FKIP

UT

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

 Definitions FKIP
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• Phonetics is concerned with the sounds we make in

speech: how we produce them, how these sounds are
transferred from the speaker to the hearer as sound
waves, and how we hear and perceive them.
• Phonology is essentially the description of the systems
and patterns of speech sounds in a language.
 Phoneme FKIP
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• Trask (1996 : 264) says: phoneme /'φ↔Υνι:µ/ n.'the

smallest unit which can make a difference in
meaning'….
• Hayman (1975: 59) defines the phoneme as 'a minimal
unit of sound capable of distinguishing words of
different meanings. Thus, both /t/ and /d/ are phonemes
in English because they are able to make a meaning
difference, as in the word 'ten' and 'den'.
•
 Phoneme FKIP
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• An essential property of a phoneme is that it functions contrastively. There are
two phonemes /f/ and /v/ in English because they are the only basis of the
contrast in meaning between the forms fat and vat, or fine and vine. This
contrastive property is the basic operational test for determining the phonemes
which exist in a language.
• If we substitute one sound for another in a word and there is a change of
meaning, then the two sounds represent different phonemes. For example: /p/
can be characterized as [-voice, +bilabial, +stop] and /k/ as [-voice, +velar,
+stop].
• Since these two sounds share some features, they are sometimes described as
members of a natural class of sounds. The prediction would be that sounds
which have features in common would behave phonologically in some similar
ways.
 Phoneme FKIP
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• A sound which does not share those features would be

expected to behave differently. For example, /v/ has the
features [+voice, +labiodental, +fricative] and so cannot be in
the same 'natural class' as /p/ and /k/.
• Although other factors will be involved, this feature-analysis
could lead us to suspect that there may be a good
phonological reason why words beginning with /pl-/ and /kl-/
are common in English, but words beginning /vl-/ are not.
 Phoneme FKIP
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• Each word consists of phonemes. The word scream has 5

phonemes [σκρι µ]. Now, can you try to count the phonemes
of some words given to you? It is a challenge for you. In order
to understand better about phonemes, it is better for you to
read the materials of module 3 and do the assignment 2
which is attached in this session.