N V
I want you to start reading this blog post by stating the above
letters out loud. Go on, I am not going
to judge you. These are two very simple letters,
but when you say them together, what do they sound like? Say it again and listen carefully. Do you hear it? (See the bottom of this post for answer.) This is a good lead in to this blog post’s
primary topics: understanding the differences between phonetics and
phonology. The discussion will focus on
the differences in the terms and how each provides insights into the
understandings of language and culture.
Phonetics and phonology are two of the most basic levels of
understanding language. Phonetics focuses
on speech sounds, or what and how people say the sounds that make up specific
words in any language. These are made up
of phonemes, which are the smallest units of sound that differentiate meaning in
a language. Understanding phonetics and the
phonemes of any language is the first step to understanding a language. One must inventory the sounds of the language
in order to learn how to speak it, which is why the first thing children learn
is the alphabet and the sounds each letter of the alphabet make. Each language has a set of phonemes, ranging
from 15 to 65. Linguists identify specific
phonemes that exist in languages by studying minimal pairs, which are words
that sound similar but differ in one letter or sound. An example of a minimal pair is bet vs
vet-the v and b are the difference in the words and are also what differentiate
the words from each other (as the former means a wager whereas the latter
refers to an animal doctor or former military personnel). Understanding phonemes is important because
not all languages have the same phonemes, such as the case with Bushman
languages, which have click sounds that are not discernable in most other
languages, or the lack of the r sound that is common in Germanic and Romance
languages (e.g. English & French) but not in Japanese.
Building on phonetics is phonology, or the study of speech
sounds. Phonology allows other studies
of language (e.g. lexicon, morphology, etc.), the meanings attached to specific sound constructions (such as the word play example above), as well as provides insights into
socio-linguistics as social attitudes do vary regarding specific accents and intonations. In English culture Cockney accents tend to be
looked down upon, and in American culture the Valley girl dialect leads to each
statement sound like a question based on the location of the intonation,
leading to it being viewed negatively.
Furthermore, because phonology focuses on the placement of speech sounds
into specific words it allows scholars to get insights into language and
culture. For example, words that sound
similar but have different meanings are a topic that is explored within
phonology. Another specific area of
study is when different language speakers come in contact with each other and
influence pronunciation. This also
provides insights into cultural changes, traditions, norms, and values that may
result from these cultural confrontations.
Overall, phonetics and phonology are the basic foundations
of linguistic studies as they provide insights not just into language sounds
but also language meaning. Understanding
of phonemes, the smallest units of sound, is the most basic area of study
within these two linguistic studies, but they ultimately lend information to
the greater understanding of sociolinguistics through accents and intonation.
(N V sounds just like
envy, which is a play on words of a local store that inspired this post.)
Bibliography
Gezon, L. and C. Kottak.
2014. Culture, Second Edition. New
York: McGraw Hill.
Haviland, W.A., H.E.L. Prins, D. Walrath, B. McBride. 2011. Anthropology, The Human Challenge, Thirteenth
Edition. Belmont: Wadsworth.
Moore, A. 2002. “Phonology: The Study of Speech Sounds.” https://www.teachit.co.uk/armoore/lang/phonology.htm
No Author. 2004. “What Is Phonology?” SIL International. LinguaLinks
Library. http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsPhonology.htm
Tan, P. No Date. “What is Phonology?” EL2111: Historical Variation in English. https://courses.nus.edu.sg/course/elltankw/history/phon/a.htm
16 comments:
It was interesting reading about Phonetics and phonology. We know that phonetics is the description of speech in smallest sounds. People from different countries have different alphabets, but some letters are the same and some are completely different. Phonology is the term used for speech sounds used in a particular language. Around the world there are different sounds in a language, even here in United States that people speak English the sounds vary from one state to another.
I am totally going through this with my kids. When my daughter was younger she used to say frog but her phonetics or lack of the proper use of phonetics had her sounding like she was saying the naughty F word. When my children were younger they made a lot of phonetic mistakes and now that they are older it is quite the challenge teaching them phonology. Their and there is very commonly misused in our house.
I can definitely see how culturally these things make a difference. From one side of the US to another we sound different but are saying the same words. Its strange how phonetics are different in just that small of a range. I know it drastically differs throughout the world.
My children and I are looking into learning another language, and this bring good advise. When I think about my brief high school Spanish classes, I remember learning words and what they meant or stood for without learning the alphabet and sounds of each letter. After you pointed out learning the alphabet, it makes more sense to do so first with any language being pursued.
I'm curious how this affects or ties into, if any, learning disabilities such as dyslexia. My children and husband all have it. I think about them trying to sounds words out to read and they often start sounding out with wrong letters.
Sara Indiano
So my daughter is going through this, especially when learning two different languages at the same time. Like mentioned by Sarah Painter, my daughter would say something that sounds similar to the f word.
Caylynn Lam Yuen
Anthropology101
1stSession Summer 2016
It's weird how English works. Words that sound similar with different meanings some people get mixed up is there, their, and they'er those are possibly the most common. Question, would live be one? same spelling but two different meanings.
Aaliyah Caldwell
Aaliyah, say both of the words out loud. Do they sound the same?
It is surprising that only as low as 15 words have this similarity in some languages I would guess that there would have been more in the vast vocab of languages but I guess some languages don’t cover all aspects and meanings.
And this is why every one struggles with English because of the pronunciations. and the phonetics and phonology are difficult to people that already speak a first language.
After reading this post, it occurred to me that phonetics and phonology are probably the most important tools to a speech pathologist. Someone with bad hearing (bad enough to effect his or her speech) probably find it easier when these two concepts are used in helping his or her pronunciation.
To say the least, I love the correlation between the title and the actual purpose of the article. That was a unique approach and attention getter that immediately highlights the use and concept of phonetics which is amazing.
After reading this post, the correlation between the title and the actual article go hand in hand. When you start off by reading the article after seeing the letters and putting them together you make a word and I found it so amusing on how English works and how phonetic and phonological analyses can go a long way in learning and understanding the English language. -Brianne Pickett
I've heard of phonetics language before but not phonology. Would you be interested in learning any of these langauges?
-Daisha Benton
It is important to understand how phonology works and where it comes from. It is interesting that most words sound similar to one another and could derive from different languages.
The individual breakdown of phonetics and phonology are really helpful in this blog. I know if I were to try, learning a new language would be hard for me because I would get confused quick with similar sounding words.
-Jasmine Busby
It was interesting learn about phonetics And phonology. I have a better understanding when goistic studis after learning what phonology is. Phonetics focus on speech sounds and phonological are the meanings of the specific constructions. Very interesting post.
Elaine christopher
This post underlines the wider significance of phonetics and phonology by highlighting their usefulness in understanding language variety and cultural transitions. Providing a deeper understanding of the multidisciplinary character of language study because of this link to sociolinguistics and cultural studies. Although the post contains useful information, adding examples or case studies might pique readers' interest and show how phonetics and phonology are used in everyday situations. Including specific examples might make the ideas easier for readers to understand.
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