© 2016-2023 Octavian More

LLE1121 English Phonetics

Instructor: Dr. OCTAVIAN MORE, Lecturer
Email: [email protected]

Unit 1:
Introduction to Phonetics. The Theory of the Phoneme

Unit objectives:

• provide a basic introduction to the science of phonetics

• provide an overview of the branches of phonetics
• examine the connection(s) between phonetics and phonology
• introduce and discuss the importance of some fundamental concepts in phonetics and
phonology

Key Concepts: linguistics, phonetics, phonology, phoneme, allophone, minimal pair, distinctive opposition,
suprasegmental (phoneme), free variation, complementary distribution

Unit outline:

1. Phonetics as a linguistic discipline

2. The branches of phonetics
3. Phonetics vs phonology; the theory of the phoneme; sounds vs phonemes
4. Relationships between sounds

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1. Phonetics as a linguistic discipline

Definition:

Phonetics the branch of linguistics that studies speech sounds (i.e. sounds produced by the
= human organs of speech and used for purposes of communication) and various
phenomena involving speech sounds. By extension, it also studies the equivalent of
Greek: φωνή, phōnē speech sounds in sign languages. Its main focus is the physical properties of speech
(“sound”, “voice”) sounds: their production, acoustic characteristics, perception and neurological /
psychological value.

History:

• 6 c. BCE – 4 c. BCE, earliest attempts to study speech sounds – Pāṇini's classification of the
consonants of Sanskrit by place and manner of articulation
• first efforts to devise a system for sound notation: Joshua Steele (1779), Alexander Melville
Bell (1867)
• modern phonetics was born in the last decades of the 19th century. The invention of the
phonograph (the earliest sound-recording and reproduction device) allowed for the scientific
study of speech sounds (acoustic/spectral analysis). It was also at the end of this century that
the system for sound notation witnessed standardisation after the establishment of the
International Phonetic Association (Paris, 1886) and the subsequent creation of the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)1 (1891)
• in the 20th century phonetics benefited from the research conducted by a number of prominent
scholars, among whom we can mention Baudouin de Courtenay (1845-1929), Henry Sweet
(1845-1912), Daniel Jones (1881-1967), J.R. Firth (1890-1960), Roman Jakobson (1896-1982),
Leonard Bloomfield, Noam Chomsky. It also broadened its scope and applicability thanks to the
advent of new technologies (digital audio, computer)
• contemporary applications of phonetics include (but are not limited to):
▪ language learning / language teaching: the comparative study of the articulatory features of
sounds of different languages proves beneficial for diagnosing, correcting and preventing
pronunciation problems resulting from the transfer of sound values (characteristics) from one
language to another (as, for instance, from mother tongue to foreign language); it is also useful
for understanding the relationship between sounds and letters as well as for teaching the proper
intonational and accentual patterns of a foreign language

▪ speech pathology: as in the case of learning foreign languages, phonetics brings its contribution
in the correction and treatment of speech disorders at a phonic-acoustic level

▪ speech recognition: transcription and analysis of recorded speech by computer systems

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See next page for a sample of the symbols used by IPA.

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▪ speech synthesis: production and reproduction of speech sounds with the help of electronic
or digital equipment (synthesisers, computers)

▪ forensic phonetics: the analysis of speech sounds and identification of voice patterns for legal
purposes

Illustration of the IPA symbols: the basic sounds of contemporary Standard British English (Received
Pronunciation)

Vowels
iː see /siː/ eɪ age /eɪdʒ/ aɪə fire /faɪə/
ɪ bit /bɪt/ əʊ home /həʊm/ aʊə hour /aʊə/
e ten /ten/ aɪ time /taɪm/
æ cat /kæt/ aʊ ow /haʊ/
ɑː arm /ɑːm/ ɔɪ boy /bɔɪ/
ɒ hot /hɒt/ ɪə near /nɪə/
ɔː saw /sɔː/ eə there /ðeə/
ʊ pull /pʊl/ ʊə sure /ʃʊə/
uː cute /kjuːt/
ʌ cup /kʌp/
ɜː sir /sɜː/
ə affect /əˈfekt/

Consonants
p pen /pen/ f fight /faɪt/ tʃ chin /tʃɪn/ m map /mæp/
b bat /bæt/ v voice /vɔɪs/ dʒ July /dʒʊlaɪ/ n nap /næp/
t two /tuː/ θ think /θɪŋk/ ŋ thing /θɪŋ/
d day /deɪ/ ð that /ðæt/ l let /let/
k call /kɔːl/ s say /seɪ/ r red /red/
ɡ go /gəʊ/ z zoo /zuː/
ʃ she /ʃiː/
ʒ vision /ˈvɪʒən/

