Phonetics and English phonology
General introduction
Phonetics is the study of sounds, especially speech sounds.
Phonetics studies those speech sounds used by human beings in oral communication.
Phonetics is a branch of the linguistic sciences and, like linguistics, mathematics and physics, is a universal science.
Phonetics studies all speech sounds and is not language specific.
It is not possible to use the term English phonetics just as it is not possible to say English linguistics or Catalan mathematics or Russian physics.
The scientific tenants of Phonetics can be applied to the sounds of specific languages, that is, the production and perception of the sounds of any language come within the science of Phonetics.
Phonology on the other hand is the study of the usage made of speech sounds by members of a single language community.
Phonology is the study of systems of speech sounds.
Phonology is language specific and the terms English phonology and Catalan phonology.
Phonology studies how members of a language community manipulate the structures of strings of speech sounds in order to communicate with one another.
Phonetics
There are three main types of phonetic research:
1. Articulatory phonetics (speech production)
Articulatory phonetics is the study of how, after receiving a signal from the brain, the human vocal tract is manipulated into a configuration which generates a speech sound wave form.
Articulatory phonetics describes sounds in terms of the movement of the organs in the vocal tract.
2. Auditory phonetics (speech perception)
Auditory phonetics studies how the human hear receives the speech sound wave form, processes the wave form and converts it into a signal for interpretation by the hearer's brain.
Acoustic phonetics is the study of the perception of sounds by a hearer or hearers.
3. Acoustic phonetics
Acoustic phonetics, also called experimental phonetics, studies the physical qualities of the sound wave form which is emitted by the speaker and perceived by the hearer.
Acoustic phonetics examines the frequency, amplitude and duration of the sound wave passing between speaker(s) and hearer(s).
Phonetics and the other linguistic sciences
Phonetics is a linguistic science.
Phonology, together with syntax, semantics, lexicography and morphology, form the core of the scientific study of languages.
Noam Chomsky's Syntactic Structures (1957) and Aspects of the Theory of Syntax (1964) generated an academic debate about the position (and status) of the phonological component in relation to the other areas of linguistic research.
Chomsky himself focussed in particular on syntactic structures.
Chomsky went on to write, with Halle, Sound Patterns of English which presents a unified model for the analysis of language.
Chomsky and Halle were aware that the main source of data for writing a grammar is not a text, but speech.
Ironically, however, even today, most grammars present rules which have been devised using written forms of the language in question, not the spoken forms.
In more recent years, adopting what has been termed a "minimalist approach", he has come to the conclusion that language is generated by two distinct components:
1. the logical component, and
2. the phonological component.
This conclusion is important because it places phonetics and the study of sound systems (phonology) right at the heart of linguistic studies.
It is clear that speech preceded the written word.
A language exists thanks to its spoken form, not thanks to its written form.
Only so-called "dead languages" exist only in a written form, and even they were spoken languages originally.
No language has ever existed which has never been spoken at some time in its history.
The only exceptions to this are mathematics, algebra, BASIC, FORTRAN, PASCUAL and other computer languages.
Sound systems, therefore, are an essential element of human oral communication which makes Phonetics a key linguistic science.
The Speech Chain
The Speech Chain is made up of a speaker or speakers and a hearer or hearers.
This Speech Chain model is a modified and refined Saussurian model.
The speaker generates a speech wave form by moving the organs of his/her vocal tract in such a way as to affect the molecules of air contained in the voacl tract.
As the speaker(s) emits the speech sound wave, the speaker's ears perceive the sound wave and interpret it, that is, the speaker can hear him-/herself speak.
This is called auditory feedback.
Also, as the organs of the speaker's vocal tract move they generate vibrations which are transmitted through muscle and tissue of the vocal tract and are perceived by the speaker.
This is called kinaesthetic feedback.
The variations in air pressure produced by the manipulation of the configuration of the speaker's vocal tract are transmitted to the inner ear of the hearer(s).
The nerve endings in the hearer's inner ear converts the received speech wave form into electric pulses which are transmitted through the auditory nerve to the brain where they are interpreted.
In order to understand better the various stages in the Speech Chain, it is useful to refer to Catford's (1990) "Phases of Speech"
Catford (1990)
Catford maintains that, in order for speech communication to take place, there must exist something to be communicated, whether it be an idea, a feeling, an intuition, a suggestion etc.
