English phonetics redouane boulguid ensa_safi_morocco

ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY I

A course prepared for students of Engineering & Conception of

Information Systems National School of Applied Sciences – Safi

School-Year 2014/15- By Redouane BOULGUID

Redouane Boulguid Safi_Morocco 229/01/15

General Context

[Theory-Practice]


English Phonetics & Phonology

The four core areas of Linguistics: The system or structure of a language

(langue or competence) can be described at four different levels, which form the core areas of Linguistics, sometimes called Microlinguistics:



( 1 ) Phonetics and phonology deal with pronunciation, or, more precisely, with speech sounds and the sound system.

(2) Morphology covers the structure of words. (3) Syntax explains sentence patterns. (Morphology and

syntax, often combined into morphosyntax, have traditionally been referred to as grammar.)

(4) Lexicology and semantics describe the vocabulary, or lexicon, and explore different aspects of meaning.



Other branches of Linguistics: Utilising the core areas are various other

branches of Linguistics, sometimes referred to as Macrolinguistics. Most of these are interdisciplinary fields because they overlap with other sciences.

The first four branches are concerned with language variation, and are therefore often subsumed under the label variational Linguistics:



(1) Dialectology is at the interface between Linguistics and geography. It is the study of regional variation within a language.

(2) Sociolinguistics connects linguistics with sociology. It is concerned with language variation according to age, sex, social class, etc.


English Phonetics & Phonology (3) Ethnolinguistics overlaps with

anthropology and investigates language variation and the part language plays in ethnic groups. These three branches study the way language is used in different speech communities. (They are therefore often referred to as Sociolinguistics).



The language variety [Varietät] spoken in a particular speech community is referred to as a lect. Thus we speak of dialects, sociolects, and ethnolects. The characteristic speech of an individual person is called an idiolect.



(4) Discourse analysis, text linguistics, and stylistics are related branches that also deal with language variation.

Unlike the first three branches, however, they do not look at the way language is used in different speech communities, but rather at the language characteristics of different text types, especially beyond the sentence level.



The language of these text types is communicated either through the medium of speech (e.g. personal conversations, broadcast discussions, lectures) or through the medium of writing (e.g. personal letters, newspaper articles, academic papers).



The next four branches of linguistics are not concerned with language variation:

(5) Contrastive linguistics describes the similarities and differences between two or more modern languages, especially in order to improve language teaching and translation.

(6) Psycholinguistics overlaps with psychology and explores mental aspects of language, such as language learning.



(7) Neurolinguistics overlaps with medical science and investigates the connection between language and the nervous system. It is especially interested in the neurological processes necessary to produce speech sounds and in language disorders [Sprachstörungen].



(8) Computational linguistics [Computerlinguistik] overlaps with artificial intelligence. Some of its concerns are machine translation, automatic speech recognition, and speech simulation.

… (Applied Linguistics – Theoretical Linguistics – Synchronous Linguistics – Historical/Diachronic Linguistics – Comparative Linguistics).



In Phonetics & Phonology it's important to know the Vocal Organs places; to be able to pronounce correctly.



Whereas syntax is about sentence formation, and semantics about sentence interpretation, phonetics and phonology cover the field of sentence utterance.

Phonetics is a descriptive tool necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a language.


Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are produced, transmitted and perceived.

Phonology is concerned with how sounds function in relation to each other in a language (System).

Phonetics is about sounds of language, phonology about sound systems of language.



What is ‘Phonetics’? The study and description of concrete

utterances and concrete, individual speech sounds.


Phonetics first of all divides, or segments, concrete utterances into individual speech sounds. It is therefore exclusively concerned with parole or performance. Phonetics can then be divided into three distinct phases:

(1) articulatory phonetics, (production of sounds),

(2) acoustic phonetics (transmission of sounds), and

(3) auditory phonetics (perception of sounds).



(1) Articulatory phonetics describes in detail how the speech organs, also called vocal organs or articulators [Sprechwerkzeuge], in the vocal tract [Mundraum] are used in order to produce, or articulate, speech sounds.



