lesson 1

• Phonetics


  Belongs to descriptive linguistics, studies production (articulatory phonetics), transmission (acoustic phonetics), and reception (auditory phonetics) of sound, does not study one particular language
• Phonology


  Belongs to theoretical linguistics, studies different patterns of sounds in different languages, can study one specific language
• Differences between Phonetics and Phonology


  • DEFINITION: Phonetics - study of speech sounds, Phonology - study of speech sounds used in a language
  • BRANCH OF LINGUISTICS: Phonetics - descriptive linguistics, Phonology - theoretical linguistics
  • AREAS COVERED: Phonetics - production, transmission, and reception of sound, Phonology - different patterns of sounds in different languages
  • SPECIFICITY: Phonetics - does not study one particular language, Phonology - can study one specific language
• Phoneme


  An ideal sound unit with a complete set of articulatory gestures, the basic theoretical unit for describing how speech conveys linguistic meaning, about 42 phonemes in English, types of phonemes: vowels, semivowels, diphthongs, and consonants
• Allophone


  One of the set of multiple possible spoken sounds or phones used to pronounce a single phoneme in a particular language
• Phone


  The actual sounds that are produced in speaking
• Monophones, Biphones, Triphones


  Sequences of one, two, and three phones, respectively, most often used to describe acoustic models
• Problems in sound and spelling of English

  • The same letter does not always represent the same sound
  • The same sound is not always represented by the same letter
  • Some letters are not pronounced at all
  • We pronounce sounds in some places where there is no letter
  • Variants of the plural and past tense morpheme
• The letter S can be realized as


  • /s/ as in sat, song, summer
  • /z/ as in busy, cousin, Asian
  • /ʃ/ as in mission, sure, sugar
  • /ʒ/ as in vision, measure, leisure
• The velar plosive /g/ is spelt


  • g as in gate, give, bag, go
  • gg as in juggle, begged
  • gh as in ghost, aghast
• The labio-dental fricative /f/ is also spelt as


  • f in the words fit, leaf, soft, after
  • ff in the words offer, affair, stiff
  • gh in the word laughter
  • ough in the words cough, rough
  • ph in the words Photo, trophy, graph
• Silent letters in English

  • Silent B as in numb, womb, debt, doubt
  • Silent C as in muscle, scene, science, abscess
  • Silent D as in handsome, handkerchief, Wednesday
  • Silent G as in gnome, sign, reign, feign, diaphragm
  • Silent H as in hour, honest, heir, exhaust, exhibit, shepherd
  • Silent K as in know, knight, knee, knife, knowledge
  • Silent L as in could, would, should, calf, behalf, psalm
  • Silent M as in mnemonics
  • Silent N as in hymn, solemn, condemn, column
  • Silent P as in psychology, pneumonia, pseudo, cupboard, empty
  • Silent T as in listen, often, castle, wrestle, rapport, ballet, Christmas
  • Silent U as in guess, quest, guard, guide, colleague, guinea, vague
  • Silent W as in wretched, wrestling, wrinkle, wrong, who
• Variants of the plural and past tense morpheme

  • Books /buks/
  • Cows /kauz/
  • Rushes /rʃIz/
  • Begged /begd/
  • Looked /lukt/
  • Painted /peIntId/