Lecture 1.

Phonetics as a Science
- The object of Phonetics
- The Branches of Phonetics
- Interdisciplinary Subjects Connected with Phonetics
- The Connection of Phonetics with Other Branches of Linguistics
- Theoretical and Practical Importance of Phonetics

The origin of the term – The term “phonetics” is of Greek origin. It comes from the word…, phone,
meaning “sound, voice”.

Definition- Phonetics may be defined as an independent branch of linguistics which studies the
soundmatter of the language, its semantic functions and the lines of development.

The factors that stimulated the development of phonetics:

- A more thorough acquaintance with the functioning of the human speaking apparatus,
- Investigation of numerous scientists who studied languages which had no alphabets,
- Compiling alphabets for such languages.

Language as the only medium of thought and the most adequate means of human communication can
only exist in the material form of speech sounds.

Sounds can be abstracted from concrete words.

The sound part representing a form of the existence of language is to a certain extent separated from its
content and makes up the subject matter of phonetics.

Phonetics studies the sound system of the language, or segmental phonemes, word stress, syllabic
structure and intonation. So it is primarily concerned with the expression level of the language.
 Physiological level
Every speech sound is a complex of finely coordinates and differentiated movements of speech organs.
So they can be considered from physiological point of view as a physiological phenomenon having its
articulatory and auditory aspects.
Acoustic level

Like any other sounds in nature, speech sounds should be considered as vibrating particles of air or
sound waves. In other words, they must be treated as a variety of matter moving in time and space.
Thus, we may say that speech sounds can be investigated as a physical phenomenon having its acoustic
aspect.

Linguistic level

Phonemes, syllables, stress and intonation are linguistic phenomena which constitute meaningful units
(morphemes, words, word-forms, utterances). Sounds of speech perform different linguistic functions,
thus having their functional aspect.

The branch of phonetics which is concerned with the way the vocal organs are used to produce speech
sounds is called ARTICULATORY PHONETICS. It consists in observing the movements and positions of
human organs of speech in pronouncing various speech sounds.

AUDITORY PHONETICS is concerned with speech perception, principally how the brain forms perceptual
representation of the input it receives.

The branch of linguistics which studies speech sounds as units of communication is called PHONOLOGY.

Other divisions of phonetics

General phonetics – It deals with all the sound-producing possibilities of the human speaking apparatus
and the ways of using them in language for the purposes of human communication.

Descriptive phonetics – It deals with a sound structure, phonetic means of expression of meaning and
articulation in a particular language.
Historical, or evolutionary, phonetics – It establishes regular changes of speech sounds on different
stages of the development of a given language or a given group of kindred languages.

Comparative phonetics – It is closely connected with the historical one and deals with the correlation of
sound systems of two or more kindred languages.

Practical, or normative, phonetics – It studies the substance, the material form of phonetic phenomena
in relation to meaning.

Theoretical phonetics – It is mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in language.

Interdisciplinary subjects connected with phonetics

Sociophonetics – It studies the ways in which pronunciation interacts with society. It is primarily
concerned with the nature of different kinds of English pronunciation used by different age groups in
various situations: namely, when talking to equals, superiors, subordinates or when trying to inform,
persuade, agree, disagree, praise, complain, compliment, rebuke, etc.

Phonostylistics – It deals with the main stylistic peculiarities of existing functional styles which are
displayed in a variety of texts generated in everyday communication.

Five intonational styles distinguished by M.O. Sokolova

- Informational style
- Academic or scientific style
- Publicistic or oratorial style
- Declamatory or artistic style
- Conversational or familiar style

Speechology – It is oriented towards the optimization of linguistic communication and tries to make an
exact and concrete analysis of what actually happens when people speak

