Branches of phonetics

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 567.

Phonetics as a science

Methods applied in phоnetics

Phonetics as a Science -The study of the sound phenomena of language, in all their aspects and varieties, constitutes the subject of the phonetic science. Phonetics as a branch of linguistics studies sounds in the broad sense, comprising segmental sounds and prosodic phenomena (pitch, stress, tempo, rhythm, pauses). Phonetics occupies itself w/ the study of the ways in which the sounds are organized into a system of units and the variation of the units in all types and styles of spoken language. It also studies the acoustic properties of sounds, the physiological basis of sound production and the sound phenomena that reveal the individual peculiarities of the speaker.

Phonetics as a science is a branch of linguistics. Being a science in its own rights, it is at the same time closely connected w/ other linguistic sciences-grammar, lexicology, stylistics and history of the language, since the phonetic system of a language, its vocabulary and grammar constitutes one indivisible whole. It is also closely connected with physiology, biology, physics, pedagogy psychology, mathematics, cybernetics.

Phonetics is subdivided into four main branches. Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the study of sounds as the result of the activities of speech organs. It deals with our voice-producing mechanism and the way we produce sounds and prosodic phenomena. It studies respiration, phonation (voice-production), articulation and also the mental processes necessary for the mastery of phonetic system.Methods employed in articulatory phonetics are experimental. They involve palatography, laryngoscopy, photography, cinematography, X-ray photography, X-ray cinematography, electromyography, and various kinds of technique to study sound-perception.Besides these objective methods articulatory phonetics uses its oldest, subjective method - the method of direct observation.Perceptual (auditory) phonetics occupies itself with the study of man's perception of segmental sounds, pitch variation, loudness and duration. It studies the ways in which sound perception is determined by the phonetic system of a language.The methods used in auditory phonetics are also experimental.They include various kinds of auditory tests. Since sound production and sound perception are physiological processes, articulatory and perceptual phonetics are generally termed physiological phonetics.There are other branches of phonetics, such as: special, general, and historical descriptive, comparative, applied.