ENGLISH PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

Language is thought of primarily in terms of the written word in most fields of study, because it
is in this form that we usually keep permanent recordings of key ideas. When it comes to
something as transitory and ordinary as spoken dialogue, very little thought is given to it.
Speech, rather than writing, is viewed as more important to human language in linguistics for
various reasons. For starters, people have been using spoken languages for at least 100,000 years,
if not more (Kirchner, ). Writing is a relatively new invention, dating back only a few thousand
years. Even today, the majority of the world's 5,000 or more languages lack a written script.
There is, however, no community that communicates solely through writing and does not have a
spoken language. Furthermore, children learn to speak long before they learn to read and write;
in fact, oral language acquisition occurs without formal teaching (Kirchner, ). Is everyday
speech, however, worthy of scientific study? Although we take speech production and
recognition for granted, they need a variety of surprisingly complex mental talents, which are
part of our knowledge of the language(s) we speak. The things we want to say seem to appear
spontaneously as sound waves from our mouths. These sound waves then strike the listener's ear,
conveying acoustic information to the brain, which are processed as the speaker's intended words
- again, presumably effortlessly.

All these assumptions then beg the questions of exactly what sort of cognitive model could be at
the root of this ability to make and understand speech? Which features of this system appear to
be universal, and which ones tend to vary by language? What exactly happens in the mouth and
throat to allow us to speak? Phonetics and phonology (both from the Greek word phon-'sound'),
the two subfields of linguistics concerned with speech sounds, are the domains of these types of
problems.

Anyagwa in her study tried to answer these questions saying that speaking naturally requires the
brain as well as various physical organs such as the tongue, teeth, palate, lips, and velar. The
articulation of sound segments (consonants and vowels) or other elements with domains bigger
than a single segment - suprasegmentals - could be the product of the interplay between these
organs (e.g. stress, tone, intonation and rhythm). These sounds are researched in a separate
branch of Linguistics called Phonetics, which is concerned with their physical creation, acoustic
transmission, and perception, whereas phonology is concerned with how they are arranged to
convey meaning (Anyagwa, 2019). According to Crystal (2008), phonetics is the science that
investigates the features of human sound production, particularly speech sounds, and develops
methods for their description, classification, and transcription. It is thus concerned with the
physiological creation, acoustic qualities, and auditory perception of speech sounds (phones)
(Lass, 1998). A specific branch of phonetics deals with each of these domains. Articulatory
Phonetics, for example, is concerned with the physiological creation of speech sounds, while
Acoustic Phonetics is concerned with their acoustic qualities (Anyagwa, 2019).
Phoneticians/phonologists examine speech sounds in a variety of situations and for a variety of
reasons: In just a few years, how do infants acquire the ability to speak their mother tongue? In
organically occurring conversation, how do speakers manage turn-taking in an orderly manner?
How do listeners get an impression about a speaker's origins (as well as their age and gender)
based on only a few seconds of speech?

The discovery of how speech sounds are formed, how they are employed in spoken language,
how we may write speech sounds down, and how we hear and recognize different sounds are all
major concerns in phonetics (Cushing and Hellmuth, 2016). We can see what speakers do
(articulatory observation) and try to feel what is going on inside our vocal tract when studying
the generation of speech sounds in the first of these domains (kinesthetic observation) (Mejia,
2017). How we can use written symbols to record spoken sounds and how we hear and recognize
distinct sounds is an area that brings about an overlap between phonetics and phonology.
Moreover, in recent years, the two fields' scopes have become increasingly entwined. When it
comes to phonetics, we're usually primarily interested in sounds that are employed in meaningful
speech, whereas phoneticians are interested in uncovering the selection of different of sounds
utilized in this way in all languages around the world. Linguistic phonetics is another term for
this.

Kirschner expanded on this by explaining that Phonetics has traditionally focused on the
measurable physical properties of speech sounds, such as how the mouth produces specific
sounds and the characteristics of the resulting sound waves, whereas phonology studies the
mental system for representing and processing speech sounds within specific languages
(Kirschner, ). Therefore, in simple terms, phonetics can be defined as the actual production and
perception of speech sounds by humans, whereas phonology is about the systems of sounds in
use in a particular language or context (Cushing and Hellmoth, 2016).

