PHONETICS

          A. Articulatory Phonetics
          B. Acoustic Phonetics

I take it you already know of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Some may stumble, but not you, on hiccough, thorough, slough, and through?
So now you are ready, perhaps, to learn of less familiar traps?
Beware of heard, a dreadful word, that looks like beard, but sounds like bird.
And dead, it's said like bed, not bead; for goodness' sake, don't call it deed!

Would you take pleasure in reading this poem, or would you knit brows out of reluctance and
confusion in reading the words that almost look and sound the same? If you can identify with the
first, you must be like Eliza whom Professor Higgins describes as someone with “a good ear
and a quick tongue”, able to recognize and articulate the different pronunciations of a newly
introduced language sound system.
The given situation explains that there are phonetics in some aspects of our day-to-day living.
Phonetics, as defined by Britannica and presented by the discussants, refers to the study of
speech sounds and their physiological production and acoustic qualities. It deals with the
structures of the vocal tract used to produce speech sounds (articulatory phonetics), the
auditory properties of speech sounds (acoustic phonetics), and the manner of combining
sounds to make syllables, words, and sentences (linguistic phonetics).
As a teacher of English in the upper elementary, I thought all along that I barely had lessons
about phonetics with my students. It seemed to me before that teaching speech sounds were
done to a great extent only in kindergarten to lower primary level. What I did not realize instantly
is that I do teach my students lessons related to phonetics both wittingly and unwittingly. Every
now and then, when I hear someone pronouncing words incorrectly, I would subtly correct her
by repeating the word/s with emphasis but in another context so that it does not appear like a
correction. Also, I regularly provide my students with a list of spelling words.  Among the things I
teach them first would be pronunciation, which is not a challenge as big as that heaved upon the
teachers in public school. Moreover, I rarely encounter students who are poor in spelling; if ever
I encountered some, they were students who had some learning deficiency or some learning
disorder. I also remember teaching phonetic transcription for the basic sounds of the vowels in
the sixth grade, but I would not use the IPA because Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary, which is
used by most of the students, does not use the IPA transcription. This leads me to some curious
thoughts: Why can’t linguists be united and come up with a one, definite, and integrated
phonetic transcription? Could the use of different phonetic transcriptions be another reason that
the same words are sounded differently in different places? Will there ever be a final resolution
to many conflicting views and ideas of linguists? Will they find answers to all their quests? Or is
it worth looking for answers to many realities existing about language, its sounds, uses, and
peculiarities when everything about it is assumption?
I think this is one big reason why I, together with most of the L2 teachers, simply articulate the
speech sounds without giving my pupils their visual representations. For learners of the second
language, it is such an arduous task too. In place of studying and introducing phonetic
transcription, I would make my students exercise their listening skills. I feel gratified, for this
subject brings me back down the memory lane and it makes me fully aware as to the type of
linguistic component of every topic and competency I teach my classes. Except the syntax, I
used to be cognizant only about identifying the skills developed in every topic I would teach. I
also realized that whenever I discuss topics under phonics such as digraphs, homonyms,
homophones, homographs, and spelling, I am allowing my students to deal with phonetics to
some extent. Kate Chandler (2017) says, however, that the term “phonics” is different from
phonetics. While phonics is used to describe a method of reading instruction for school children,
phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds. Thanks to her, I will not introduce the term
“phonetics” to my students, for it is really meant for higher studies.
Regardless, it is still imperative that I acquaint myself with phonetics. I couldn’t agree more with
(Andrew Eigel, 2019) when he said that phonetics is a metric for oral language. It is there to
help us understand the acoustic traits of language. We cannot give what we do not have;
similarly, we cannot teach what we do not know and what we have not learned. I recognize that
it always pays to continue educating and updating ourselves before, during or even after
teaching. It is a mortal sin if we teach our students the wrong pronunciation of words especially
to the very young ones who usually believe us more than anybody else.
Equally important for a language teacher like me to know is that my knowledge of phonetics
helps me teach my students to create metalinguistic awareness (Julio César Martínez).
Language goes beyond its literal meaning. If I can produce the sound of the language correctly
and deliver it with proper stress, pitch, tone, and intonation, I know that my students will get the
message as I intend it to be understood. Lastly, I should also be able to apply my knowledge of
articulatory phonetics. According to Joyce Gagnon, committing phonetics or phonemes to
memory through frequent use at a young age will create easier reading and writing success in
children. I agree because when children are exposed more frequently to the different speech
sounds though listening and oral production, they learn and the sounds are retained, thereby,
making them skillful readers and writers.

And here is not a match for there, And dear and fear for bear and pear.
And then there’s dose and rose and lose– Just look them up–and goose and choose,
And do and go, then thwart and cart. Come, come, I’ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive! I’d mastered it when I was five.

A poem such as this may seem nerve-racking and tongue-twisting, but I have witnessed how
students would always have fun learning the correct sounds of speech and language. I have
always witnessed how eager and interested they are in learning how to pronounce unfamiliar
words and in feeling joyfully confused with the use of homophones, homographs, rhymes and
others. There are hitches at times, but I can tell that they love sounding and interpreting the
language more than structuring it. With fresher and deeper knowledge of phonetics, I can
probably continue teaching phonics both pedagogically and pleasurably. There is just one thing
I cannot imagine…

Hwət  If  ˈIŋɡlɪʃ  wəz  rɪtən fəˈnɛtɪk(ə)li?