Phonetic

Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies the sounds of human speech, or—in the case of sign languages—the equivalent aspects of sign. It is concerned with the physical properties of speech sounds or signs (phonemes): their physiological production, acoustic properties, auditory perception, and neurophysiological status.

Overview

Phonetics is divided into three main branches:

• Articulatory phonetics: the study of the physical production of speech sounds by the human vocal apparatus.
• Acoustic phonetics: the study of the physical transmission of speech sounds from the speaker to the listener.
• Auditory phonetics: the study of the way people perceive speech sounds.

In each case, the basic units of study are the phonemes, which are the basic sounds of speech.

History

The study of phonetics dates back to the ancient civilizations of India and Greece, where it was closely tied to the study of music and poetry. The modern field of phonetics has its roots in the 19th century, when researchers began to use scientific methods to study speech sounds.

Applications

Phonetics has a wide range of applications, from the clinical (in speech therapy and audiology) to the theoretical (in linguistics and computer science). It is also used in forensic science for voice identification, and in the study of language acquisition by children.

See also

• Phonology
• Speech science
• Speech synthesis
• Speech recognition

References

Phonetic Resources
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