Let's Do Deeper!
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In this activity, you will learn about phonetics and phonology.
In order to produce sound humans use various body
parts including the lips, tongue, teeth, pharynx and lungs. Phonetics is
the term for the description and classification of speech sounds, particularly
how sounds are produced, transmitted and received. A phoneme is
the smallest unit in the sound system of a language; for example, the t sound
in the word top.
Various phonetic alphabets have been developed
to represent the speech sounds in writing through the use of symbols. Some of
these symbols are identical to the Roman letters used in many language
alphabets; for example: p and b. Other symbols are
based on the Greek alphabet, such as θ to represent the th- sound
in thin and thought. Still others have been
specially invented; e.g. ð for the th-sound
in the and then. The most widely used phonetic
script is the International Phonetic Alphabet.
Phonology:
Phonology is the term used for the study of the
speech sounds used in a particular language. The distinctive accents that many
learners of English have are due to differences between the phonological system
of their language and that of English. From birth, and possibly before, we
learn to recognize and produce the distinctive sounds of our own language. We
do not need to give any thought to how to have the lips, tongue, teeth, etc.
working together to produce the desired sounds. The physical structures of
parts of the sound system are adapted to produce native-language sounds.
English has some speech sounds (phonemes) that
do not exist in other languages. It is no surprise, therefore, that native
speakers of those languages have difficulties producing or even perceiving such
sounds. This is particularly true for speakers from language families
other than the Germanic one to which English belongs.
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