PHONETIC AND PHONOLOGY

Before you study the phonetics of English , or in fact of any other language ,you need first to understand what is meant by the term phonetics and understand the defference between the two related words PHONETICS and PHONOLOGY


PHONETIC

The word phonetics comes from the greek word PHONE which stand for SOUND or VOICE .Usually used with a singular verb ,it refers to the branch of languistics that deals with sounds of speech and their production , description and representation by written symbols .This representation is usually refrred to as the phonetic TRANSCRIPTION in which systems of phonetic writing are provided and aim at the accurate representation of any sequence of speech sounds .


INTERNATIONAL PHONETIC ALPHABET (I.P.A

These systems attempt to facilitate the process of language learning ,especially the foreing one, In this context ,a unifom system has been put forward that caters for almost all possible sequences of human speech sounds .This system is known as the International Phonetics Alphabet (IPA) where human speech sounds are represented by specific symbols .ALL IPA symbols are enclosed in slashes to indicate that the transcription is phonetic rather than representative of a particular language . Phonetics also refers to the system of sounds of a particular language.


BRANCHES OF PHONETICS

phonetics has three main branches.
ARTICULARY PHONETICS is concerned with the positions and movements of the speech organs such as the lips and the tongue in producing sounds
ACOUSTIC PHONETICS is concerned with the phisical properties of the sound waves
AUDITORY PHONETICS is concerned with the perception of the speech sounds or the effect on the ear .


PHONOLOGY

The term phonology is derived from the GREEK words ;phone; which stands for ;sound; 'voice' and 'logos' which means 'word' 'speech' .It refers to the study of speech sounds in languages or in a language with reference to their distribution and pattering and to tacit rules governing pronunciation .It also refers to the system of a language .In other words .phonology attempts to account for how speech sounds are combined .organized and conveny meaning in particular languages .

In addition ,combination of sounds vary widely from one language to another .The combination 'KT' at the begining of a word ,for exemple ,would be impossible in some languages but is unexceptional in GREEK. so, whereas phonetics deals with the nature of sounds per se , phonology describes the way sound function within givin language