Linguistics has a number of different sections. Each of them is dedicated to the study of a certain language level. One of the basic ones, which take place both at school and at the university at the Faculty of Philology, is phonetics, which studies the sounds of speech.
Phonetics
Phonetics is a basic section of philological science that studies the sound structure of a language. This section covers:
- Sounds, their classification and functioning.
- Syllables and their classification.
- Accent.
- Intonation of words.
- Speech sounds are the smallest indivisible units of language. Sounds form the syllables that make up words.
Sections of phonetics
In classical phonetics, the following sections are distinguished:
- Acoustics of speech. She pays attention to the physical signs of speech.
- Physiology of speech, studies the work of the articulatory apparatus during the pronunciation of sounds.
- Phonology is a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech as a means of communication, their functioning.
They also stand outrelated sections of linguistics:
- Orthoepy, studying the norms of pronunciation.
- Spelling, which introduces students to the spelling of words.
- Graphics - a section that considers the composition of the Russian alphabet. It examines in detail the relationship between sounds and their fixation in writing, the history of the emergence of the alphabet.
Classification
Vowels and consonants distinguish speech sounds.
When pronouncing vowel sounds, the stream of exhaled air freely passes through the organs of speech without encountering obstacles. As a result of the pronunciation of consonants, on the contrary, the exhaled air meets a barrier, which is formed as a result of the complete or partial closure of the speech organs.
In our language today there are 6 vowels and 21 consonants. Note also that vowels are stressed or unstressed, and consonants are divided into soft and hard.
Acoustic characteristics of sounds
All speech sounds have acoustic characteristics. These include:
- Height. Expressed in hertz/sec. The higher the value, the higher the sound.
- Strength or intensity, which depends on the amplitude of the vibration of the vocal cords. Measured in decibels.
- Timbre depends on the root and overtones.
- Duration is measured by the amount of time it takes to produce a sound. This characteristic is directly related to the rate of speech.
Articulatory signs
For consonants, there are four mainarticulatory features:
- The ratio of noise and voice (sonants, noisy voiced, noisy voiceless).
- According to the method of articulation: stop (explosive, affricate, stop), slot and stop-slit (lateral, trembling).
- According to the active organ involved in the formation of sound: labial (labial-labial, labio-dental) and lingual (anterior-lingual, middle-lingual, back-lingual).
- According to the passive organ involved in articulation: dental, alveolar, palatal, velar.
Articulatory signs
Vowels have the following features:
- Row - depends on which part of the tongue rises during the pronunciation of the sound. Select the front, middle and back row.
- Rise - depends on how much the back of the tongue is raised during pronunciation. There is a high, medium or low lift.
- Labialization is characterized by the participation of lips in the pronunciation of sound. There are labialized and non-labialized vowels.
Syllable
Studies phonetics of speech sounds and syllables.
A syllable is the smallest semantic unit. In speech, the word is divided precisely into syllables with the help of pauses. Each syllable consists of a word-forming sound, often a vowel. In addition, it may include one or more non-syllabic sounds, usually consonants.
The following types of syllables are distinguished:
- Open that ends in a vowel.
- Closed, ends in a consonant.
- Covered - starts withconsonant.
- Uncovered - begins with a vowel.
Accent
Stress is the emphasis in the word of one of the components - the syllable. Formed intonation. A sound or syllable that is in a stressed position is pronounced with greater force and clarity.
You can check the correct stress in a word using the spelling dictionary.
Phonetic analysis
Studying the sounds of speech, schoolchildren and students consolidate their knowledge with the help of phonetic parsing of words. It is performed as follows:
- The word is written according to the spelling rules.
- The word is divided into syllables.
- The next line is the transcription of the word in square brackets.
- The word is stressed.
- All sounds recorded in the transcription are recorded in a column. Opposite each of them, its articulation characteristics are recorded.
- The number of letters and sounds in a word is counted and the resulting values are recorded.
- The number of syllables is counted, their brief description is given.
Study in school
Introduction to phonetics begins in the first grade. Then children are taught to distinguish between vowels and consonants, stressed and unstressed vowels, and count syllables. In the fifth grade, a more in-depth acquaintance with the sounds of speech begins. Children are given a brief articulatory description of sounds, they get acquainted with hard and soft consonants, learn to correctly perform phonetic parsing of a word.
In the tenth grade received earlierknowledge is systematized and repeated. If there is a profile bias towards learning the native language, knowledge of phonetics is deepened according to the program developed earlier by the teacher.
Studying at University
Introduction of philology students to phonetics begins in the first year of university and lasts for one or two semesters. At the same time, one semester is devoted to the study of phonetics, that is, acoustics and physiology of speech, the second - to phonology. Throughout the course, students get acquainted with various approaches to the study of sounds and phonemes, learn to characterize sounds, and make phonetic analysis. An exam is taken at the end of the course.
In the future, the acquired knowledge will be useful in the study of dialectology, graphics and spelling, orthoepy.
Conclusions
Speech sounds are the minimum language units studied in linguistics. The science of phonetics is engaged in their study. Acquaintance with sounds begins in the first grade with the study of the basics. Knowledge of phonetics is the basis of the correctness of speech, the spelling culture of a person.