English Phonetics

Phonetics is a method for accurately describing and recording English sounds. Phonetics is a
useful tool for exposing us to aspects of language that we usually comprehend by referring to
their written rather than spoken forms (. This is a discipline of linguistics that focuses on
studying the sounds used in speech. They are concerned with how sounds are produced and
heard and their various properties. As phonetics is the outer, physical expression of the major
focus of linguistic inquiry which is language (not speech), yet language is abstract, it is
frequently regarded as not being authentically linguistic. Speech, on the other hand, is the most
prevalent and major form of language, with the exception of signing societies (Ogden, 2017).
Speech is used in the majority of our encounters and interactions.

There is a priority for the spoken form of language, which implies that we need to study
phonetics to understand problems like "what is the potential form of a word" and other questions
related to it. The regulated passage of air through the throat, mouth, and nose produces speech
(more technically known as the vocal tract). It can be investigated in a variety of methods,
including:

 Articulatory phonetics (how speech sounds are made in the body)

 Acoustic phonetics (the physical properties of the sounds that are made)
 Auditory phonetics/Perception (what happens to the speech signal when it reaches the ear
of the listener).

These are the three major subfields of phonetics.  

Articulatory Phonetics, according to Yule (2010), is the study of how speech sounds are
produced or articulated. It's also referred to as the physiological mechanics of human speech
generation (Brinton & Brinton, 2010). It is concerned with the spoken sounds produced by the
organs of speech, as well as how the vocal folds regulate the flow of air traveling through them
to produce various sounds (Zhu, 2015).
Articulatory Phonetics with reference to articulation of vowels involves points of articulation
with the tongue. Vowels can be classified as front, centre, or back depending on the position of
the tongue at its highest point of articulation (Herbst, 2010). The front section of the tongue
produces front vowels (/ i: /, / i /, / e /, / æ /), which are directed towards the front of the mouth.
The back vowels are spoken with the back portion of the tongue contacting the back of the
mouth, as in / ɑ: /, / ɔ: /; / ɒ /, /u: /, / ʊ /. Lastly, the central vowels are /ə /, / ɜ: /, / ʌ / (Mojsin,
2016).

With regards to consonants, articulatory phonetics involves places of articulation. Consonants

are made at certain sites of articulation; the vocal tract and its various elements are employed to
make consonant sounds. After passing through the larynx, the air stream created in the lungs
continues on to the mouth or nose. Consonants are speech sounds that are made or articulated by
closing or obstructing the vocal tract (Crystal, 2008). They are categorised as bilabials,
labiodentals, Dentals and Interdentals, Alveolars, Post-alveolars, Palatals, Velars, and Glottals
based on where they articulate or where they are formed (Yule, 2010). Coupled with all these is
the manner of articulation of the consonants. Consonants are also classified based on how they
are articulated. They refer to the way the air stream is altered in the vocal tract, as well as the
level of constriction, whether complete or partial (Brinton & Brinton, 2010). Stops, Fricatives,
Affricates, Nasals, Liquids, Glides, and Glottal Stops and flaps are some of the sounds made by
the speaker (Yule 2010).

Acoustic Phonetics

The study of the acoustic features of speech is known as acoustic phonetics. Variations in air
pressure induced by the movement of air out of the lungs cause physical disturbances of air
molecules, which result in speech. The air molecules alternately pack together and move apart
(oscillate) as a result of the airflow, causing increases and drops in air pressure. The ensuing
sound wave communicates these pressure changes from the speaker to the listener. A source
component and a filter component can be used to understand the acoustic features of speech. The
rate of vocal fold vibration determines the source component, which is influenced by a number
of parameters. The bulk and rigidity of the vocal folds, as well as the speed of airflow, determine
the filter component. The vocal tract above the larynx, which works as a filter, then modifies this
source component. This filter boosts energy in some frequency ranges while suppressing it in
others, resulting in a spectrum with peaks and valleys. Formant frequencies are the peaks in the
spectrum.

