LECTURE 8

LATANOVA R.U.
Theoretical phonetics

• 1. Phonetics as a branch of linguistics.

• 2. Branches and Divisions of Phonetics.
• 3. Methods of Phonetic Investigation.
• 4. Phonetics and Other Disciplines.
Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
• The word “phonetics" is derived from the Greek “φωνη” (sound).
• Phonetics is concerned with the human noises by which the thought is actualised or
given audible shape: the nature of these noises, their combinations, and their
functions in relation to the meaning. Phonetics is subdivided into practical and
theoretical. Practical or normative phonetics studies the substance, the material
form of phonetic phenomena in relation to meaning. Theoretical phonetics is
mainly concerned with the functioning of phonetic units in the language.
Theoretical phonetics regards phonetic phenomena synchronically without any
special attention paid to the historical development of English. Phonetics is itself
divided into two major components: segmental phonetics, which is concerned with
individual sounds (i.e. "segments" of speech) and suprasegmental phonetics whose
domain is the larger units of connected speech: syllables, words, phrases and texts.
Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
• Phonetics is not a separate science. It is a branch of
linguistics, like the other branches, such as grammar,
lexicology and stylistics. It studies the phonetic structure of
the language, i.e. speech sounds, word stress, syllabic
structure and intonation. These four components form the
pronunciation of a language. Therefore, the knowledge of the
phonetic system of the language and the mastery of its
pronunciation involve the study and mastery of each
component of its phonetic structure.
Phonetics as a branch of linguistics
• Phonetics is quite independent and develops according to its
own laws. As an independent branch of linguistics, it has
developed branches of its own.
• Today the sphere of phonetics is wide and deep. It deals with
phonemes and their distribution in words, their mutual
adaptation, syllable formation, stress, intonation, the relation
between oral and written speech and a number of other
problems.
BRANCHES AND DIVISIONS OF PHONETICS

• Speech sounds have four aspects: articulatory, acoustic,

auditory, and functional (social). According to V.A. Vassilyev,
these four aspects cannot be separated from one another in
the actual process of communication, but each of these four
aspects can be singled out for purposes of linguistic analysis
and thus becomes a separate object of investigation, which
necessitates the division of phonetics as a science into several
branches.
Articulatory phonetics

• The branch of phonetics which is concerned with the

study, description and classification of speech sounds
as regards their production by the human organs of
speech is called articulatory phonetics. It is the oldest,
the most developed and productive branch of
phonetics.
Acoustic phonetics
• Acoustic phonetics studies the way in which the air vibrates between the
speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ear, in other words, the acoustic aspect of
speech sounds (their physical properties). It is sometimes called experimental,
instrumental or laboratory phonetics, because experimental methods and
instrumental techniques are widely used here.
• The branch of phonetics investigating the perception process is known as
auditory phonetics. It studies the perceptual response to speech sounds, as
mediated by ear, auditory nerve and brain, i.e. its interests lie more in the
sensation of hearing, which is brain activity, than in the psychological working
of the ear or the nervous activity between the ear and the brain. The means by
which we discriminate sounds – quality, sensations of pitch, loudness, length.
• The branch of phonetics that studies the functional
(linguistic, social) aspect of speech sounds and all the other
components of the sound matter of the language (syllabic
structure, word stress and intonation) is called phonology. It
investigates sounds as units that serve communicative
purposes.
What is the main distinction between
phonetics and phonology?
• Phonetics is the study of how speech sounds are made, transmitted,
and received, i.e. phonetics is the study of all possible speech sounds.
The human vocal apparatus can produce a wide range of sounds; but
only a small number of them are used in a language to construct all of
its words and utterances.
• Phonology is the study of those segmental (speech sound types) and
prosodic (intonation) features which have a differential value in the
language. It studies the way in which speakers systematically use a
selection of units – phonemes or intonemes – in order to express
meaning. It investigates the phonetic phenomena from the point of
view of their use.
• Within phonology, two branches of study are usually recognized:
SEGMENTAL and SUPRA-SEGMENTAL. Segmental phonology
analyses speech into discrete segments, such as phonemes; supra-
segmental or non-segmental phonology analyses those features which
extend over more than one segment, such as intonation contours. The
primary aim of phonology is to discover the principles that govern the
way that sounds are organized in languages, to determine which
phonemes are used and how they pattern – the phonological structure
of a language.
Methods of Phonetic Investigation

• Phonology also solves: 1. the problem of the identification of

the phonemes of a language; 2. the problem of the
identification of the phoneme in a particular word, utterance.
• People engaged in the study of phonetics are known as
phoneticians. People engaged in the study of phonology are
known as phonologists.
• Phonology was originated in the 30s of the 20th century by a group of
linguists belonging to the Prague school of linguistics – Vilem Matesius,
Nickolai Trubetskoy, Roman Jakobson. The theoretical background of
phonology is the phoneme theory whose foundations were first laid down by
I.O. Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929) in the last quarter of the 19th
century (between the years of 1868-1881). The most important work in
phonology is THE GROUNDWORK OF PHONOLOGY [1939] by Nickolai
Trubetskoy. He claimed that phonology should be separated from phonetics as
it studies the functional aspect of phonic components of language. Phonetics
is a biological science which investigates the sound-production aspect.
Contemporary phoneticians hold the view that form and function cannot be
separated and treat phonology as a linguistic branch of phonetics.
• Traditionally phonetics is divided into general phonetics which studies
the nature of phonetic phenomena and formulates phonetic laws and
principles and special phonetics which is concerned with the phonetic
structure of a particular language.
• Special phonetics is subdivided into descriptive and historical. Special
descriptive phonetics studies the phonetic structure of the language
synchronically (i.e. it studies its contemporary phonetic system), while
historical phonetics looks at it in its historical development
(diachronically).
• There are branches of linguistics which are closely connected
with phonetics because some phonetic information and facts
are of great importance in their spheres of investigation.
Phonostylistics studies phonetic phenomena and processes
from the stylistic point of view. It studies the way phonetic
means are used in this or that particular situation.
• Another linguistic branch is phonosemantics. It investigates the
connection between the sound form and the meaning. This connection
may easily be observed in onomatopoeia (ping-pong, cuckoo). It is
also realized in sound symbolism which implies that some sounds and
some combinations of sounds may evoke different semantic
associations. For example, some words beginning with sl are ugly and
unpleasant (slime, slush, slum, slug, slough, slash, slop, sludge).
Though there are lots of neutral words.
• Before analyzing the linguistic function of phonetic
units we need to know how the vocal mechanism acts
in producing oral speech and what methods are applied
in investigating the material form of the language, that
is its substance. Phonic shaping of oral form of
language is called pronunciation.
PHONETICS AND OTHER DISCIPLINES

• Phonetics is one of the basic branches of linguistics and it is

closely connected with the other linguistic disciplines:
lexicology, grammar, stylistics. This connection is
determined by the fact that language is a system whose
component parts are inseparably connected with one another,
and therefore the sciences that study these component parts
must be interconnected too.
• S.F. Leontyeva points out that phonetics formulates the rules
of pronunciation for separate sounds and sound
combinations. The rules of reading are based on the relation
of sounds to orthography and present certain difficulties in
learning the English language. Thus, vowel sounds are
pronounced not only as we name the letters corresponding to
them: the letter a [ei] can be pronounced as [æ] – can, [ɑ:] –
car, [eə] – care.
• Through the system of rules of reading phonetics is connected with
grammar. It helps to pronounce singular and plural forms of nouns, the
past tense forms and past participles of English regular verbs correctly
(to beg – begged [d], to wish – wished [t]). Another manifestation of
the connection of phonetics with grammar is sound interchange (or
sound alternation). This connection can be observed in the category of
number (the interchange of [f –v], [s –z], [θ –ð] helps to differentiate
singular and plural forms of such nouns as: calf – calves, leaf – leaves,
house – houses). Vowel interchange is connected with the tense forms
of irregular verbs (sing – sang – sung, write – wrote – written). It can
also be observed in onomatopoeic compounds (flap-flop, hip-hop).
• Phonetics is also connected with lexicology. Due to the
accurate presence of stress, or accent, we can distinguish
certain nouns from verbs ('object предмет – to ob'ject
возражать). Due to the position of word stress we can
distinguish between homonymous words and word groups
(`blackbird дрозд - 'black `bird черная птица). Besides we
can differentiate homographs only due to pronunciation,
because they are identical in spelling (bow [bəʊ] лук – bow
[baʊ] поклон).
• S.F. Leontyeva also notes that phonetics is connected with stylistics.
First of all, through intonation and its components: speech melody,
utterance stress, rhythm, pausation and voice timbre which serve to
express emotions, to distinguish between different attitudes on the part
of the author and speaker. Phonetics is also connected with stylistics
through repetition of words, phrases and sounds. Repetition of this
kind serves the basis of rhythm, rhyme and alliteration.
Onomatopoeia, a combination of sounds which imitate sounds
produced in nature, is one more stylistic device which can serve as an
example of the connection between phonetics and stylistics (tinkle,
jingle, clink, ting, chink; clap, dab, smack; crash, bang).
• Phonetics is also closely connected with a number of non-
linguistic disciplines which study different aspects of speech
production and speech perception: physiology, anatomy,
physics (acoustics). Mathematics, statistics, logic and
computer science are used in phonetic research too.
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
• 1. How do you prove that phonetics is an independent branch of linguistics?
• 2. What are the four components of the pronunciation of a language?
• 3. What are the aspects of speech sounds?
• 4. What are the branches and divisions of phonetics?
• 5. What are the methods and devices of phonetic investigation?
• 6. How is phonetics connected with other sciences?
• 7. What is the practical application of phonetics?
• 8. What is the theoretical significance of phonetics?
• 9. What are speech sounds? What are phonemes?
Give definitions of the following phonetic
terms:
• acoustic phonetics, articulation, articulatory
phonetics, comparative phonetics, descriptive
phonetics, general phonetics, historical phonetics,
phonetics, phonology, phonosemantics,
phonostylistics, practical phonetics, segmental
phonetics, supra-segmental phonetics, theoretical
phonetics, pitch, utterance.
Exercises:

• 1. Write the plural form of the following words and transcribe them. Use these examples to prove that
phonetics is connected with grammar:
• calf, loaf, wife, foot, basis, knife, thief, goose, crisis.
• 2. These pairs of words are homographs. Transcribe and translate them. Use these examples to prove
that phonetics is connected with lexicology:
• bow – bow, lead – lead, row – row, sewer – sewer, tear – tear, wind – wind.
• 3. Read the words and word combinations. Translate them into Russian and prove that phonetics is
connected with lexicology through word stress:
• ʹbluebell – ʹblue ʹbell, ʹbluestone – ʹblue ʹstone, ʹbluecoat – ʹblue ʹcoat, ʹblackface – ʹblack ʹface,
ʹbluestocking – ʹblue ʹstocking.
• 4. Read and translate the following. State what phonetic means is used to form such compounds:
• knick-knack, ping-pong, slip-slop, tip-top, zig-zag, shilly-shally, wishy-washy.