Reflection on Topic 2

  Before we study the phonology of English, or in fact of any other language, we need first to understand what is meant by the term phonetics and understand the difference between the two related words. The word phonetics comes from the Greek word ‘phone’ which stands for ‘sound’ or ‘voice’. Usually used with a singular verb, it refers to the branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description and representation by written. This representation is usually referred to as the phonetic transcription in which systems of phonetic writing are provided and aim at the accurate representation of any sequence of speech sounds.

Phonetics has three main branches:

• Articulatory phonetics is concerned with the positions andmovements of the speech organssuch as the lips and the tongue inproducing sound.
• Acoustic phonetics is concerned with the physical properties of the sound waves.
• Auditory phonetics is concerned with the perception of the speech sounds or the effect on the ear.

 Phonology

•The term phonology is derived from the Greek words ‘phone’ which stands for ‘sound’/ ‘voice’ and ‘logos’ which means ‘word’/‘speech’.

•It refers to the study of speech sounds in languages or in a language with reference to their distribution and pattering and to tacit rules governing pronunciation.

•It also refers to the system of a language

In other words, phonology attempts to account for how speech sounds are combined, organized and convey meaning in particular languages.

     Speech Organ

   

      The Pronunciction Charts   

  So, it is important to learn the English phonetics mainly because there is not always an correspondence between the English spoken form and the written form.

 Link :

1. http://www.google.com.my/imglanding?q=english+pronunciation+charts&um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1WZPD_enMY407MY407&tbs=isch:1&tbnid=kSt_XPs3c1lnGM:&imgrefurl=http://www.bigpedia.com/encyclopedia/International_Phonetic_Alphabet&imgurl=http://www.bigpedia.com/encyclopedia/upload/7/74/Ipa-chart-all-1000px.png&ei=4i9hTY6FKITnrAezpOWqAQ&zoom=1&w=1000&h=1315&iact=hc&oei=4i9hTY6FKITnrAezpOWqAQ&page=1&tbnh=134&tbnw=102&start=0&ved=1t:429,r:2,s:0&biw=1280&bih=709

2. http://www.scribd.com/doc/28130460/Introduction-to-Phonetics-amp-Phonology-Presentation-02