LECTURE 1

An Introduction to Phonetics
1. Phonetics and Phonology ( ng m hc v m v hc )
2. Articulatory phonetics: speech organ/articulators (b my pht m)
3. Ways how speech sound are produced: oral, nasal, voiced, voiceless, consonants and
vowels. (ming, mi, ku, khng ku, ph m v nguyn m )
I. PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
1. Definition of phonetics
Phonetics: is the linguistic science that studies speech sounds: the way in
which they are produced (uttered, articulated ), the way in which they are
perceived, their physical characteristics, etc. In other words, it is the study of
sounds and production of speech.
2. Areas of phonetics
There are three main areas of phonetics.
a. Articulatory phonetics: is the study of how speech sounds are produced
using the articulators- the parts of the body involved in producing speech
sounds.
b. Acoustic phonetics, which is also considered a branch of physics, involved
the study of the speech signals (the sound waves produced when aspeaker
speaks). In other words, it deals with the transmission of speech sounds
through the air.
c. Auditory phonetics, which is also considered a branch of physiology, is the
study of how speech signal is sensed in the auditory canal and interpreted
by the relevant parts of the brain. In other words, it deals with how speech
sounds are perceived by the listener.
3. Phonology:
Is the study or description of the distinctive sound units (phonemes) of a
language and their relations to one another. It involves studying a language
to determine its distinctive sounds and to establish a set of rules that
describe the set of changes that take place in these sounds when they occur
in different relationships with other sounds. The subject of phonology
includes the following areas:
a. Study of the phonemic system
b. Phoneme sequences and syllable structure
c. Suprasegmental phonology ( stress, intonation)
SUBJECT THEMES and CONTENT
Phonemes and sound production
Allophones (rules for allophones)
English syllables
Supra-segmental features
Connected speech: common aspects.
SOME BASIC TERMS
Articulators
Segmental and supra-segmental
Sounds: production
- Consonants
- Vowels
Phoneme and allophone
Syllable.
II. Articulatory phonetics- articulators
- What are the different parts of the body do you use in producing sounds
in speaking?
- What do you do to produce the sound, for example, /k/?
The VOCAL TRACT