Unit 1

Language vs. speech

Phonetics vs. phonology
Speech sounds and segments
Speech sounds or phones vs. phonemes
Phonemes vs. allophones
Segmental features vs. suprasegmental features
Areas of phonetics
Applications of phonetics and its relation to other fields
I.P.A.
Letters vs. sounds – Spelling vs. transcription
Broad vs. narrow transcription / phonemic vs. phonetic
transcription
 Language vs. speech

• LANGUAGE
• A language is a system of conventional signals used for
communication by a whole community.
•
• SPEECH
• Speech is a manifestation of language and spoken
language is normally a continuum of sound.
• SPEECH ACT
• Speech act is a manifestation of language by which one
or more speakers exchange information
 Phonetics vs. phonology

• PHONETICS
• The phonetics of a language concerns the concrete characteristics
(articulatory, acoustics, auditory) of the sounds used in languages.
• Units of speech: speech sounds, phones (that form a continuum or
speech chain which is analysed by dividing it in segments (‘mesa’: 4
phones segments, that is, the 4 sounds [m], [e], [s], [a])

• PHONOLOGY
• Concerns how sounds function in a systematic way in a particular
language.
• It studies and describes the abstract linguistic units: phonemes, and
analyses its distinctive features (rasgos distintivos o pertinentes),
above all its capacity of producing changes in meaning.
 Speech sounds and segments

• In phonetics, speech sounds or phones are the minimum units

of speech, which form the speech chain.
• SEGMENTS
• SPEECH SOUNDS = PHONES
• Segments are sound units, e.g. the word “man” is pronounced
with a first segment “m”, a second segment “æ” and a third
segment “n”.
 Speech sounds or phones vs.
phonemes
• PHONEMES
• In phonology, phonemes are the minimum linguistic units.
They are abstract, invariable and include sounds of different
types.
• It is possible to establish the phonemes of a language by
means of commutation of minimal pairs, i.e., pin, bin, tin, din,
kin, chin, gin, sin, thin, shin, win. These phonemes are in
contrast or opposition.
• They are represented by means of symbols between slant
brackets //. (slash)
 Phonemes vs. allophones

• ALLOPHONES
• The different phonetic realizations of a phoneme are known as its
allophones or allophonic variations).
• They are represented by means of symbols between square
brackets [].
• Allophones are in complementary distribution and present
phonetic similarity.
• Phonemes are :Abstract, invariableContrastive function (change
meaning in the same context by commutation of minimal pairs, are
in contrast or opposition)Represented between slant brackets //
(slash)
• Allophones (sounds)are: Concrete (real realization of a phoneme,
allophonic variations)Complementary distribution, each one in a
phonetic context (Don’t change meaning)Phonetic
similarityRepresented between square brackets []
 Segmental features vs.
suprasegmental features
• SEGMENTAL FEATURES
• A sound not only has a quality, whose phonetic nature can be
described and whose function in the language can be determined,
but also has
• SUPRASEGMENTAL OR PROSODIC FEATURES
• The features of pitch (tono), length, and loudness (volumen???)
may contribute to patterns which extend over larger chunks (trozos)
of utterance than the single segment and when used thus are called
suprasegmental or prosodic.
• Pitch is used to make differences of tone in tone languages, and of
intonation outside tone languages.
– Tone is a feature of syllables or words;
– Intonation is a feature of phrases or clauses
• Some combination of pitch, length and loudness produce accent.
• Other prosodic features are rhythm, tempo and voice quality.
 Areas of phonetics

• The three main are:

• ARTICULATORY PHONETICS
• The branch of phonetics which studies the organs of speech and their use in producing speech
sounds.
• ACOUSTIC PHONETICS
• The branch of phonetics which deals with the physical characteristics of the sound waves which
carry speech sounds between mouth and ear.
• AUDITORY PHONETICS
• The branch of phonetics which deals with the reception of the sound waves by the hearing
apparatus, the transmission of the information along the nervous system to the brain and the
linguistic interpretation of the message.
• There are other classifications according to a scientific basis
• INSTRUMENTAL PHONETICS
• The use of mechanical, electrical or electronic apparatus to investigate any aspect of phonetics.
• LINGUISTIC PHONETICS
• The study of phonetics from the point of view of the ways in which individual languages exploit
phonetic distinctions for linguistic purposes.
• EXPERIMENTAL PHONETICS
• The branch of phonetics which deals with phonetic experiments in order to formulate hypothesis.
 Applications of phonetics and its
relation to other fields
• IN LANGUAGE TEACHING
– Correcting specific pronunciation problems of foreign speakers of a
language. This is called corrective phonetics.
– Correcting disordered speech and language of native speakers. This is
called clinical phonetics.
• IN SPEECH SYNTHESIS
• In speech synthesis, recognition and analysis and also in text
and speech machine processing and translation.
• IN THE LEGAL AREA
• Making identifications of individuals from tape recordings of
speech.
• These are the main applications but phonetics is also related to
physics, anatomy, engineering, psychology and other
knowledge areas.
 I.P.A.
• INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET
• The most prominent phonetic alphabet in contemporary use, first
promulgated by the International Phonetic Association in 1888. The IPA aims
to provide virtually distinctive symbols for all speech sounds which are
phonologically distinct in any language.
• It is formed by symbols and diacritics. The diacritics modify the symbols in
order to reflect the real nature of the sounds.
• INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ASSOCIATION
• An international organization for the study of phonetics, founded in France in
1886 by a group of European phoneticians, linguists and language teachers,
whose best-known work was the creation of the International Phonetic
Alphabet.
• There are others phonetic alphabets:
• RFE Revista de Filología Española, created in 1915 to be used in the
linguistic Spanish community. It is not very different from IPA, except for a
bigger number of diacritics in RFE.
• SAMPA more modern than IPA.
Letters vs. sounds – Spelling vs.
transcription
• LETTERS AND SOUNDS
• Because of the notoriously confusing nature of English
spelling, it is particularly important to learn to think of English
pronunciation in terms of phonemes rather than letters of the
alphabet. For example, the word “enough” begins with the
same vowel phoneme as that at the beginning of “inept”,
although the former begins with the letter “e” and the latter
with the letter “i”.
• SPELLING AND TRANSCRIPTION
• Spelling is the sequence of letters composing a word;
transcription is the representation of speech sounds by means
of phonetic symbols.
 Broad vs. narrow transcription /
phonemic vs. phonetic transcription

• PHONETIC, ALLOPHONIC OR NARROW

TRANSCRIPTIONS indicate detailed sound values.
• PHONOLOGICAL, PHONEMIC OR BROAD
TRANSCRIPTIONS indicate the sequence of significant
functional elements.