The phoneme as a linguistic unit. Its definition and functions

Phonetics as a linguistic science. Branches of phonetics. Phonetics and phonology

PHONETICS is a linguistic science that studies segmental sounds (vowels, consonants), the way they are organized into the system of units and prosodic phenomena (pitch, stress, tempo, rhythm). Being a science in its own right, it's at the same time closely connected with other linguistic sciences - grammar, lexicology, stylistics and the history of the language.

4 main branches of phonetics:

1. ARTICULATORY/PHYSIOLOGICAL - concerned with the study of sounds as the result of the activities of the speech organs; it deals with our voice-producing mechanism and the way we produce sounds.

2. PERCEPTUAL/AUDITORY - study of man's perception of segmental sounds, pitch variation, loudness and duration.

3. ACOUSTIC/PHYSICAL - acoustic aspect of speech sounds (pitch, spectrum, timber, loudness, length).

4. FUNCTIONAL/LINGUISTIC/PHONOLOGY - purely linguistic branch of phonetics. It deals with the functional aspect of sound phenomena. Phonology sets out to discover those segmental and prosodic features that have a differential value in a language, and it established the system of phonemes.

Articulatory classification of speech sounds

VOWEL - a voiced sound in forming of which the air needs no obstruction and no narrowing that would cause audible friction. All the other sounds are called CONSONANTS.

CLASSIFICATION OF VOWELS:

1. according to the horizontal movement of the tongue:

- front (i:, e, æ)

- front-retracted (i)

- mixed (з:, schwa-vowel)

- back-advanced (u, /\, o)

- back (u:, o:)

2. according to the vertical movement of the tongue:

- close/high (i:, i, u:, u)

- mid (e, schwa-vowel, з:)

- open/low (æ, a:, /\, o:, o)

3. according to the position of lips:

- rounded/labialized (o, o:, u, u:)

- unrounded/unlabialized (all the rest)

4. according to the degree of muscular tension:

- tense (all long vowels)

- lax (all short vowels)

5. according to the force of articulation at the end of the vowel:

- free - weakens at the end (long monophthongs, diphthongs, unstressed short vowels)

- checked - no weakening, are pronounced abruptly, are followed by a consonant (stressed short vowels)

6. according to the stability of articulation:

- monophthongs

- diphthongs

- triphthongs

- diphthongized (i:, u:)

7. according to the length/duration:

- long

- short

CLASSIFICATION OF CONSONANTS:

1. according to the type of obstruction and the manner of production of noise:

- occlusives (stops/plosives - p, b, k, g, t, d; nasal sonorants - m, n, nasal n)

- constrictives (fricatives - f, v, s, z, ш, ж, dental; oral sonorants - l, j, r, w)

- occlusive-constrictives/affricates (дж, ч)

2. according to the active speech organ which causes an obstruction:

- labial (bilabial - b, p, m, w; labio-dental - f, v)

- lingual (backlingual - k, g, nasal n; mediolingual - j; forelingual - t, d, s, z, n, dental, r)

- pharyngeal/glottal (h)

3. according to the place of obstruction:

- dental

- alveolar (t, d, n, s, z, l)

- post-alveolar (r)

- palatal (j)

- palato-alveolar (ш, ж, ч, дж)

- velar (nasal n)

4. according to the presence/absence of voice:

- voiced

- voiceless

5. according to the force of articulation:

- fortis (all voiceless)

- lenis (all voiced)

6. according to the position of the soft palate:

- oral

- nasal

The phoneme as a linguistic unit. Its definition and functions

PHONEME - the smallest linguistically relevant unit of the sound structure of a given language which serves to distinguish 1 word from another. The phoneme is a minimal abstract linguistic unit realized in speech in the form of speech sounds opposable to other phonemes of the same language to distinguish the meaning of morphemes and words.

1. The phoneme isa functional unit. In phonetics function is usually understood as the role of various units of the phonetic system in distinguishing 1 morpheme from another, one word from another or one utterance from another - DISTINCTIVE FUNCTION.

2. The phoneme is material, real and objective. That means it's realised in speech in the form of speech sounds, its allophones. The phonemes constitute the material form of morphemes - CONSTITUTIVE FUNCTION.

3. The phoneme performs the RECOGNITIVE FUNCTION because the use of the right allophones and other phonetic units facilitates normal recognition.

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