The position of the first two formants (the lowest two) is commonly used to classify vowels.
Each vowel has a distinct formant pattern for a given speaker. Variation in vocal tract size
among speakers, on the other hand, frequently results in some formant overlap for distinct
vowels.

The spectral features of consonants can also be used to explain them. These sounds are made
when the vocal tract is completely or partially constricted, resulting in a vocal tract with two
sections: one behind and one in front of the constriction. One of the key determinants of the
spectra of these sounds is the length of the portion in front of the constriction. The lower the
frequency at which a concentration of energy occurs, the longer this portion (i.e. the farther back
the constriction). Consonants like k and g, which are produced in the back of the mouth, have a
concentration of energy between 1,500 and 2,500 Hz whereas more anterior consonants, such as
t and d, have an energy concentration over 3,000 Hz. Similarly, the mid-mouth sibilants [,] have
main energy around 2,500 to 3,500 Hz, whereas the more anterior ones [s, z] have major energy
far above 4,000 to 5,000 Hz. Consonants with a constriction near the front of the vocal tract, on
the other hand, do not have well defined spectra due to the exceedingly short region in front of
the constriction. As a result, bilabial [b, p] and labiodental [f, v] consonants are portrayed as
having diffuse spectra, meaning that there is no apparent energy concentration.

Auditory Phonetics

The auditory part of speech is crucial: the ear is capable of fine distinction between different
sounds, and it is sometimes difficult to articulate the differences exactly. The categorizing of
vowel sounds is a good illustration of this. While knowing the position and form of the tongue
and lips is vital, it is also important to have been schooled in a set of agreed-upon auditory
properties to which vowels can be reliably matched (Mejia, 2017). Therefore, In order to learn to
produce far more accurate and reliable discrimination among speech sounds, auditory phonetics
is a function of both the brain and the ear in practical phonetics.

English Phonology
According to Lass (1998), phonology refers to the sub-discipline of linguistics concerned with
language sounds in general, while "phonology proper is concerned with the function, behavior,
and organization of sounds as linguistic things" in more specific terms. Phonology, like
phonetics, is the scientific study of speech sounds, but unlike phonetics, it emphasizes on the
important sounds of particular languages, called phonemes, and how they work to encode
meaning. Delahunty and Garvey defined Phonology as the ways in which languages employ
sounds to differentiate between words (Delahunty and Garvey, 2010).

Phonology, according to Fromkin et al., is the study of the sound patterns observed in human
language. It's a term that refers to the level of understanding that speakers have of their
language's sound patterns. Phonology is the study of how spoken sounds in human language
form systems and patterns. A language's phonology is thus a system and patterns in human
language (Fromkin et al., 1984). In phonology, the focus is on how sounds are realized and
ordered in actual speech' (Dardjowidjojo, 2009). These two concepts of phonetics and
phonology are defined differently by Fromkin et al, who describe "phonetics" as "the sound of
language" and "phonology" as "the sound pattern of language (Fromkin et al., 2007)".

Phonology, like phonetics, is the scientific study of speech sounds, but unlike phonetics, it
concentrates on the important sounds of individual languages, called phonemes, and how they
work to encode meaning. Phonemes are known for being contrastive and capable of
distinguishing meaning. Phonology, on the other hand, goes above the segmental level of
phonemes to the suprasegmental levels of onset-rhyme, syllable, and foot, among other things.

What are Phonemes?

Phonemes, or the smallest unit that a sound can be broken down into, were understood to
constitute the ultimate elements of language. Later phonologists, however, theorized that
phonemes may be further subdivided into smaller elements known as features (Roach, 2002). A
feature is "a phonetic trait that can be utilized to classify sounds," according to Ladefoged
(1993). (p.42). For example, all consonants have the phonetic property Consonantal, which is not
shared by vowels. Voice is a property that some consonants have, while others have not. The
vowels in the words 'pin' and 'pen,' for example, are distinct phonemes, as are the consonants at
the start of the words 'pet' and 'bet.' Due to the sheer legendarily perplexing nature of English
spelling, it's especially important to learn to think of English pronunciation in terms of phonemes
rather than letters of the alphabet; for example, the word 'enough' starts with the same vowel
phoneme as 'inept' and ends with the same consonant as ‘stuff’ (Roach, 1983).

