Phonetics
Phonetics is the study of the sounds used in speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of sounds and how these are produced, transmitted and perceived.
Key Concepts
Phonemes
A phoneme is the smallest unit of sound that can change the meaning of a word. For example, the difference between the words bat
and pat
is the phoneme /b/ and /p/ respectively.
Articulation
The production of speech sounds involves a complex coordination of movements in the vocal tract. These movements are used to shape the sound waves produced by the vocal folds into the sounds of speech that we hear.
IPA
The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) is a system of phonetic notation that uses symbols to represent each sound in a language. It is used by linguists, speech therapists, and others to transcribe the sounds of speech.
Acoustics
Phonetics examines the physical properties of speech sounds, including their acoustic properties. Acoustic analysis can be used to study the frequencies, amplitudes, and durations of speech sounds.
Important Information
- Vowels are produced with an open vocal tract and with no obstruction of the airflow. They are generally longer in duration than consonants.
- Consonants are produced by obstructing or partially obstructing the airflow. They can be further classified according to the type and place of articulation (e.g. bilabial, labiodental, alveolar).
- Syllables are units of sound that consist of one or more vowel sounds pronounced together with any accompanying consonant sounds.
-
Stress refers to the relative emphasis placed on different syllables in a word. In many languages, stress can change the meaning of a word (e.g.
present
as a noun versuspresent
as a verb). - Phonetic transcription is a way of representing the sounds of speech using the symbols of the IPA.
Takeaways
- Phonetics is the study of speech sounds.
- Phonemes are the smallest units of sound that can change the meaning of a word.
- The IPA is used to transcribe the sounds of speech.
- Vowels and consonants differ in terms of how they are produced, and syllables can be composed of both types of sounds.
- Stress and phonetic transcription are important concepts in phonetics.