoneme, are called minimal pairs. Near minimal pairs occur when minimal pairs cannot be found due to uncommon sounds.

Phonotactics

Phonotactics involves statements of permissible strings of phonemes. Two languages may share certain sounds, but these sounds might not combine in the same way. Example: Spanish and English have the consonant sound ‘theta’ (θ) as in”thin” but in Spanish, it cannot be followed by (r) as in English words like”thre” and”thread” Phonotactics deals not only with consonant combinations but also with the positions consonants and vowels may occupy within a syllable. Example: In English, ‘h’ is possible at the beginning of syllables (e.g.,”have””behin”) but not at the end.

The Organs of Speech

The human speech apparatus consists of three parts:

  1. The respiratory apparatus (lungs)
  2. The larynx
  3. The supraglottal cavities

Speech Production Process

  1. Initiation: Lungs (air-stream mechanism) – the source of air used in making sounds.
  2. Phonation: Larynx (glottis & vocal folds) – the behavior of the vocal folds during sound production.
  3. Oral-Nasal Phase: Resonators (pharynx, oral & nasal cavities) – the modification of airflow in the vocal tract.

The Lungs and Respiration

During breathing, the lungs expand and contract. They expand as we inhale, holding about 2-3 liters of air, and contract as we exhale.

Air-Stream Mechanism

The air-stream mechanism refers to the method by which airflow is created in the vocal tract. Sound generation requires air pressure, categorized as follows:

  1. Pulmonic Sounds: Air pressure generated by the lungs.
  2. Velaric Sounds: The back of the tongue is raised towards the velum, and the tip towards the front.
  3. Glottalic Sounds: The oral tract is closed at the glottis, compressing the air.

The Larynx

The larynx is the hard casing surrounding the vocal cords, protecting them from damage and playing a crucial role in speech production, eating, and breathing. The vocal cords are two bands of elastic tissue lying horizontally across the larynx. At the back, they connect to the arytenoid cartilages, which can move apart to open the cords into a triangular shape. The opening between the cords is called the glottis.

During normal breathing, the cords are wide apart, allowing air to pass through without vibration. In speech, the cords adopt three primary positions:

  1. Wide open and not vibrating: Produces voiceless sounds.
  2. Close together and vibrating: Produces voiced sounds.
  3. Tightly shut with air from the lungs pent up behind them: Produces a glottal stop.

When air flows unobstructed, we produce voiceless sounds like (p) and (f). If the cords are close enough for the airflow to cause vibration, we produce voiced sounds. When the vocal cords are tightly shut, and air builds up behind them, a glottal stop is produced upon their sudden opening.

The Supraglottal Cavities

The supraglottal cavities include the pharynx (area at the back of the mouth), the oral cavity (mouth), and the nasal cavity. These cavities act as resonators for the sound generated by the vocal cords. To illustrate consonant production, consider the English (t). To produce it, the tongue tip touches the alveolar ridge, momentarily obstructing airflow. When the contact is released, the characteristic explosion of the (t) is heard as air escapes.

The velum controls airflow to the nasal cavity. If raised and touching the pharynx’s back wall, air passes through the mouth, producing oral sounds. If lowered, allowing air into the nasal cavity, we produce nasal sounds. The term”nasa” is usually reserved for consonants like (m, n, η).

Velar closure occurs when the velum (soft palate) is raised to block the nasal cavity. The term also refers to raising the tongue’s back to the velum when producing consonants like (k, g, η).