Features are more typically utilized in phonology than in phonetics because phonology is
concerned with sound relations and patterns. This introduces the concept of distinguishing
characteristics to our study. "A distinct feature or, analogously, a phonemic feature is one that
identifies one phoneme from another." We can grasp the shared qualities of speech sounds and
how they interact with or differ from one another by relating to these features (Davenport &
Hannahs, 2005). We can grasp the shared qualities of speech sounds and how they interact with
or differ from one another by relating to these features (Davenport & Hannahs, 2005).

Vowels and consonants are the two main subjects in English phonology. Each section focuses on
how the speech organ produces vowels and consonants, as well as how diverse the ways of
making one sound are from another. Each sound has a unique feature that must be identified in
order to distinguish between them. There are 24 consonants and 11 vowels in English, each with
its own symbol. The consonants are /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/, /g/, /f/, /v/, /ð/, /θ/, /s/,/z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /h/, tʃ/,
dʒ/, /m/, /n/, /η/, /w/, /r/, and /y/, whereas the vowels are /i:/, /ɪ/,/e/, /ɛ/,/ӕ/,/ә/, /u:/, /u/, /ɔ/, /o/, and
/a/ (Dardjowidjojo, 2009).

The two types of phonology are

 Diachronic phonology
 Synchronic phonology

Diachronic phonology, often known as historical phonology, develops theories concerning

changes in speech and sound across time. Traditionally, classical/historical Phonology aimed to
identify linguistically important generalizations by restricting the formal character of the rules
and representations found in specific grammars (Anderson, 2016).

Synchronic phonology, also known as descriptive phonology, studies sounds at a single point in
a language's evolution. In the concept being explored here, any regularity regarded to be
characteristic of Language in general was to be incorporated into the definition of viable
grammar (Anderson, 2016).
The methods of investigation in phonetics have profited from many technologies advances.
Phoneticians make use of the sophisticated methods developed in medicine for observing the
activity of the speech organs, muscles and brain during speech production and perception. Direct
observation and measurement of nearly all speech organs involved in speech production and
speech perception are possible and computer software enables the exact measurement of the
acoustic properties of all aspect of speech (Gut, 2009). The link between phonetics and
phonology is complicated, but we can think of phonology as a condensed version of phonetics
(McMahon, 2002). For example, within a language, subtle mechanical study of speech indicates
that every utterance of the same word, even by the same speaker, will be a minute fraction
different from the next; nonetheless, listeners who share that language will easily identify the
same word in each case. In this respect, phonetics provides an embarrassment of riches, offering
far more information than speakers appear to utilize or require: all those speakers, each utterance
unique. Phonology, on the other hand, is the reduction of information to the essentials, or what
speakers and listeners believe they are saying and hearing (McMahon, 2002).

References

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Lass, R. (1998). Phonology: An introduction to basic concepts. Cambridge, UK; New York;
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Cushing, I. and Hellmuth, S., 2016. Phonetics and phonology. In Knowing About Language (pp.
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Gut, U., 2009. Introduction to English phonetics and phonology (Vol. 1). Peter Lang.

Davenport, M., & Hannahs, S. J. (2005). Introducing phonetics and phonology. London: Hodder
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Fromkin, V., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2014). An introduction to language. Boston:
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Roach, P. (2002). A little encyclopaedia of phonetics. UK: University of Reading.

Roach, P. (2009). English phonetics and phonology (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Anderson, S.R., 2016. Synchronic versus diachronic explanation and the nature of the language
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Roach, P., 1983. English Phonetics and Phonology.

McMahon, A., 2002. An introduction to English phonology. Edinburgh University Press.

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