PHONETICS -A SOUND STUDY

Phonetics attempts to describe and understand how speech is produced and perceived;

phonology attempts to understand the patterning — in general, the behavior — of speech

sounds in particular languages and in all languages. Is phonetics part of phonology? This

straightforward question has received various answers at different points in the history of

linguistics. In this paper I attempt to document that for the two centuries starting

approximately with the eighteenth century, phonetics was well integrated into linguistics but

that around the start of the 20th century phonetics and phonology were estranged, at least in

some cases. During the second half of the 20th century there began a trend, continuing today,

to re-integrate phonetics and phonology.

phonetics is concerned with describing the speech sounds that occur in

the languages of the world. We want to know what these sounds are,

how they fall into patterns, and how they change in different circumstances.

Most importantly, we want to know what aspects of the sounds are

necessary for conveying the meaning of what is being said. The first job of

a phonetician is, therefore, to try to find out what people are doing when

they are talking and when they are listening to speech.

We will begin by describing how speech sounds are made. In nearly all

speech sounds, the basic source of power is the respiratory system pushing

air out of the lungs. Try to talk while breathing in instead of out. You will

find that you can do it, but it is much more inefficient than superimposing

speech on an outgoing breath.

Air from the lungs goes up the windpipe (the trachea, to use the more,

technical term) and into the larynx, at which point it must pass between

two small muscular folds called the vocal cords. If the vocal cords are

apart, as they normally are when breathing out, the air from the lungs will

have a relatively free passage into the pharynx and the mouth. But if the

vocal cords are adjusted so that there is only a narrow passage between

them, the airstream will cause them to vibrate. Sounds produced when the

vocal cords are vibrating are said to be voiced, as opposed to those in

which the vocal cords are apart, which are said to be voiceless.

In order to hear the difference between a voiced and a voiceless sound,

try saying a long v sound, which we will symbolize as [vvvvv]. Now compare

this with a long f sound [fffffl, saying each of them alternately-

[ffffvvvvvfffffvvvvv]. Both of these sounds are formed in the same way in

the mouth. The difference between them is that [v] is voiced but [fl is

voiceless. You can feel the vocal cord vibrations in [v] if you put your fingertips

against your larynx. You can also hear the buzzing of the vibrations

in [v] more easily if you stop up your ears while contrasting [fffffvwvv].

The difference between voiced and voiceless sounds is often important

in distinguishing sounds. In each of the pairs of words "fat, vat; thigh, thy;

Sue, zoo" the first consonant in the first word of each pair is voiceless,

whereas in the second word, it is voiced. To check this for yourself, say

just the consonant at the beginning of each of these words and try to feel

and hear the voicing as suggested above. Try to find other pairs of words

that are distinguished by one having a voiced and the other having a voiceless