Phonetics Revision Units I and II. 1) Definition of Language. Characteristics.

Language: human vocal noise used systematically and conventionally by a community for purpose of communication. Characteristics: Creative (new words), arbitrary (sound-words), culturally transmitted, discrete, open, learnable. 2) Definition of Linguistics. Relationship Phonetics- Phonology- Linguistics. Linguistics: science that studies how language is structured grammatically and semantically. Its the scientific study of natural language. 3) Accent we study. Why. We study RP (Received Pronunciation). This is the accent of educated people in England. Its widely taught, easy to understand, unmarked and socially accepted. 4) Speech chain. Speakers and listeners part. The speech chain is a complex series of events which take place at different levels and stages. The speaker has a message to transmit to a listener (psychological activity in the speakers brain). He arranges his thought into a linguistic form. He encodes the message. He uses his muscles and nerves (physiological activity). The sound travels towards the listener. The listener perceives the sound (physiological activity). And his brain decodes the message ( psychological activity). 5) Definition of Phonetics. Characteristics. Phonetics: Study of phonic substance and its function in spoken language. It deals with the observation, measurement, and description of sound. Its descriptive, analytical, classificatory and general. 6) Definition of Phonology. Characteristic. Phonology: study of the selection and organization of phonic substance into a given form or pattern. It is particularly (of one language) and functional (studies the function of sounds in that particular language). 7) Branches of Phonetics. What they deal with. The branches of Phonetics are: Articulatory (production of sounds), Acoustics (transmission of sounds), Auditory (reception of sounds). 8) Speech apparatus. The speech apparatus is a series of organs and cavities that form a passage from the lungs to de lip and nostrils. The speech apparatus is made up of: lungs, larynx, cavities or resonators (pharynx, nose, mouth), and articulators (palate, tongue, teeth, lips). 9) Vocal tract. Section of the speech apparatus extending from the larynx upwards.

10) Active and passive articulators. The articulators are organs situated in or surrounding the oral cavity. The active articulators can move: vocal folds, tongue and lips. The passive articulators cant move: palate and teeth. 11) Vocal folds or chords. Where they are situated. The vocal folds are two bands of muscle lying across the centre of the larynx. 12) Cartilages in the larynx. Their functions. Apart from the vocal folds, the larynx has tree cartilages. The thyroid, which is at the front and has the shape of a shield, protects the vocal folds. The two arytenoid cartilages, which have the form of pyramids, move the vocal folds. And the cricoid, which has the shape of a sealing sing and supports the structure. 13) Division of the palatal. Oral and nasal sound. How they are produced. The palate may be divided into three parts: the alveolar ridge (prominence just behind the upper teeth), the hard palate (the bony, immovable over the centre of the mouth), and the soft palate or velum (the movable part at the back). The tip of the velum is called uvula. When the velum is raised and pressed agaist the back wall of the pharynx, it closes the entrance to the nasal cavity, and the air escapes through the mouth, this produces an oral sound. When the velum is lowered, it closes the passage to the oral cavity, and the air escapes through the nose producing a nasal sound. 14) Resonance chambers and articulators. The articulators are organs situated in or surrounding the oral cavity: tongue, palate teeth and lips. The resonators or cavities are spaces containing air, they are: pharynx, mouth and nose. 15) Definition voiced and voiceless sound. Examples. A voiced sound is one produced with vibration of the vocal folds. They vibrate when they touch each other and the air passes between them. A voiceless sound is one produced without vibration of the vocal folds, because they are not touching each other when the air passes between them. 16) Glottis and epiglottis. The glottis is the space between the vocal folds. The epiglottis is an elastic cartilage which has no function in the speech, but acts as a valve. Its raised during the speech and lowered during swallowing, preventing food from going to the lungs. Comparing English and Spanish vowels 1) How many vowels Spanish and English. In Spanish there are five vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and eight diphthongs. In English there are twelve vowels (, , e, , , , , , , , u, i) and eight diphthongs (e, , a, a, e, , , ) 2) Voiced or voiceless. In both languages all vowel are voiced.

3) Oral or nasal. In both languages all vowels are oral. 4) Spanish and English vowel that coincides. Only the vowel /e/ coincides. 5) Which language presents more proportion of vowels. Spanish presents more proportion of vowels because it needs one vowel for each syllable. 6) The most frequent in English and Spanish. The most frequent vowel in Spanish is /e/. The most frequent vowel in English is / /. 7) Restriction in distribution in each language. In Spanish there is no restriction in distribution for any vowel. In English the vowels //, //, /e/, //, // can never occur in final position, except for // in the weak forms of you, who, into and to. The vowel / / can never occur in stressed syllables. 8) Variation according to the phonetic environment or stress. Allophones. Spanish: English: All vowels are lengthened when they occur in open syllables (with no consonants after them) and when followed by a voiced consonant. However, they are shortened when followed by a voiceless consonant. 9) Front, back and central in both languages. Spanish. Front: a, e, i. Back: o, u. English. Front: //, /e/, //, /i/. Central: //, //, //. Back: //, //, //, //, /u/.