PHONETICS of ARCHITECTURE

Miguel Pedro Hernández

Graduated in Language and Literature by ULPGC
Building Engineer
LP de GC a 12 de enero de 2019

Summary

Substance that forms the signifier of the architectural sign is the material, in a broad
sense of the word, material that forms the enclosure of the spatial units. In the same
way that occurs with verbal language, there are phonetic variations which are
evidenced in the use of different spatial enclosure materials. The use of one material or
another is due to the social and contextual characteristics that occur between the
subjects of the architectural activity (architect, builder, inhabitant, user).

Key words

Verbal language, architecture, semiotics, phonetics.

Phonetics: linguistics and architecture

Phonetics studies organization of the speech substance, of the human voice, from the
point of view of the production and reception of sound.
Is the human voice the only possible substance in verbal language?
Deaf-mute language uses, with some variations (simplification of the linguistic code
and syntax differences), the same meanings as the verbal language. The most obvious
difference lies in the signifier: this language uses other channels of expression,
substance is different: gestural signs.

There are also phonetic variations between speakers and speech communities, which
are determined by particular and contextual characteristics. Variations that have been
called:

1
  Functional or diaphasics: according to the different communication situation.
 Sociocultural or diastratics: according to the different sociolects.
 Geographical or diatopics: variations according to the territory.
 Historical or diachronic: they characterize a certain historical stage.

Substance that forms the signifier of the architectural sign is the material, in a broad
sense of the word, material that forms the enclosure of the spatial units. In the same
way that occurs with verbal language, there are phonetic variations which are
evidenced in the use of different spatial enclosure materials. The use of one material or
another is due to the social and contextual characteristics that occur between the
subjects of the architectural activity (architect, builder, inhabitant, user).

 Functional or diaphasics: in different communicative 1 areas of a city, different

materials interest. For example, stainless steel and glass in official buildings.
 Sociocultural or diastratics: socioeconomic level influences the choice of materials,
both culturally and economically.
 Geographical or diatopics: architectural text is constructed taking into account
climatic conditions, geographies, characteristics of the environment.
 Historical or diachronicS: throughout history new materials are invented, or others
in disuse are recovered.

Tacht Ice

Wood Metal

1 Communication is closely related to the economic-commercial aspect. A text constructed with an especially
communicative intention (journalistic texts, for example) must reach the largest number of speakers, which is
related to the greater or lesser economic performance of the activity. In architecture this question is more evident: a
house (an architectural text) will have greater demand and therefore greater economic performance, the more
communicative or functional it is.

1
Mud Concrete

Ceramic brick Glass

Plastic Stone

Resistance and durability characteristics of materials, from a language point of view,

belong to the sphere of speech act variation, and take on different importance
according to the different speech communities. For example, for an average American
citizen, house is a temporary and interim property. They usually change their homes
several times throughout their lives, so they prefer lower construction costs, with wood
being much more abundant and cheaper than concrete.
Architecture, like any other language, investigates the cognition and interpretation of
reality, in this case the reality of inhabiting, through different forms of expression and
content, resulting in architectural texts where resistance and durability are not the
primary characteristics: ephemeral architectures.

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Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2015, temporary architecture proposal designed by the panish office
SelgasCano. Constructed from dark and translucent ETFE plastics in a colors variety.
http://www.serpentinegalleries.org/exhibitions-events/serpentine-pavilion-2015-designed-selgascano

As study methodology, we coud discretize architectural significance in its components

(in the same way we do in phonetics and phonology) and analyze differences that are
relevant in terms of spatial units meaning (composition, layout, installations,
ventilation, lighting , etc.).

Double articulation of signs, verbal language characteristic, does not seem relevant in
architecture. It has not seemed necessary for contemporary architects to delve into
this discretization of the architectural sign because, unlike what happens in verbal
language, architectural spatial units (bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, etc.)
add, by comparison, a quite small number and there seems to be no risk in the speaker
of confusion when identifying the spaces, identification that is generally made without
difficulty due to the location of these spaces and their relationship with the rest of the
house. However, the theoretical exercise of discretizing the spatial unit into smaller
units with meaning could be performed. For example, the kitchen space unit could be
subdivided into meaningful minimum subspaces: stove subspace, meal preparation
subspace, storage subspace, etc.