Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics and Phonology

1. Phonetics

   • Phonetics essentially seeks to trace the processes physiologically involved in sound production. It describes the ways the sounds are produced and the points at which they are articulated.
     • Articulatory features
       • The action of the vocal folds
         • That is to say, if they are closed, very separated or vibrate.
       • The position of the soft palate
         • To decide whether the sound has nasal resonance, oral resonance or both.
       • The nature of the airflow
         • Whether it is from the lungs or not i.e. whether it is pulmonic, glottalic or velaric
       • The disposition of various movable organs of the mouth
         • The shape of the lips, the tongue and the contact points of the tongue with the palate.
     • Examples: /e/ said /d/ din /æ/ sad /ԥ/ clean
   • The difference between phonetics and phonology is that phonetics is concerned with providing the set of characteristics that can describe the sounds of a language, while phonology provides the information that has to do with the functional pattern of sounds in the language.

2. Phonology

   • Phonology is concerned with the regularities that govern the phonetic realisations of sounds in words of a language. It looks at and tries to establish a system of sound distinctions relevant to a particular language.
     • Suprasegmental features
       • Stress, rhythm, intonation, pitch are regarded as suprasegmental features
         • This is because they usually operate at the syllabic level and beyond. The syllabic level is usually the level that follows the sound or segmental level in the study of the sounds of a language.
         • Stress Examples: Monosyllabic Words: Words that have single syllables do not usually pose a problem because they bear stress on that single syllable if they are normally stressed. ('life, 'bad, 'short)
         • Intonation Examples: Falling tune usually ends the wh-question. Examples are: /How 'are↙ you?/
   • Phonology actually delineates the functioning of sounds in particular contexts.