PHONOLOGY

Code : 21E21C108
Weight : 2
Semester : I
Class : A, B, C, D, E, Pare & SL
Lecturer : Dr. Maemuna Muhayyang, M.Pd.
085342125643
 DEFINITION OF PHONOLOGY

• Richards, et al (1985) defined phonology is the study or

description of the distinctive sound units of a language
(phoneme). It is also the study of word-to-word relations
in sentences, that is how sound patterns are affected by
the combination of words, for example, /du:/do and
/yu:/you may combine /du:yə/.
• Ladetoged (1989) defined phonology is the description of
the system and patterns of sounds that occur in a
language. It involves studying a language to determine its
distinctive sound and to establish a set of rules that
describe the set of changes that take place in these sounds
when they occur in different relationship with other
sounds.
 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF LEARNING PHONOLOGY

The significances of learning phonology are as follows:

1. To produce the sounds forming meaningful utterances,

2. To recognize the sound patterns of English,

3. To recognize a foreign accent,

4. To make up new words,

5. To produce aspirated and unaspirated sounds,

6. To know what is or is not a sound,

7. To pronounce voiceless stops in the appropriate context,

and
8. To know what different phonetic strings may represent the
same meaningful unit (Fromkin & Rodman, 1983).
 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PHONOLOGY &
PHONETICS

 Phonology and phonetics are inseparable, they are mutual

dependent.
 They discuss about the sounds of the language; phonology
deals with the sound patterns, while phonetics deals with the
sound variations of the language.
 Phonetics is the study of sounds used in speech. It deals with
the form of sounds, how they are produced, heard, and how
they can be described.
 Phonetics describes the concrete, physical dimension of
sounds, such as whether they are voice or voiceless and their
places and manners of articulation.
 THE AREAS OF PHONETICS

1. Articulatory Phonetics deals with the way in which speech sounds are
produced.

2. Acoustic Phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through

the air (sound waves). It examines the length, frequency, and pitch of
sounds.

3. Auditory Phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the
listener.
 ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

1. Vocal Tract
Speech sound is created by airflow through the vocal tract. It is a tube
where air passes. If this tube is open, the airflow creates a sound.
The vocal tract is divided into the oral tract within the mouth and the
pharynx, and the nasal tract within the nose.
The part of oral tract that can be used to form sounds are called
articulators.
Saying out ‘capital’ and noting the major movement of your tongue
and lips.
2. Pharynx
it is part of the throat which extends from above the vocal cords up to
the soft palate at the back of the mouth.
It is like large chamber and in the production of speech sounds its
shape and volume can be changed in various ways:
VOCAL TRACT AND PHARYNX
 ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

a. By tightening the muscles which enclose it,

b. By movement of the back of the tongue, and
c. By either raising or lowering the soft palate.
3. Soft Palate (Velum)
It is a muscular flap that can be raised to press against the back wall of
the pharynx and shut off the nasal tract, preventing air from going out
through the nose.
4. Hard Palate
It is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the front part of
roof of the mouth.
5. Alveolar Ridge
It is located behind the upper teeth where there is a small protuberance
that we can feel with the tip of the tongue.
SOFT PALATE
HARD PALATE
ALVEOLAR RIDGE
 ARTICULATORY PHONETICS

6. Tongue
Tongue can be moved into many different places and different shapes.
There are three different parts of the tongue; tip, blade, front, root or
back. The tip and blade lie under the alveolar ridge; the tip is the most
forward part of all and the blade between the tip and the front. The front
lies under the hard palate. It can be flat on the bottom of the mouth or it
can be raised to touch the hard palate. The back of the tongue lies under
the soft palate when the tongue is at rest.
7. Teeth
Teeth are categorized into upper and lower teeth. The upper teeth are
more important than lower ones as there are many sounds articulated
by the upper teeth
8. Lips
Lips are divided into lower and upper lips.
TONGUE
TEETH
LIPS
 ORGAN SPEECHES
 VOCAL TRACT  TONGUE
 PHARNYX  TEETH
 SOFT PALATE  LIPS
 HARD PALATE
 ALVEOLAR RIDGE