|
|||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Phonetics |
 |
This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (August 2008) |
 |
Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (November 2008) |
Phonetics (from the Greek: φωνή, phōnē, "sound, voice") is the subfield of linguistics that comprises the study of the physical sounds of human speech. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds (phones), and the processes of their physiological production, auditory reception, and neurophysiological perception.
Phonetics was studied as early as 2,500 years ago in ancient India, with Pāṇini's account of the place and manner of articulation of consonants in his 5th century BC treatise on Sanskrit. The major Indic alphabets today order their consonants according to Pāṇini's classification.
Contents |
Phonetics as a research discipline has three main branches:
It also includes a fourth branch:
In contrast to phonetics, phonology is the study of language-specific systems and patterns of sound and gesture, relating such concerns with other levels and aspects of language. While phonology is grounded in phonetics, it has emerged as a distinct area of linguistics, dealing with abstract systems of sounds and gestural units (e.g, phoneme, features, mora, etc.) and their variants (e.g., allophones), the distinctive properties (features) which form the basis of meaningful contrast between these units, and their classification into natural classes based on shared behavior and phonological processes. Phonetics tends to deal more with the physical properties of sounds and the physiological aspects of speech production and perception. It deals less with how sounds are patterned to encode meaning in language (though overlap in theorizing, research and clinical applications are possible).
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |