From what points of view can speech sounds be analysed

Speech sounds are of complex nature and have 4 different aspects, which are closely
connected: the articulatory aspect, the acoustic aspect, the auditory aspect and the
linguistic aspect. The ability to form language units is not the only property of the sound
medium. In addition to it, the sound substance has its own independent properties as a physical
phenomenon. Moreover, it is a product of human activity. Being created by the speaker, the
sound substance indicates the speaker’s personality (sex, age, individual features), reveals his
physiological and emotional state, geographical origin, education, social status and so on.
Sound phenomena have different aspects.
Every act of speech presupposes the presence of a person who speaks and a person who
listens. The speaker produces sounds, the sounds travel through the air to the listener in the
form of complex combinations of sound waves, the listener hears and interprets them.
Communication is possible only because the speaker and the listener interpret the sounds as
units of the same language.
The articulatory aspect. Speech sounds are products of human organs of speech. They
result from the activities of the diaphragm, the lungs, the bronchi, the trachea, the larynx with
the vocal cords in it, the pharynx, the mouth cavity with the speech organs in it and the nasal
cavity. Sound production is impossible without respiration, which consists of two
phases- inspiration and expiration.
The acoustic aspect. Sounds can be analysed from the acoustic point of view. Like any
other sound of nature speech sounds exist in the form of sound waves and have such physical
properties as frequency, intensity, duration and spectrum.
A sound wave is created by a vibration which may be periodic or non-periodic, simple or
complex. The number of vibrations per second is called frequency.
Intensity of speech sounds depends on the amplitude of vibration. Changes in intensity
are associated with stress in those languages which have dynamic stress. Intensity is measured
in decibels.
The auditory aspect. Speech sounds may also be analysed from the point of view of
perception. It involves the activity of our hearing mechanism, which can be considered in two
ways. On the one hand, it is a physiological mechanism, which reacts to acoustic stimuli. On
the other hand, it is also a psychological mechanism, which selects from the great amount of
acoustic information only that which is linguistically important.
The linguistic aspect. Segmental sounds and prosodic features are linguistic phenomena.
Representing language units in actual speech, they perform certain linguistic functions. They
constitute meaningful units- morphemes, words, word-forms, utterances. All the words of a
language consist of speech sounds which are grouped and arranged in the way specific for the
language and which are unified by stress.
The linguistic aspect of speech sounds is also called functional or social aspect, because
of the role which sound matter play in the functioning of language as a social phenomenon.