Semivowels
w when /wen/
j year /jɪə/

Notes:
For a quick and accessible way of practising the pronunciation of these sounds you can refer to the
“Interactive Phonemic Chart” page at English Club (online):

https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/phonemic-chart-ia.htm

For further information about the International Phonetic Association and the International Phonetic
Alphabet you can consult the official website of the association:

https://www.internationalphoneticassociation.org

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2. The branches of phonetics

Phonetics is a complex field with numerous implications and applications; as a result, it is necessarily
divided into several branches.
These branches (or divisions) can be approached from several perspectives:

a) scope and range of study:

• special phonetics – focuses on the sounds of a specific language (e.g., English, French,
Italian, Romanian, etc.). The sounds of a language can be studied at a certain point in
time (past or present) or in their evolution; therefore, special phonetics is subdivided
into descriptive (or synchronic) phonetics, respectively, historical (or diachronic)
phonetics
• general phonetics – studies the underlying common principles involved in the
production and reception of sounds, providing special phonetics with fundamental
rules and methods (e.g., the mechanism of phonation/sound production, the
distinction between vowels and consonants, orthographic principles, etc.). For its
purposes, it relies on the data provided by special phonetics and it also overlaps with
the interests of other linguistic and non-linguistic disciplines (speech pathology,
acoustics, language learning)

b) general methods and practices:

• theoretical phonetics – formulates principles and rules of general applicability for the
other branches; it is reliant, principally, on data collection and analysis
• experimental phonetics – tests the theories and hypotheses of the above through the
experimental method, by means of using specialised equipment and in laboratory
conditions

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c) area of interest (in close connection with the elements of the communicative act – speaker,
listener, channel):
• articulatory phonetics – studies sounds from the perspective of the speaker, i.e. the
focus is on the process of articulation and the articulatory characteristics of sounds
• acoustic phonetics – studies the impact of the channel of transmission (medium or
“contact”) upon the physical properties of speech sounds (pitch, amplitude of the sound
wave, sound frequency/wavelength, etc.)
• auditory phonetics – focuses on the reception and perception of speech sounds by a
listener
• phonology (also called phonemics / phonematics) – focuses on the connection between
sound and meaning, or the relevance of sounds for speech acts / communicative
contexts; in other words, it studies the social function of sounds; some scholars consider
it a special field of linguistics, not a branch of phonetics

THE BRANCHES OF PHONETICS

Specificity Scope and range of Methods and Area of interest Related fields
study practices
More Special phonetics Articulatory phonetics (SPEAKER) Speech pathology; Speech
concrete: (synchronic or synthesis;
diachronic) Experimental Acoustic phonetics (CHANNEL) Forensics; Language
phonetics learning/teaching
Auditory phonetics (LISTENER) Acoustics; Speech synthesis;
Speech recognition
More Theoretical Phonology (MEANING/MESSAGE) Forensics; Speech recognition;
abstract: General phonetics phonetics Language learning/teaching
Speech perception;
psycholinguistics;
Sociolinguistics

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3. Phonetics vs. phonology. The theory of the phoneme. Sounds vs. phonemes

Consider the following sequence:

The cat leaped over the fence gracefully.

[ðǝ ˈkæt ˈli:pt ˈǝʊvǝ ðǝ ˈfens ˈgreɪsfʊlɪ]

1. How many meaningful units can you identify in the above?

2. How many acoustically distinct elements are there?
3. Does the number of graphical signs coincide with that of the individual acoustic units?
4. What is the meaning of each distinct acoustic unit in each meaningful unit?
5. In the sequence /kæt/ what happens if you rearrange the individual elements in a different
order? What happens if you replace any of the individual elements by a different element? How
many meaning-distinguishing units can we speak of, therefore?
6. Does the /k/ element in the above sequence have the exact same acoustic properties as the /k/
sound in the Romanian word “car”? Does it have exactly the same acoustic properties as the
/k/ sounds in the English words “cute”, “acknowledge”, “walk”, “call”, “milk”? If there are
perceptible differences, what do you think is responsible for them? Are these occurrences of
/k/ interchangeable in these words? In the final analysis, in how many ways can be pronounced
a sound like /k/ (or any other sound, in any language)?
7. What happens if you enunciate the above sentence with a rising intonation (higher tone) on
the last word?