1. INTRODUCTION TO PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY
HLG101
with Dr Mukaro

2. Definition:
Language
◆ Human and non-instinctive method of communicating ideas, feelings, and desires by means of a system of sounds and sound symbols.
(Oxford Dictionary)
◆The possession of language, perhaps more than any other attribute, distinguishes humans from other animals.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

3. Linguistics
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. It is an empirical science that can be studied and examined. In contrast to the previous social studies that was conducted in a subjective way, linguistics takes an objective way to analyze language. So, it has the following features:
◆ observable
◆ analyzable and be generalized
◆ can be verified and falsified
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

4. Grammar:
The sounds and sound patterns, the basic units of meaning, such as words, and the rules to combine them to form new sentences constitute the grammar of a language.
The grammar is an internalized, unconscious set of rules.
A finite set of rules that generate an infinite number linguistics units in a language
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

5. competence vs. performance:
And the grammar here means the competence instead of performance.
◆ competence: the speaker-hearer’s
knowledge of his language. It is what you know about the language.
◆ performance: the actual use of language in concrete situations. It is how you use the knowledge in actual speech production and comprehension.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

6. Linguistic ability:
Linguistic ability is the capacity to produce sounds that signify certain meanings and to understand or interpret the sounds produced by others (Fromkin & Rodman).
A native speakers of a particular language knows his/her own language in several ways:
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

7. ◆phonological ability: the knowledge of sound system
1. inventory of sounds
2. phonotactic rules
3. syllable structure
e.g. English: “spray” is a possible word
“ksmatrn” is not a possible word
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

8. ◆semantic ability: the knowledge of words and their references
When you know a language you know words in that language, that is, the sound units that are related to specific meanings. You also know the semantic features contained in the words and the relations between the graph, the sound, and the meaning.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

9. ◆syntactic ability: the knowledge of relations between words and phrases in a sentence, the internal structure of a sentence, and the correct judgment of grammaticality of sentences.
e.g. English:
1.Jack likes extremely beautiful girls.
(extremely modifies beautiful;
extremely beautiful modifies girls.)
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

10. Subfields of Linguistics
Phonetics:
The science of speech sounds is called phonetics.
It aims to provide the set of features or properties that can be used to describe and distinguish all the sounds used in human language.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

11. Phonology:
The study of the sound system of a language is called phonology. It includes the inventory of phones, the phonetic segments that occur in the language, and the ways in which they pattern.
It is this patterning that determines the inventory of phonemes, the segments that differentiate words.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

12. Morphology:
The study of word formation and the internal structure of words is called morphology.
Terms: morpheme; affixes (prefixes, suffixes, infixes, and circumfixes); bound vs. free; root vs. stem vs derivational.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

13. Syntax:
The study of how the words in a grammatical sentence must be ordered and grouped is called syntax.
Terms: phrase structure, deep structure, transformational rules, etc.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

14. It is a study of linguistic meaning.
Semantics:
The study of how to produce and understand sentences with particular meanings is called semantics.
It is a study of linguistic meaning.
Terms: lexical semantics; phrasal semantics;
homonyms; heteronyms;homographs;
synonyms; antonyms polysemous;
hyponyms; acronyms; etc.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

15. The study of how context affects meaning is called pragmatics.
Terms: principle of politeness.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

16. Phonetics And Phonology: The distinction.

17. Phonetics phone – Greek for ‘sound’ Definitions:
"[t]he study of the full range of vocal sounds that human beings are capable of making" (Kenstowicz & Kisseberth 1979, 1).
The part of linguistics concerned with the sounds of language.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

18. Definitions (cont)
Examines the inventory and structure of the sounds of speech.
It deals with how sounds are produced, their physical properties
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

19. Definition (cont)
how the rules of language organize and change sounds in different context
analyze the properties common to all human sounds used in language
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

20. Definition (cont)
a scientific description of what speech sounds exist in human language.
traces the processes physiologically involved in sound production.
describes the ways the sounds are produced and the points at which they are articulated.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

21. Phonology
Definition
concerned with the regularities that govern the phonetic realizations of sounds in words of a language.
looks at and tries to establish a system of sound distinctions relevant to a particular language.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

22. Definition (cont)
seeks to determine how the elements of this abstract system behave in actual speech.
delineates the functioning of sounds in particular contexts.
the branch of linguistics which investigates the ways in which sounds are used systematically in different languages to form words and utterances (Katamba 1989: 1).
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

23. The Distinction
phonetics describes the physical realization of sounds the physiological processes involved in sound production.
phonology on the other hand looks at the behavioral patterns of sounds in actual speech, their realizations in different environments, whatsoever these may be.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

24. Phonetics = sound production
Phonology = sound behavior in realization
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

25. phonetics = providing the set of features which can describe the sounds of a language
phonology = provision of information that has to do with the functional patterning of the sounds in the language (Adeyanju, 2003).
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

26. phonology = the organization of the sound patterns in the language.
phonetics = raw materials for the description of speech sounds production.
phonology = the organization of the sound patterns in the language.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

27. phonetics describes the production process involved in physical sounds.
phonology describes the environmental factors that shape these sounds in particular points of occurrence.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

28. Example: /p/
Phonetically its pulmonic egressive, voiceless, bilabial stop (physical attributes).
Phonologically it can occur in initial position ‘pick’, word medially ‘spot’ and word finally ‘nip.’ (environmental constraints).
The babbling baby analogy.
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

29. IN BRIEF:
‘phonetics supplies an embarrassment of riches, providing much more information than speakers seem to use or need: all those speakers, and every utterance different!
Phonology, on the other hand, involves a reduction to the essential information, to what speakers and hearers think they are saying and hearing’ (McMahon 2002: 3).
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

30. SCHEMATIC SUMMARY Phonology - Sound patterns in language.
Phonetics
-speech anatomy and mechanics (physiology)
-Speech acoustics
& perception
- Sounds as physical,
decomposable entities
-description of sounds
-sound production
-articulatory constraints on speech timing, speech aerodynamics, and the acoustic representation of speech sounds.
-universal
Phonology
- Sound patterns in language.
- Structure of sounds
in the linguistic system.
- Sounds as discrete,
cognitive entities.
-functional aspects of sounds
-behavioral patterns of sounds
-language specific
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101

31. Namhla sokwanenele! Kwanhasi zvakwana! Enough for today! 谢谢大家！！
L. Mukaro (PhD) HLG101