Linguistics: Phonetics Indah Lestari (source: Fromkin, Intr. to language)

What is Phonetics? Phonetics is the study of speech sound. It discusses about what individual sound is and how each sound differs from all others. Speech sound in linguistics is called phoneme. When the phoneme becomes a part of a word, it is called segment as /b/ does in bet or rob. There is no segment in the sound of someone clearing his/her throat, it is because the sound is not phoneme.

Three branches of phonetics Acoustic phonetics focuses on the physical properties of sounds. Auditory phonetics is concerned with how listeners perceive the sounds. Articulatory phonetics is the study of how the vocal tract produces the sunds of language.

Ortography The study of alphabetic spellings as the representation of the phonemes. A phoneme can be represented by many letters or forms of spelling, but a letter/form can represent many phonemes too. Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas? The alphabet ‘e’, ‘ie’, ‘ae’, ‘ee’, ‘eo’, ‘ei’, and ‘ea’ represent a phoneme /i:/ A father wanted many village dames badly. The phoneme /ə/, /ɑ:/, /ɒ/, /e/, /ɪ/, /eɪ/, and /æ/.

IPA To symbolize the human speech sound in all language, in 1888, International Phonetic Association developed the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).

Vocal Tract The vocal tract is the human organs producing speech sounds, it consists of Vocal cords, a pair of thin membranes Glottis, the opening between the vocal cords Larynx, the voice box where the vocal cords are Pharynx, the pipe where the larynx is Oral cavity or the mouth, and Nasal cavity or the nose.

Oral cavity There are many other speech organs located in the oral cavity. The movement or the contact between these organs can produced different sound Oral cavity consists of 4. Alveolar ridge 5. Palate (hard palate) 6. Velum (soft palate) 7. Uvula Lips Teeth Tongue

Consonant Consonant is produced if the flow of air from lungs is restricted or closed in the vocal tract. Consonants are classified based on voicing, the place of articulation and the manner of articulation, and nasalization.

Voicing Voicing is the way to determine the consonant by measuring the vibration of the vocal cords. If the vocal cords vibrate, it is called voiced. If the vocal cords do not really vibrate, it is called voiceless. Voiceless is then divided into aspirated and unaspirated phoneme. Aspirated is a brief puff of air when articulated the phoneme. Aspiration only appear if the sound is articulated in the first place. It often apears in articulating the phoneme /p/, /t/, /k/. pit – spit – sip tell – stale – eat cool – school – kick

Consonant based on place of articulation Place of articulation is where the restriction occurs in the vocal tract. There are 8 classes of consonant based on place of articulation, those are: Bilabial Labiodentals Interdentals Alveolars Palatals Velars Uvulars Glottals

Consonant based on the manner of articulation Manner of articulation is the way the airstream is restricted in the vocal tract. There are 5 manners of articulating phoneme, those are Stop, complete blocking of airstream by two speech organs in oral cavity for a short period. Fricative, incomplete blocking of airstream by two speech organs. Affricate, gradually releasing of the blocking of airstream. Glide, little obstruction of the airstream for a short period. Liquid, complete blocking of the airstream by tongue and palatal, but there is enough space for the airstream to flow out.

Nasalization Nasalization is the process of producing phoneme when the velum is not raising, so the air escapes through both the nose and the mouth. All nasal phonemes are voiced.

Vowel Vowels are produced with little restriction of the airflow from the lungs out the mouth and/or the nose. Vowel sounds carry pitch and loudness. There are four ways to classified vowel, those are The tongue position The part of the tongue The shape of lips The duration (tense & lax)