phonetics vs. Phonology
Introduction Phonetics and phonology (both from the Greek root phono- 'sound ') are two branches of linguistics that deal primarily with the structure of human language sounds. Phonetics is concerned with how sounds are produced; transmitted and perceived (we will only look at the production of sounds). Phonology is concerned with how sounds function in relation to each other in a language. In other words, phonetics is about sounds of language, phonology about sound systems of language. Phonetics is a descriptive tool necessary to the study of the phonological aspects of a language. The aim of this paper is to distinguish between phonetics and phonology through explaining them. Phonetics According to Bruce Hayes (2009), Phonetics is primarily an experimental science, which studies speech sounds from three viewpoints:
• Production (articulatory phonetics): how sounds are made in the human vocal tract
• Acoustic (phonetics): the study of the waveforms by which speech is transmitted through the atmosphere
• Perception (auditory phonetics): how the incoming acoustic signal is processed to detect the sound sequence originally intended by the speaker
The speech organs All the sounds of English are made using air on its way out from the lungs. The lungs pull in and push out air, helped by the diaphragm. The air goes out via the trachea, where the first obstruction it meets is the larynx, which it has to pass through. Inside the larynx the air passes by the vocal folds, which, if they vibrate, make the sound voiced. Afterwards the air goes up through the pharynx, and escapes via either the oral or the nasal cavity. Almost all the organs involved in speech production also have other functions. The lungs and the diaphragm are obviously involved in breathing, as is the nasal cavity, which cleans heats and humidifies the air that is breathed in. The teeth and the tongue play a part in digestion, and in a way, so do the vocal
• Production (articulatory phonetics): how sounds are made in the human vocal tract
• Acoustic (phonetics): the study of the waveforms by which speech is transmitted through the atmosphere
• Perception (auditory phonetics): how the incoming acoustic signal is processed to detect the sound sequence originally intended by the speaker
The speech organs All the sounds of English are made using air on its way out from the lungs. The lungs pull in and push out air, helped by the diaphragm. The air goes out via the trachea, where the first obstruction it meets is the larynx, which it has to pass through. Inside the larynx the air passes by the vocal folds, which, if they vibrate, make the sound voiced. Afterwards the air goes up through the pharynx, and escapes via either the oral or the nasal cavity. Almost all the organs involved in speech production also have other functions. The lungs and the diaphragm are obviously involved in breathing, as is the nasal cavity, which cleans heats and humidifies the air that is breathed in. The teeth and the tongue play a part in digestion, and in a way, so do the vocal
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