The Connection Of Phonetics with Other Branches of Linguistics

- Lexicology – The distinction of words is realized by the variety of their appearances. The
phonetic laws of a given language determine the sound composition of words.
- Morphology – Sound interchange helps to distinguish: - basic forms of irregular verbs (Sing –
sang-sung); - nouns and adjectives (strength – strong); - Nouns and verbs (extent – to extend,
advice – to advise).
- Syntax – Any division of a sentence is realized with the help of pauses, sentence stresses and
melodies. Changes in pausation can change the meaning of an utterance. ( One of the travelers
said/ Mr. Parker was very suspicious) (One of the travelers/ said Mr. Parker/ was very
suspicious)
- Stylistics – Phonetics is connected with stylistics through repetition of sounds, words and
phrases which is the basis of rhythm, rhyme, alliteration and is used as a special device in both
prose and poetry)

The theoretical importance of phonetics

Phonetics is a fundamental branch of linguistics and no language description is complete without
phonetics

The practical aspect of phonetics

- the basis of teaching to read and write

- foreign language teaching
- teaching correct pronunciation and eloquence to actors, singers, radio and TV announcers,
public figures, etc
- eliminating dialectical features from pronunciation of dialect speakers;
- logopedics (speech therapy);
- deaf-and-dumb pedagogy;
- sound technology.

Lecture 2. Phonemes and their Variants (Allophones)

Points for Discussion:
- The Notion of the Phoneme
- The Relationship between the Phoneme and Its Allophones
- The Aspects of the Phoneme
- The Functions of the Phoneme

The human speaking apparatus is capable of articulating a great number of various sounds.
Some of the differences exist as physical facts and are not always linguistic facts.
peak – speak
aspiration – no aspiration

The only important things for language are those which can be associated with meaning and be
used for the purposes of communication.
We can differentiate and distinguish, recognize the shapes of words only when opposing one
sound shape to another or even to many of them.

There exist speech sounds which are the basis for the differentiation of the sound shapes of
words and grammatical forms of one and the same word. WE call such sounds phonemes.
M. O. Sokolova et al. give a more concise definition:

The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds
opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and
words.

Ivan Oleksandrovych (Jan Niecislaw) Baudouin de Courtenay used the term “phoneme” and developed
it into the phoneme theory.

During the first stage of the development of his phoneme theory he views the phoneme as a
component of the morpheme and tries to analyze phonemes according to their function in the
morphemes.

Lev Volodymyrovych Scherba was the first to suggest the idea of the sense-differentiating function of
the phoneme.

Moreover, he attached considerable importance to phonemic variants, or allophones, and stressed that
one of the main reasons why variants are important is that they represent phonemes in actual speech.

Any phoneme only exists in the form of actually pronounced speech sounds which are its variants. In the
course of research work it was discovered that the representatives of any linguistic community utter
much more sounds in comparison with the number of phonemes.
Combinatory allophones are those which due to the influence of neighboring sounds are the products
of assimilation, adaptation or accommodation.

Positional allophones are those which are used in definite positions traditionally, i.e. according to the
orthoepic norms of the language rather than because of the influence of the neighboring sounds.

The variant sounds that we actually utter and which are the individual representing the universal may be
called phonemic variants.

All phonemic variants differ from each other in some respects but at the same time they share certain
common properties which in phonetics are called distinctive features.

Modern treatment of the phoneme

One of the theories worked by Prof. V.O. Vasyliev (V.A. Vassilyev) presents the phoneme as a dialectical
unity of three aspects:

- material, real and objective;

- abstractional or generalized
- functional
1. The phoneme is material, real and objective

The materiality of the phoneme is confirmed by its real existence in language. The phoneme is a
concrete speech sound which possesses certain acoustic and articulatory properties.

The objectivity of the phoneme consists in the fact that it exists irrespective of the will of the individual.

2. The phoneme is abstractional and generalized

The relationship between the phoneme and its variants is a vivid instance of the many-sided relation
between what is abstract and general, on the one hand, and what is concrete and specific, on the other.

3. Functional aspect of the phoneme

It performs three principal functions in speech:

- Constitutive – phonemes form the sound-shape of morphemes and words.

- Recognitive/ Identificatory – phonemes help identify words
- Distinctive – phonemes help differentiate the meaning of words and grammatical forms.