Phonetics: Introduction

What is Phonetics?

• Phonetics is the study of speech: how speech is produced and how it is perceived
•  Phonetics differs from phonology
• The subject matter of phonology is the investigation of sound systems (primary) by means of observation
•  The aim is to account for the organization of sound systems in different languages and to provide forma representations of them 

The organs of speech

Properties of vowels

• Most sonant (audible) sounds
• Almost always voiced
• Vowel sounds change according to shape of vocal tract, no obstructions in vowels

Vowel sounds

• Tongue height: high/mid/low
• Tongue backness: front/central/back
• Lip rounding: round/ unround
• Tenseness: tense/lax

a)      Tongue height

•  Put your hand under your chin and say seat, set, sat
•  High: leak, lick, Luke, look (/liːk/, /lɪk/, /luːk/, /lʊk/)
•  Mid: bait, bet, but, bought, boat ( /beɪt/, /bɛt/, /bʌt/, /bɔːt/, /bəʊt/)
•  Low: cat, car (/kæt/, /kɑː/ )

b)     Tongue advancement

•  Front: seek, sick, sake, sec, sack (/siːk/, /sɪk/, /seɪk/, /sɛk/, /sæk/)
• Central: luck (lʌk)
• Back: look, road, law, dot  (/lʊk/, /rəʊd/, /lɔː/, /dɒt/)

c)      Lip rounding

• In English, only he high and mid back vowels are produced with lip rounding
•  Round vowels: /ʊ/, /uː/, /i:/, /ɪ/,
• Unround vowels: all the other

d)     Tenseness

•  Tense vowels: the tongue is at an extreme height or backness
• Lax vowels

o   The tongue is not an extreme position

o   Compare Pete and pit (/piːt/, /pɪt/ )