Phonetics Linguistics for ELT B Ed TESL 2005 Cohort 2

Objectives of this chapter. Definitions Formation of sounds Phonetics symbols and Transcription Organs of articulation Segmental features of the language Phonological errors of pupils of ESL

What is Phonetics? It is the study of describing speech sounds that occur in a language (Peter Ladefoged, 2001) The study of speech sounds (Fromkin et al 2003) The whole science of phonetics is an essential part of the subject linguistics (Roach, 2002) The study of Speech sounds and the speech sounds may be reffered to as segments or phones (S C Poole 2000)

What is phonology? It is the study of “sounds in the context of languages and other speech varieties. It is concerned with which sounds a language uses and how it arranges them.” (Stuart C Poole, 1999). The study of the ways in which speech sounds form systems and patterns. (Fromkin et al 2003)

Characteristics Sounds can be segmented – speech is divisible into units How many sounds are there in ‘NOT’ and ‘KNOT’, Or ‘CAT’, or ‘FISH’ 3 sounds But in actual spoken language or speech sound we produce and hear is continuous. Speakers do not pause between words – no breaks Continuous sounds can be analysed if one knows the language.

Continuous sounds - examples Hold on Cartoon – KEEP OUT Apron / napron (a napron became an apron) It’s hard to recognise speech It’s hard to wreck a nice beach

Identity of Speech sounds Our ability to distinguish non-linguistic sounds is due to our linguistic knowledge and grammar rules that we have. Eg the ‘ Cough’ in the middle of “How are ‘cough’ you?” This ability will help us to ignore other insignificant linguistics differences – like tempo, pitch of voice, personal styles of speaking, nasal twang in voice, etc. We can judge physically different sounds to be the same, no matter how they are produced.

Which phonetics? The study of the physical properties of the sounds is acoustic phonetics The study of the way listeners perceive sounds is auditory phonetics The study of how he vocal tract produces sounds of language – articulatory phonetics

Spelling and Sounds Alphabetic spelling represents the pronunciation of words - orthography But orthography in English does not represent the sounds of the words in a language systematically. Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas? My father wanted many a village dame badly. In Malay – ‘semak’, ‘perang’

Spelling and sounds Orthoepists are spelling reformers – they want to revise the alphabet – one letter could correspond to one sound – read pg 236 Fromkin. What is ‘ghoti’? How do you pronounce it? Problems are: Several letters represent a single sound A single letter represent different sounds

A combination of letters represent a single sound – sh, th, etc. Some letters do not represent a sound at all – silent letters – the silent E in WISE, Silent B in DEBT and LAMB, etc. in 1888 the IPA, developed the phonetic symbols – still in use now.

Tasks Read on the Phonetic Alphabet (Fromkin Chap 6). Reproduce ‘the vocal tract’ Reproduce the ‘Phonetic symbols’ on the inside cover of the Cambridge International Dictionary. Attempt ex 1 – 3 pgs fromkin