(2) Acoustic phonetics studies the physical properties of speech sounds, i.e. the way in which the air vibrates as sounds pass from speaker to listener. A spectrograph is a machine that measures the soundwaves [Schallwellen] and depicts them as images, called spectrograms or sonograms, showing the duration, frequency, intensity, and quality of the sounds.



(3) Auditory phonetics investigates the perception of speech sounds by the listener, i.e. how the sounds are transmitted from the ear to the brain, and how they are processed.

Let’s start by looking at the Speech Chain which may be diagrammed this way:



What is Phonology? The study and description of the sound

system of a language.



Phonology deals with the speakers' knowledge of the sound system of a language. It is therefore exclusively concerned with langue or competence. Phonology can be divided into two branches: (1) segmental phonology and (2) suprasegmental phonology.


Speaker’s Brain = Phonology.

Speaker’s Mouth = Articulatory Phonetics.

Transmission of sound via air = Accoustic Phonetics.

Listener’s Ear = Auditory Phonetics.

Listener’s Brain = Phonology.

THE SPEECH CHAIN


English Phonetics & Phonology Phonetic transcription If we want to write down speech sounds as

accurately as possible, we cannot depend on traditional spelling. We need a method that relates sounds to letters or symbols more systematically: Each sound must be represented consistently by the same symbol, and, conversely, there must be a separate symbol for each distinctive sound. Such a one-to-one correspondence between speech and writing is referred to as a phonographic relationship.



The symbols that we use to represent speech sounds in this manner are phonetic symbols. A whole set of them form a phonetic alphabet.



The term phonetic transcription refers to the process of writing down spoken language in phonetic symbols as well as to the resultant written text.

Phonetic transcription is a system in which one symbol is used to represent one sound.


When we talk about English spelling, each unit is called a letter. When we talk about phonetic transcription, each unit is called a symbol.

Phonetic transcription is written using slashes, like this: /……./ [I Want a vacation]


Why is phonetic transcription useful?

Phonetic transcription is useful because English spelling does a poor job of showing how words are pronounced.



The International Phonetic Alphabet: The most widely used phonetic alphabet, and

one that provides suitable symbols for the sounds of any language, is the International Phonetic Alphabet, or IPA. It was first published in 1889 by the International Phonetic Association in France, and has since then been revised and corrected in various ways, most recently in 1996.




Sounds can be divided into consonants & vowels. The former can be characterised according to 1) Place, 2) Manner of Articulation, and 3) Voice (Voiceless or Voiced).

For vowels, one uses a coordinate system called a Quadrangle with which actual vowel values are located.



Bilabial sounds are produced when the lips are brought together (both lips).

Examples are [p], which is voiceless, as in pay or [b] and [m] which are voiced, as in bay, may.

There is only one fortis bilabial in English, namely /p/ as in peach, whereas there are two lenis bilabials, /b/ as in banana and /ml as in mango.




Labiodental sounds are made when the lower lip is raised towards the upper front teeth. Examples are [f] safe (voiceless) and [v] save (voiced).

There is one fortis labiodental in English, /f/ as in film, and one lenis labiodental,/v/ as in video.



The bilabials and labiodentals form one larger group, the labials, because they all make use of the lips.



Dental (or Interdental) sounds are produced by touching the upper front teeth with the tip of the tongue. Examples are [ө] oath (voiceless) and [ð] clothe (voiced).

They are the fortis /ð/ as in thin and the lenis /ө/ as in this.

Redouane Boulguid Safi_Morocco 4529/01/15 [ө] [ð]



Alveolar sounds are made by raising the tip of the tongue towards the ridge that is right behind the upper front teeth, called the alveolar ridge. Examples are [ t,s ] too,sue, both voiceless, and [d,z,n,l,r ] do, zoo, look, took, all voiced.




Palatoalveolar sounds are made by raising the blade of the tongue towards the part of the palate just behind the alveolar ridge. Examples [∫,t ∫] pressure, batch (voiceless) and [z,dz] pleasure, badge (voiced).




Palatal sounds are very similar to palatoalveolar ones, they are just produced further back towards the velum. The only palatal sound in English is [ j] as in yes, yellow, beauty, new and it is voiced.

To be continued…


Education

English phonetics redouane boulguid ensa_safi_morocco