Linguistics:

Linguistics is the scientific study of language, which involves analysis of language form, language meaning, and language in context.

The Person, who scientifically studies a language is called Linguist.

The earliest activities in the documentation and description of language have been attributed to the 6th century BC Indian grammarian Pāṇini, who wrote a formal description of the Sanskrit language in his Aṣṭādhyāyī.[5]

Areas of Linguistics:

1.Phonology

All human sounds

Classified sounds

2.Morphology

Words, forms

3.Syntax

Clauses, Sentences

4.Semantics

Meaning

5.Pragmatics

Use of Language

Phonetics

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics. The word has derived from the Greek word “phone”, which means sound.

Phonetics is a scientific study of human speech sounds - their description, classification and transcription

Why Phonetics?

Phonetics enables the speaker to have correct pronunciation

It helps to master the pronunciations of any language

It helps learners to better understand the language

It facilitates in learning a foreign language

If the place and manner of articulation are learnt properly, one can cure the problem of stammering or lisping.

Areas of Phonetics

1.Articulatory phonetics

the study of the organs of speech and their use in producing speech sounds by the speaker

2.Acoustic phonetics

he study of the physical transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to the listener

3.Auditory phonetics

he study of the reception and perception of speech sounds by the listener

Articulation

Articulation is the movement of the tongue, lips, jaw, and other speech organs (the articulators) in ways that make speech sounds.

Sound is produced simply by expelling air from the lungs. However, to vary the sound quality in a way useful for speaking, two speech organs normally move towards each other to create an obstruction that shapes the air in a particular fashion.

Place of Articulation

The organs/articulators responsible for the obstruction of air and production of speech sound

Manner of Articulation

the configuration and interaction of the articulators when making a sound

Voicing

How closely the vocal cords are placed together

Sounds can be voiceless or voiced

Types of sounds

Vowel: a speech sound produced by comparatively open configuration of the vocal tract with vibration of the vocal cords but without audible friction

an independent unit of the sound system

it forms the nucleus of a syllable. (A in jug)

Consonant: a basic speech sound in which the breath is at least partly obstructed (blocked)

dependent unit of sound system, which can be combined with a vowel to form a syllable. (sa, ang in sing )

Diphthong: a sound formed by the combination of two vowels

in which the sound begins as one vowel and moves towards another (oi in coin ).

English Sounds

All 44 English Sounds

Articulators

Articulators

Organs of Speech

Organs of speech are also known as the articulators.

Lungs

Vocal Tract : the cavity where sounds are produced

Larynx : Voice Box (above windpipe, in front of foodpipe)

Glottis : the part of the larynx consisting of the vocal cords

Epiglottis : flap in the throat that keeps food from entering the windpipe

Velum : soft palate

Tongue : tip of the tongue & blades of the tongue

Trachea : Windpipe

Hard Palate

Lips : lower and upper lip

Teeth : lower and upper teeth

Alveolar Ridge : the area behind the upper teeth

Nose: Nasal Cavity

Sanskrit Consonants

English Consonants

Tongue & Lips

Labial : Sounds requiring the participation of one or both lips are called a labial sounds

Coronal : Sounds that are produced by raising the tongue blade (including the tip of the tongue) from its neutral position towards the teeth or the hard palate are called Coronal Sounds

Dorsal: Sounds that are articulated with the back of the tongue (the dorsum)

Place of Articulation

Velar: Back of tongue contacts the soft palate

Palatal: Middle of tongue approaches or contacts the hard palate

Alveolar: Tongue tip contacts the alveolar ridge

Post-alveolar: Tongue blade contacts the post-alveolar region behind the alveolar ridge

Dental: Tongue tip or tongue blade contacts upper teeth

Bilabial: Both lips come together

Labio-dental: Lower lip contacts upper teeth

Glottal: No obstruction anywhere but in the vocal cords down in the throat

Manner of Articulation

Plosive : Stops or plosives are consonant sounds that are formed by completely stopping airflow

Fricative : Consonant sounds, such as English f or v, produced by bringing the mouth into position to block the passage of the airstream, but not making complete closure, so that air moving through the mouth generates audible friction.

Affricate: An affricate is a consonant that begins as a stop and releases as a fricative (First Blocked and then released)

Lateral : Consonant sounds produced by raising the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth so that the airstream flows past one or both sides of the tongue

Nasal: Consonant sounds produced with a lowered velum, allowing air to escape freely through the nose. There are three nasal sounds in English. /m/, /n/, /ŋ

Glide : Semivowels or glides are sounds, that are phonetically similar to a vowel sound but function as the syllable boundary, rather than as the nucleus of a syllable

Approximant: Consonants produced by bringing one articulator (the tongue or lips) close to another without actually touching it, as in English r and w.

Voicing

Voiceless Sounds: When producing a sound, vocal cords spread apart, air passes without no or little obstruction and vocal cords does not vibrate, the produced sound is called voiceless sound. e.g. /k/, /f/, /t/

Voiced Sounds: When producing a sound, vocal cords come together, air pushes them apart to pass through, creating vibration, the produced sound is called voiced sound. e.g. /g/, /v/, /d/

There are Three basic rules for pronunciation of /r/ sound.

(1) /r/ sound is not pronounced, when it is at the end of the word. E.g. Father

(2) /r/ sound is not pronounced, when it is followed by a consonant. E.g. Bird / bə:d/ (In the word Bird, the middle /r/ sound is not pronounced because it is followed by a consonant /d/. )

(3) /r/ sound is pronounced, when it is followed by a vowel. (In the word group / gru:p / the the middle /r/ sound is pronounced, because it is followed by a vowel /u:/)

Consonants - 24

Vowels -12

Diphthongs - 8

Syllable

Syllable is a unit of pronunciation which have one vowel sound, with or without surrounding consonants. Syllable forms the whole or a part of a word. E.g., there are two syllables in water ( wa – ter) and three in inferno ( in – fer – no

A word that consists of a single syllable (dog) is called monosyllabic. Similarly, disyllabic for a word of two syllables; trisyllablic for a word of three syllables; and polysyllabic , which refers to any word of more than one syllable.

Consonant Cluster: It is a group of consonants pronounced together. As str in strong.

Accent

Accent means a distinct emphasis given to a syllable or word in speech by stress or pitch.

A long word may have more than one accent. The vowel that is stressed more or most is called the primary accent.

A second accented vowel is called the secondary accent. For example, cón-ver-sá-tion.

Very long words can have even more stressed vowel sounds, but only one primary accent.