phonology

PHONOLOGY

Code : E21C216/ E21C214/ E21C218Weight : 2Semester : IIClass : A, B, and C English Education 2010/2011Lecturer : Dr. Maemuna Muhayyang, M.Pd.

Definition of Phonology

• Richards, et al (1985) defined phonology is the study or description of the distinctive sound units of a language (phoneme). It is also the study of word-to-word relations in sentences, that is how sound patterns are affected by the combination of words, for example, /du:/do and /yu:/you may combine /du:yə/.

• Ladetoged (1989) defined phonology is the description of the system and patterns of sounds that occur in a language. It involves studying a language to determine its distinctive sound and to establish a set of rules that describe the set of changes that take place in these sounds when they occur in different relationship with other sounds.

The Significance of Learning Phonology

The significances of learning phonology are as follows: 1. To produce the sounds forming meaningful utterances,2. To recognize the sound patterns of English,3. To recognize a foreign accent,4. To make up new words, 5. To produce aspirated and unaspirated sounds,6. To pronounce voiceless stops in the appropriate context,7. To know what is or is not a sound, and 8. To know what different phonetic strings may represent the

same meaningful unit (Fromkin & Rodman, 1983).

The Relationship between Phonology & Phonetics

• Phonology and phonetics are inseparable, they are mutual dependent.

• They discuss about the sounds of the language; phonology deals with the sound patterns, while phonetics deals with the sound variations of the language.

• Phonetics is the study of sounds used in speech. It deals with the form of sounds, how they are produced, heard, and how they can be described.

• Phonetics describes the concrete, physical dimension of sounds, such as whether they are voice or voiceless and their places and manners of articulation.

The Areas of Phonetics

1. Articulatory Phonetics deals with the way in which speech sounds are

produced.

2. Acoustic Phonetics deals with the transmission of speech sounds through the air (sound waves). It examines the length, frequency, and pitch of sounds.

3. Auditory Phonetics deals with how speech sounds are perceived by the listener.

Articulatory Phonetics

1. Vocal TractSpeech sound is created by airflow through the vocal tract. It is a tube where air passes. If this tube is open, the airflow creates a sound. The vocal tract is divided into the oral tract within the mouth and the pharynx, and the nasal tract within the nose.The part of oral tract that can be used to form sounds are called articulators. Saying out ‘capital’ and noting the major movement of your tongue and lips.

2. Pharynxit is part of the throat which extends from above the vocal cords up to the soft palate at the back of the mouth. It is like large chamber and in the production of speech sounds its shape and volume can be changed in various ways:

Vocal Tract and Pharynx

Articulatory Phonetics

a. By tightening the muscles which enclose it,b. By movement of the back of the tongue, andc. By either raising or lowering the soft palate.3. Soft Palate (Velum)

It is a muscular flap that can be raised to press against the back wall of the pharynx and shut off the nasal tract, preventing air from going out through the nose.

4. Hard PalateIt is a thin horizontal bony plate of the skull, located in the front part of roof of the mouth.

5. Alveolar RidgeIt is located behind the upper teeth where there is a small protuberance that we can feel with the tip of the tongue.

Soft Palate

Hard Palate

Alveolar Ridge

Articulatory Phonetics

6. TongueTongue can be moved into many different places and different shapes. There are three different parts of the tongue; tip, blade, front, root or back. The tip and blade lie under the alveolar ridge; the tip is the most forward part of all and the blade between the tip and the front. The front lies under the hard palate. It can be flat on the bottom of the mouth or it can be raised to touch the hard palate. The back of the tongue lies under the soft palate when the tongue is at rest.

7. Teeth Teeth are categorized into upper and lower teeth. The upper teeth are more important than lower ones as there are many sounds articulated by the upper teeth

8. LipsLips are divided into lower and upper lips.

Tongue

Teeth

Lips