Reasons for the study of phonetics



Phonetics is concerned with describing speech.

1. 
   Provide some reasons for the study of phonetics
   
2. 
   For all these purposes phoneticians need to find out what people are doing when they are talking and how the sounds of speech can be described (Ladefoged 2001: 1)
   

1. 
   articulatory
   
2. 
   acoustic
   
3. 
   auditory
   



Consider the three main goals below and decide which best meets the study of phonetics. Provide reasons.

1. 
   account for any kind of “noise” which the vocal apparatus is capable
   

2. 
   a subset of (a) – those sounds that are linguistically significant in some language or order
   

3. 
   a subset of (b) – only those sounds that are linguistically significant in a particular language.
   

• 
  In order to understand the speech production process we need to identify and describe elements of human anatomy and physiology which aid speech
  

• 
  The aspects of human anatomy used in speech are called “vocal organs”
  

• 
  Although they are used in speech production, they perform other primary biological functions
  



For purposes of identification and description of speech sounds, we will divide the speech production system into three areas:

1. 
   Lungs – diagram of
   

2. 
   Larynx – diagrams of
   

3. 
   vocal tract - diagram
   



We need to do and understand the following:

1. 
   Identify the organs, or articulators
   
2. 
   The way in which the articulators interact
   
3. 
   The manner in which the articulators interact
   

1. 
   Active articulators
   
2. 
   Passive articulators
   



1. 
   With the aid of the diagrams identify and describe each of the articulators
   
2. 
   Practice: produce sounds and identify the articulator(s) involved
   

1. 
   Pulmonic airstream - diagram
   

2. 
   Glottalic airstream - diagram
   

3. 
   Velaric airstream - diagram