PHONETICS AND Introduction to

Phonetics and
PHONOLOGY Phonology
DEFINITION OF PHONETICS
The word “ Phone” means sound and “tics” means scientific or
systematic study of something. So we can say that Phonetics means
scientific or systematic study of human speech sounds.
Phonetics :
Francis Katamba
“Phonetics is the study of the production of speech sounds by
speakers, their perception by hearers, and their acoustic properties.”
 “The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speechand
their production, combination, description, and representation by
written symbols”
DEFINITION OF
PHOONOLOGY
Phonology :
Francis Katamba
“Phonology is the branch of linguistics which investigates the ways
in which speech sounds are used systematically to form words and
utterances.”
 Charles W. Kreidler
“Phonology is the study of the properties of sound systems, the
principles that govern the ways in which speakers of different
languages organise speech sounds to express meanings.”
RELATIONSHIP OF
PHONETICS AND
PHONOLOGY
Phonetics and
phonology

Mutually
dependent

Insight into Branches of

languages linguistics

Speech
Sounds
DEFINING PHONETICS AND
PHONOLOGY
Phonetics
Production of Speech Sound
Transmission of Speech Sound
Reception of Speech Sound
Phonology
Selection of sounds of a particular
language
Organisation of sounds of a particular
language
Functional Classification of sounds of a
particular language
PHONETICS

The Branches of phonetics

Articulator Auditory Acoustic

y Phonetics Phonetics Phonetics
ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
 Articulatory phonetics is interested in the movement of various
parts of the vocal tract during speech. The vocal tract is the
passages above the larynx where air passes in the production of
speech.
 It is concerned with the positions and movements of the lips,
tongue, and other
speech organs in producing speech. It analyses how the various
speech sounds are
articulated by vocal organs.
AUDITORY PHONETICS
This is how we perceive and hear sounds and how the ear, brain
and auditory nerve perceives the sounds. This branch deals with
the physiological processes involved in the reception of speech

Auditory Phonetics is the study of hearing and the perception of

speech sounds
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
This is the study of the sound waves made by the human vocal
organs for
communication and how the sounds are transmitted. The sound
travels
through from the speaker's mouth through the air to the hearer's
ear, through
the form of vibratio.
PHONOLOGY
Classification of sounds :
Traditionally, sounds are classified into consonants and vowels.
Consonants are sounds that are produced with a major obstruction
in the mouth cavity. For example, in the case of [t] there is direct
contact between the tip of the tongue.
 Vowels are sounds that are produced without such obstruction.
VOWELS
 there is a gap within the mouth that is determined by the position
of the tongue
 the airflow can escape relatively freely
CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS
Depending on the height of the tongue, vowels can be classified into
high, low, and mid vowels:
When the front or the back of the tongue is raised towards the roof
of the mouth, the vowel is called high, this is the case, e.g., in pill,
meet, look, or soon. When the front or the back of the tongue is as
low as possible, the vowel is called low, as,
e.g., in land, star, or dog. When the tongue occupies the position
intermediate between the high and the low one, the
vowel is called mid, e.g. in get, or the unstressed [ə] in about
CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS
CONSONANTS
Classification of consonants :

Factors relevant for the classification of consonants include the

manner of articulation, the Place of articulation, and voicing. With
regard to the manner of articulation, English onsonants can be
classified into plosives, fricatives, affricates, nasals, liquids, and
semivowels.
BILABIAL PLOSIVES
[p] and [b] sound are involved
ALVEOLAR PLOSIVES
[t] and [d] are produced with the tip of the tongue firmly pressed
against
 the (middle part of the) alveolar ridge. The active articulator is
the tip
of the tongue; the
passive articulator is the alveolar ridge
VELAR PLOSIVES
[k] and [g] are articulated with the back of the tongue against the
soft palate.

The active articulator is the back of the tongue; the passive

articulator is the soft palate. The back of the tongue makes firm
contact with the soft palate. The air is trapped for a short time and
then breaks the obstruction with a slight explosion.
INTER DENTAL FRICATIVES
[θ] and [ð] The tip of the tongue is either close to the edge of the
upper teeth or slightly projected between the teeth. For [θ] the
friction is as strong as for [f], for [ð] it is gentler. For [θ] the vocal
cords do not vibrate; they vibrate for [ð] when it occurs in word
initial position, before a vowel or in intervocalic positions.
GLOTTAL FRICATIVE
[h] It is produced with the voiceless expulsion of air from the lungs
with the mouth and tongue already in position for the following
vowel.
AFFRICATES& NASAL
Affricates are sounds that are similar to both plosives and
fricatives: The tip of the tongue touches the back part of the teeth
ridge, the front part of the tongue is raised towards the hard palate.
Nasals are consonants which, like plosives, are produced by
completely blocking the airstream. But there is an important
difference: The airflow escapes through the nasal cavity(hence the
term nasals). There are three nasal consonants in English: bilabial
[m], alveolar[n], and velar [ŋ]:
DIPHTHONGS
The vowels described so far have all been monophthongs, in
contrast to the diphthongs (or gliding vowels), where the tongue
moves from one position to another. Examples can be found in day,
fight, oil, so, and now for the so-called closing diphthongs, while
centring diphthongs occur, for example, in bare, beer, and sure.