Phonetics as a Branch of Linguistics

 

Phonetics began long before there were either grammar or linguistics. Ancient objects, drawings and written documents show that voice and speech always fascinated men. Written documents and evidences form the ancient civilizations point to an awareness of speech, its origin a long time ago.

Here are some data connected with the history of phonetic development:

1829 laryngoscope was invented;

1852 first observations of the vocal cords were made;

1886 International Phonetic Association (IPA) was founded.

IPA started publications of a special phonetic magazine “Le Maitre Phonetique”. It stated phonetic symbols for sounds of many existing languages. For the sounds of the Eng. Language IPA suggested the following broad and narrow transcription symbols:

We are using mainly the broad one:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

i: i e æ a: É É: u u: Λ ∂: ∂ eı ou aı au

17 18 19 20 21

∂ı ı∂ ε∂ É ∂ u∂

In the narrow variant see the following differenses.

ε instead of e o v instead of ou

p instead of É a v instead of au

з instead of ∂

Phonetics is an independent branch of linguistic like lexicology, grammar and stylistics. It studies not only separate sounds but their functions as well. It also studies the relation between written and spoken language. Phonetics is connected with other, nonlinguistic sciences: acoustics, physiology, psychology, etc.

Phonetics is an essential part of language because it gives language a definite form – the vocabulary and grammar of a language can function only when the language has phonetic form. Here, grammar and vocabulary depend on phonetics; they cannot exist outside of phonetics, because all lexical and grammatical phenomena are expressed phonetically. Thus, although phonetics serves as a means of expressing grammar and lexical phenomena, yet it has laws of its own which are independent of grammar and vocabulary. The connection of phonetics with grammar, lexicology and stylistics is exercised first of all via orthography which in its turn is very closely connected with phonetics.

Phonetics formulates the rules of pronunciation of separate sounds and sound combinations. The rules of reading are based on the relation of sounds to or thography and present certain difficulties in learning the English language. The letter a can be pronounced as [æ] – can, [a:] – car, [ε∂ ] care etc.

Through the system of rules of reading phonetics is commented with grammar and helps to pronounce correctly singular and plural forms of nouns, the past tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs: eg. [d] after voiced consonants (begged), t – after voiceless consonants (wished) [ıd] – after t (wanted). It is only if we know that s is pronounced after voiceless consonants, I after voiced and Iz after sibilants, that we can pronounce the words books, bags, boxes correctly.

One of the most important phonetic phenomena – sound interchange – is another manifestation of the connection of phonetics with grammar. For instance, this connection can be observed in the category of number. Thus, the interchange of f – v, s – z, θ - ∂ helps to differentiate singular and plural forms of such nouns as calf – calves, bath – baths, house – houses. Besides, vowel interchange is connected with the tense forms of irregular verbs: sing – sang – sung, write – wrote – written.

Phonetics is also connected with grammar through its intonation component. In affirmative sentences the rising nuclear tone may serve to show that it is an interrogation.

 

He ‘came home

 

He ‘came home

 

Phonetics is also connected with lexicology. It is only due to the presence of stress or accent in the right place, that we can distinguish certain nouns from verbs e.g.

‘abstract – to abstract

object – to object

‘transfer - to transfer

Homographs can be differentiated only due to pronunciation, because they are identical in spelling, e.g.

 

bow [bou] лук - bow [bau] поклон

lead [li:d] руковд. - lead [led] свинец

row [rou] ряд - row [rau] ссора

tear [tε∂] разрыв - tear [tı∂] слеза

wind [wind] ветер - wind [waınd] виток

 

Phonetics is also corrected with stylistics first of all through intonation and its components: speech melody, word stress, rhythm, pausation and voice tamber which serve to express emotions, to distinguish between different attitudes on the part of the author and speaker. Very often the writer helps the reader to interpret his ideas through special words and remarks such as: a pause, angrily, hopefully, gently etc.

Phonetics is also connected with stylistics trough repetition of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of this kind serves the bases of rhythm, rhyme, alliteration.

Regular recurrence of accented elements, or rhythm, may be used as a special device not only in poetry, but in prose as well.

