Introduction to Phonetics

Faculty of Letters
Gunadarma University
PTA 2013/2014
What is phonetics?

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.

 a) how they’re produced (articulatory

phonetics)
 b) their physical characteristics (acoustic
phonetics) and
 c) how they’re perceived (auditory phonetics).

 http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/en
glish/frameset.html
 PHONETICS /fəˈnɛtɪks/
• Phonetics is the scientific study of language
sounds.
• It is a branch of linguistics that
comprises the study of the sounds of human
speech.
• It covers the domain of speech production,
transmission and reception.
 1. ARTICULATORY
PHONETICS
• Articulatory phonetics is the branch of
phonetics concerned with describing the
speech sounds in terms of their articulations,
that is, the movements and/or positions of the
vocal organs (articulators).
 2. ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
• Acoustic phonetics is the study of the acoustic
characteristics of speech, including an analysis and
description of speech in terms of its physical properties,
such as frequency, intensity, and duration.
• In acoustic phonetics, phoneticians depict and analyze
sound waves using computer machines and by different
computer programs.
• The resulting sound wave travels in medium of air and
reach from speaker to hearer where these sound waves
are interpreted as a meaningful message.
 3. AUDITORY PHONETICS
• Auditory phonetics is the branch of phonetics
concerned with the hearing of speech
sounds and with speech perception.
• In Auditory Phonetics, we study how the sounds
are transmitted from the ear to the brain, and
how they are processed.
It covers the domain of speech production,
transmission and reception
SPEECH ORGAN:
 PRONUNCIATION
 The act of producing the sounds of speech
using speech organs, including articulation,
stress, and intonation, often with reference to
some standard of correctness or acceptability
(such as IPA, RP, etc)
 The use of Phonetic Transcription: A
phonetic transcription can be used
prescriptively, to show students how a given
word or phrase should be pronounced.
Reasons for Pronunciation Problems:
1. The Differences in the Phonemic Systems
between English and Bahasa Indonesia.
Example: / ʃ /, / θ /  English
/ s /, / t /  Indonesia
2. The similar sounds between English and
Bahasa Indonesia but they are in different
distributions.
Example: peak – speak – spread – leap
paku – lapar - lengkap
3. The Non-existence of Consonant Clusters
in Bahasa Indonesia
A consonant cluster is a combination of two
or more consonants. Such clusters may occur
in initial, medial, of final positions.
Example: speak-spread, worlds, twelfth etc

4. Suprasegmental sounds: stress, length,

    pitch, and intonation
 SEGMENTAL & SUPRASEGMENTAL
SOUNDS
When learning English we will find two kinds
of speech features (Ramelan, 1985: 22).
1. Segmental features, which refer to sound
units, arranged in a sequential order; or it is
about consonant and vowel.
2. Suprasegmental features refer to stress,
pitch, length intonation and other features
that always accompany the production of
segmental.
Suprasegmental Sounds
 suprasegmental, also called Prosodic
Feature,  in phonetics, a speech feature such
as stress, tone, or word juncture that
accompanies or is added over consonants
and vowels; these features are not limited to
single sounds but often extend over syllables,
words, or phrases.
Sound/symbol correspondence

enough through thorough thought bough

[ʌf] [u:] [ə] [ɔ:] [aʊ]

think those thistle thong

[θ] [ð] [θ] [θ]

church chemistry loch Cheryl

[tʃ] [k] [x] [ʃ]
Transcription – the art of reducing
speech to writing
 Don’t be influenced by English spelling!!
 Transcribe what is, not what ‘ought’ to be
 For instance, speech sounds can influence
neighbouring sounds:
 i[n] Newcastle
 i[m] Bolton
 i[ŋ] Carlisle

 Trust your ears, not your years of education!!

Transcription – the art of reducing
speech to writing

 Remember: a word in isolation may be

spoken differently to a word in connected
speech
compare
 to = [tu:]
 give it to him = [gɪv ɪt tə ɪm]

(Weak forms are syllable sounds that become

unstressed in connected speech and are
often then pronounced as a schwa [ə] )
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
 The IPA is the major as well as the oldest
representative organisation for phoneticians.
It was established in 1886 in Paris.

 2011 marked the 125th anniversary of the

founding of the IPA, and 2013 is the 125th
anniversary of the first publication of the
International Phonetic Alphabet and the
formulation of the principles.
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
 The aim of the IPA is to promote the
scientific study of phonetics and the various
practical applications of that science.

 The latest version of the IPA Alphabet was

published in 2005.
 The final sound / -id / can be found in the
pronunciation of the word ______
 a. badged c.
formatted
 b. shined d. formed
 /wƆkt/ is the phonetic transcription of the
word _______
 a. worked c. walked
 b. worded d. wicked
 _________ is NOT called an aspirated
consonant when it is an initial position.
 a. / p / c. / k /
 b. / d / d. / t /
 35. The word “theory” consists of _____
syllables.
 a. 2 c. 3
 b. 5 d. 4