Phonetics and Phonology: A Comprehensive Study

Posted on Apr 6, 2025 in Early Childhood Education

Phonetics and Phonology

What are Phonetics and Phonology?

Phonetics is the study of human speech sounds. It focuses on the physiological production of sounds, their acoustic properties, and how they are perceived.

Phonology studies the sound features a language uses to communicate meaning. It’s an abstract science dealing with a language’s sound system and organization. The basic unit is the phoneme.

Phoneme vs. Sound

Two sounds can be distinct phonemes in one language but not in another. Some Asian languages don’t differentiate between /r/ and /l/ because they’re not separate phonemes.

Speech Production

Air leaves the lungs through the trachea, passing through the larynx (containing the vocal folds). The Adam’s apple marks the vocal folds’ location. When the velum lowers, the nasal cavity activates, producing nasal sounds.

Place of Articulation

  • Bilabial: Both lips (/p/, /b/)
  • Labiodental: Lower lip and upper teeth (/f/, /v/)
  • Alveolar: Tongue tip and alveolar ridge (/t/, /d/, /n/, /l/)
  • Post-alveolar: Tongue tip and hard palate front (/r/)
  • Palato-alveolar: Tongue tip and gums (/ʃ/, /ʒ/)
  • Palatal: Tongue under palate (/j/)
  • Velar: Tongue and velum (/ŋ/, /k/, /g/)
  • Glottal: Vocal folds (/h/)
  • Dental: Tongue tip and teeth (/θ/, /ð/)
  • Labial-velar: Lips, tongue, and velum (/w/)

Manner of Articulation

  • Plosive: Full obstruction, then release (/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/)
  • Affricate: Plosive beginning, fricative ending (/tʃ/, /dʒ/)
  • Fricative: Air through narrow passage (hissing) (/ʒ/, /ʃ/, /z/, /s/, /v/, /f/, /θ/, /ð/, /h/)
  • Nasal: Air through nose (/n/, /m/, /ŋ/)
  • Lateral Approximant: Closure at palate, air escapes at sides (/l/)
  • Approximant: Minimal contact (/j/, /w/, /r/)

Vowels

Short Vowels

  • /ɪ/: Close-mid, front, spread lips (pin)
  • /e/: Open-mid, front, lightly spread lips (bed)
  • /æ/: Open, front, lightly spread lips (bad)
  • /ʌ/: Open-mid, central, neutral lips (fun)
  • /ɒ/: Open, back, slightly rounded lips (lot)
  • /ʊ/: Close-mid, back, slightly rounded lips (book)

Long Vowels

  • /iː/: Close, front, spread lips (meat)
  • /uː/: Back, rounded lips (food)
  • /ɜː/: Mid-central, neutral lips (learn)
  • /ɑː/: Open, back, neutral lips (heart)
  • /ɔː/: Open-mid, back, rounded lips (short)

Schwa

/ə/: Most frequent vowel, unstressed syllables.

Other Features

Assimilation

Last sound of one word influences the first sound of the next (e.g., /t/ or /d/ + /j/).

Elision

Sound omission in fast speech.

Linking R

In British English (BrE), /r/ is pronounced before vowels (non-rhotic). In American English (AmE), /r/ is always pronounced (rhotic).