Speech Sound Production: Phonetics and Phonology Principles

Articulatory Phonetics: Speech Sound Production

Articulatory phonetics is the process whereby a linguistic message is converted into sound waves through the action of the phonatory apparatus. This apparatus performs a coordinated series of movements that produces a signal transmitting all the information needed for the receiver to interpret the message initially intended by the sender.

Articulatory Features

The features used to describe the qualities of sounds may have an articulatory basis. These features are based on:

1. Organs and Point of Articulation: This is the meeting place between two organs, one active and one passive, or both active.
2. Mode of Articulation: The way the oral joints differ, such as at the alveoli and palate.
3. Sonority: Used to distinguish between voiced and voiceless sounds.

Phonology: The System of Language Sounds

As with phonetics, phonology is a linguistic discipline. Phonetics and phonology share the object of study—the sounds of language—but from different perspectives. One can say they are two sides of the same coin and are difficult to separate in reality. Chronologically, phonology is a newer discipline, emerging from linguistic structuralism.

Phonetics vs. Phonology

To understand the differences between phonology and phonetics, it is useful to base the comparison on the opposition between language and speech:

• If speech is individual, then phonetics is individual.
• If language is social, then phonology is social.
• If speech is a particular phenomenon, phonetics is particular.
• If language is a consistent and comprehensive model, phonology is that model.
• Speech is concrete, while phonology is abstract.
• Language, as studied by phonology, is a system.

Language is a structure whose units are ordered. Phonetics and phonology operate at the level of expression or the signifier. On this plane, there is, first, an infinite number of sounds. The sound is a physical or physiological entity. It is necessary to conceive of abstract rules that serve as models for specific individual events.

Material vs. Immaterial Form

Phonetics deals with the material substance (the huge mass of sounds), while phonology is concerned with the immaterial form.

Structuralism and Phonemes

This leads to the fundamental contribution of structuralism, which defends that the units of a language should be ordered. Only then can we learn a language, and only then can we understand how the units are stored. The sounds of a language must have a pattern, a model image that we aspire to imitate every time we talk. These units must form a system.

System Arrangement: Binary Oppositions

How are these units arranged in the system? According to structuralism, units are arranged by opposing units in minimal pairs. This relies on binary oppositions. The distinguishing criterion is that the phonic elements must differentiate the meaning of words. Each term of a binary opposition is called a phoneme (the smallest unit of phonology). Phonology studies (as does phonetics) the characteristics of sounds, but only insofar as they permit the distinction of words based on their meaning.