Introduction to Phonetics

Phonetics—Some Basics

Definition: the study of human speech sounds

In phonetics we refer to individual sounds as phones or sounds; never letters

All phonetic transcription is done within phonetic brackets: [si]

International Phonetic Alphabet

All the world’s languages can be transcribed using the IPA

In this class, we’ll be using a simplified version of the IPA

In IPA transcription, one phone (IPA symbol) usually equals one sound

Transcription vs. Spelling

We want as best we can to create a system of one-to-one correspondence This is not necessarily the case with spelling.catch, cough, phlegm, bought, trick, knight, leisure, queen, this, threw, Xerox, psychology, design

Fields of Phonetics

Articulatory phoneticshow sounds are produced

Acoustic phoneticsphysical properties of sounds

Auditory phoneticshow sounds are perceived

How are sounds produced?

Most sounds are produced by an air stream from lungs through one or more speech organs.

Where and how obstructions are in the air stream determine the identity of the sound produced.

Speech production mechanism

nasal cavity

oral cavity

pharynx

Vocal folds

Glottis

Energy SourceLUNGS

LARYNX

VOCAL TRACT

(shapes

sounds)

(voicing)

Benefits of phonetic transcription

We can use IPA transcription across languages, there is one symbol for EVERY possible human soundThere is a 1-1 correspondence of sound to symbolBrackets show the pronunciation of the word, which may change from time to time, even if it’s the same word

Transcription Practice

Transcribe:Your name

Linguistics, hiccup, teeth, teethe, delay, should, sign, sane, phonetics, yellow

For Friday:

Read File 3.3

CONSONANTS

Be very comfortable with chart on page 42