A "speech event" is whatever it is that the speaker wishes to communicate.
The first stage of the Speech Chain is the Speech Event
Then, in the logical component, ie. the brain, the speaker conceptualises the
speech event.
The Wernicke and Broca regions of the brain are the areas which initiate speech signals.
Recent research has shown that, according to whether a person learns a language "early" in life, i.e. as a first language, or "late" in life, i.e. as a second language, differentiated areas of the speaker's broca region will initiate the speech signal.
Secondly, the speaker encodes the event according to the grammar of the language he/she is speaking in.
Speech encoding invokes the language specific elements of lexicon and syntax, from which is derived a semantic component, together with language specific morphology.
Thirdly, the encoded utterance is externalised by means of the Phases of Speech.
To summarise:
The speaker must first conceptualise the event.
Then the speaker encodes the event, using language specific programmes.
Then the formatted speech event is externalised in the form of an utterance by means of the phases of speech.
On perceiving the utterance the hearer decodes the utterance.
The hearer then conceptualises the event.
The process of conceptualisation on the part of the speaker and the hearer and the processes of encoding and decoding are outside the domain of phonetics.
Catford's "Phases of speech"
The speech event is transformed by lexical grammatical structure programming into a short-term neural signal which passes through the central nervous system to initiate an utterance.
This process is called "neuro-linguistic programming".
Once the brain has undergone neuro-linguistic programming, the nervous system sends motor commands to muscles in the chest (diaphragm), throat, mouth, sides of the face etc.
This phase is called the "neuro-muscular phase".
As a result of the muscular contractions, the organs in the vocal tract move, that is, the lungs, the tongue, the lips, the lower jaw, etc.
This part is called the "organic phase".
The movement of the organs affects air pressure distribution in the vocal tract.
This part which causes the movement of air is called the "aerodynamic phase".
Then the molecules of air adopt wave forms which are generated by the specific configuration and movement of the organs of the vocal tract.
This fifth phase of speech is called the "acoustic phase".
Catford's Phases of Speech Perception
1. Neuro-receptive phase
Once the speech sound wave forms reach the the hearer's tympani or ear- drum and are transmitted to the hearer's inner ear, the sensory endings of the auditory nerve are stimulated sending electric pulses to the hearer's brain.
2. Neuro-linguistic identification
The hearers brain identifies and interprets the signal.
3. Decoding
The hearer decodes the signal, which requires that the speaker and the hearer share the same rules for coding and decoding, i.e. the same language.
4. Conceptualisation
The hearer conceptualises the event.
If the communication is adequate, the conceptualised event of the hearer will resemble the conceptualised event of the speaker.
Two other Phases of Speech
1. Kinaesthetic feedback
As the organs of our vocal tract move during sound production we can feel muscular contraction, contact of the organs (one with another) and the pressure of the air in the vocal tract.
We have certain physical tactile sensations as we produce sounds.
Those movements are so common, so natural, that we do not pay much attention to them.
Kinaesthetic feedback, the transmission of vibrations through muscle and tissue during speech production, is an important phenomenon which enables the speaker to hear himself speak.
Kinaesthetic feedback is also used for remedial speech therapy.
If you are learning a new sound in a foreign language, kinaesthetic feedback will also be useful in, for example a demonstration of how a sound is made i.e. "Put your tongue like this and do this."
2. Auditory feedback
As the speaker produces speech sounds, the sound waves that are emitted from his/her mouth cavity are perceived by his/her own ears.
When the speech wave forms reach the speaker's tympani, they are transmitted to the inner ear where the sensory endings of the speaker's auditory nerve generate electric pulses which are in turn transmitted to the speaker's brain for identification, decoding and conceptualisation.
Not only can the speaker hear what he/she is saying as he/she is speaking, but he/she can also understand (conceptualise) what he/she is saying as he/she is speaking.
In addition, the sound is transmitted internally by the transmission of the signal through the bone structure.
To summarise
When we speak we hear what we are saying in two ways, externally - by air conduction and internally - by bone conduction.
In fact, hearing oneself speak is a fundamental and very important linguistic activity for self-correction and self-tuition.
By hearing ourselves pronounce words, we can teach ourselves new words.
Also, child language acquisition is possible thanks to auditory feedback.
Speaking, even to oneself, can be very difficult if you cannot hear the speech sounds you are producing.