For example, in the extract, given below, the repetition of the word man helps Ch. Dickens to describe his character’s “mental introduction”. Rhythm is achieved through the repetition of parallel constructions, beginning with man.

Onomatopoeia, a combination of sounds which imitate sounds produced in nature, is one more stylistic device which can serve as an example of the connection between phonetics and stylistics.

E.g. tincle, jungle, clink, ting, chink;

crash, cland, bang;

chirp, cheep, twitter, chirrup

 

Branches of Phonetics

 

Speech sounds have the following aspects, which are studied by separate branches of phonetics:

1) physiological or articulatory (biological);

2) acoustic and auditory;

3) phonological or functional (linguistic, social)

They can’t be separated from one another in the process of communication. But each of the 4 are singled out for purposes of linguists analysis. Being singled out it becomes a separate object of investigation.

1) Physiological or articulatory phonetics studies speech sounds from the point of view of their articulation and in connection with the organs of speech by which they are produced. Its oldest and most available method of investigation is the method of direct observation (visual o b s. auditory ob.).

2) Acoustic and auditory aspect. Sounds can be analysed from the acoustic point of view. Being acoustic phenomena, they share their properties with other acoustic phenomena. Thus, Lila any other sounds, speech sounds are communicated to the air in the form or sound wares. Speech sounds have pitch, intensity, tamber. Speech sounds can be investigated by the same methods as any other sounds and are subject to the same acoustic laws.

Auditory aspect. Vocal cords set in vibration by the energy of the air stream coming under pressure from the lungs produce vowels, sonorants and partly voiced noise consonants.

The vocal cords vibrate not only over their whole length but also in all their parts.

The frequency of the vibration of the vocal cords over their whole length is called the fundamental frequency. These vibrations are regular or periodic and produce musical tone or pieta. Changes in fundamental frequency produce intonation.

Vibrations of parts of vocal cords produce the so-called overtones, or harmonics. They play the main role in the formation of vowels and sonorants.

The vocal cords are not the only source of vibration in the production of speech sounds. Disturbances of very high frequencies can be set up in the air by the friction of the tightening air particles, passing through a constriction in the respiratory tract above the larynx, as in the production of fricative consonants f, θ, s,

There is another source of high-frequency air disturbance which is in fact a speech sound. It is a sudden burst of air behind a complete closure of the respiratory tract in the larynx or above it when this closure is quickly removed e.g. the production of plosives __p, t, k.

Individual bands of energy, which are characteristic of a particular sound are know as the sound’s formants. Five components of sound matter of speech sounds are the basic component of the sound matter of language. Every sound as a physical phenomenon has its spectrum, made up by formants. As a result we can speak about spectral or formant component of the sound matter of language.

Fundamental frequency, or pitch forms intonation and it forms the pitch component of the sound matter of language.

Another component of sound matter of language is voice-tamber component (only in voiced sounds). It helps to express all sorts of emotions in speech.

Other components of sound matter of language are intensity, or force component time or temporal component and which manifest themselves through and duration or length of speech sounds. The branch of phonetics with is concerned with the study of the acoustic aspect of speech sounds, or of the 5 components of the sound matter of language in particular, is called acoustic phonetics or phono-acoustics.

3) the branch of phonetics concerned with the study of the linguistic aspect of speech sounds was founded by an outstanding Polish-Russian linguist, Professor Ivan Alexandrovitch Bandowin de Courtenay (1845-1929).

This branch of phonetics is also called functional because of the role speech sounds play in the functioning of language as a medium of Luman intercommunication and social because of its communicative function.

It is also called phonology or phonemics because it is concerned with all the components of the sound matter of Language.

All components of the sound matter of language perform the following functions.

1. – constitutive

2. – distinctive

3. – recognitive

1. Speech sounds constitute the material form of morphemes, words and sentences, thus having a constitutive function.

2. Morphemes, words and sentences constituting a language differ from one another.

3. A native speaker normally recognizes different allophones in different positions and consequently, understands speech e.g. the allophone of the English phoneme t used in the word two is an alveolar aspirated voiceless plosive consonant; the allophone of the same t – consonant in word (eighth 8^th) is dental in aspirated. The native speaker would never mix them up and he will always hear if they are mixed up.