Chapter One

Terminology:
Key Concepts
• Subfields:
phonetics – phonology – morphology –
syntax – semantics - pragmatics
 Phonetics:
The study of human speech sounds

Three Main Subfields:

1. Articulatory phonetics: how speech sounds are
produced in human speech organs.
2. Acoustic phonetics: the physical properties of
speech sound waves.
3. Auditory phonetics: how speech sounds are
perceived through human hearing system
 Branches of Phonetics
• 1. Articulatory phonetics is usually studied by
language experts and speech therapists.
• 2. Acoustic phonetics is within the interests of
physicists. It is a branch of physics: acoustic physics.
• 3. Auditory phonetics is studied by audiologists.
• Clinical phonetics: the use of phonetics in
speech therapy.
• Pedagogical phonetics: the use of phonetics in
language teaching / learning
• General/ experimental phonetics: the study of
all human speech sounds. This is usually
studied by the students of linguistics. English
language teachers need to study English
Phonetics,
Phonetics Vs. Phonetic Symbols
The term “phonetics” is used in two senses;
• In one sense as a field of study which studies
the human speech sounds,
• In another sense as a system of symbols /
alphabets that is used to show the
pronunciation of words in a language. In this
sense, it stands for “phonetic Symbols”.
Phonology: The study of sound
patterns and systems in a
particular language
• It deals with the speech sounds used in a special
language (like English)
• It studies the distribution and arrangement of
sounds in syllable structures in a particular
language
• It is concerned with the influence of the speech
sounds on each other in a particular language
 Phonetics Vs. Phonology:
Phonetics studies “phone”
phonology studies “phoneme”.
• “Phone” is the smallest discrete sound produced by human organs
of speech, but “phoneme” is the smallest unit of sound that
distinguishes words / meninges in a language.
• “phone’ is a physical concept but “phoneme” is an abstract, mental
concept
• A phoneme can be represented by different phones.
• A phoneme is represented between /…./ but a phone is represented
between […..]
Phonemes, Phones, Allophones
 Example

Phoneme Allophones

[p] phone

/p/ [p] phone

[p] phone
 Why phonetic symbols?
What is the problem with alphabetic writing
system (orthography) and why do we need to use
phonetic alphabet?
1. Orthography is inadequate. It can not show the
exact pronunciation of words, because there is
not consistency between symbols (letters of
alphabet) and sounds (their pronunciation).
One symbol shows several sounds
Several symbols show one sound
 Second reason:

2. There are a lot of languages and dialects with

no writing systems. Phonetic symbols can be
used to record these languages in written form.
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
Vowels
Diphthongs