LECTURE 1: DEFINITION AND SUBDIVISIONS OF PHONETICS

1.1 INTRODUCTION
Our first lecture is quite brief. I only intend to define phonetics and show its
subdivision. More details in this level of linguistics are given in the subsequent
lectures.

Objectives

By the end of this lecture, you should be able to: -

 Define phonetics.
 Explain the difference between articulatory,
acoustic and auditory phonetics.

1.2 Definition of Phonetics

According to Yule (1995) phonetics refers to the general study of the characteristics of
speech sounds. At this level, we study speech sounds without focusing on any particular
language. However, for purposes of explanation, examples may be drawn from a
particular language.

1.3 Subdivisions of Phonetics

There are three main areas in phonetics. These are: -
a. Articulatory phonetics;
b. Acoustic phonetics; and
c. Auditory phonetics.
 Articulatory phonetics deals with the production of speech sounds as sounds.
 Acoustic phonetics deals with the physical properties of speech sounds as sound
waves in the air (Yule 1995).
 Auditory phonetics or perceptual phonetics deals with the perception, through the
ear, of speech sounds (Yule 1995).

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Therefore, in this area of language study speech sounds are studied in terms of
articulation or production by the speaker, sound waves in the air before they reach the
ears of hearer and perception by the hearer.

This unit, being introductory, mainly deals with articulatory phonetics. We first need to
know how we produce speech sounds before looking at the sound waves as they travel in
the air to reach our ears.

Summary

Now I intend to quote Crystal (2003:236) whose words seem to

summarise this section very well.
“Phonetics is the study of the way humans make,
transmit and receive speech sounds. It is divided into
these three distinctions. We have seen that these
branches are articulatory, auditory and acoustic
phonetics”.

Activity

a. What is phonetics?

b. Briefly explain the difference between articulatory and

acoustic phonetics.

c. Briefly explain the difference between articulatory and

acoustic phonetics.