What are the sounds of speech? What is the name of the section of linguistics that studies speech sounds?

Linguistics has a number of different sections. Each of them is devoted to the study of a certain language level. One of the basic ones that take place in the school and at the university at the philological faculty is phonetics, which studies the sounds of speech.

Phonetics

Phonetics is the basic branch of philological science, which studies the sound structure of the language. In this section we consider:

1. Sounds, their classification and functioning.
2. Syllables and their classification.
3. Stress.
4. Intonation of words.
5. Speech sounds are the smallest indivisible language units. Sounds form syllables, of which words are composed.

Sections of phonetics

In classical phonetics, the following sections are distinguished:

1. Acoustics of speech. She pays attention to physical signs of speech.
2. Physiology of speech, studying the work of the articulatory apparatus during the utterance of sounds.
3. Phonology is a section of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech as a means of communication, their functioning.

Also allocated are adjacent sections of linguistics:

1. Orthoepy, which studies the pronunciation norms.
2. Spelling, through which students become acquainted with the spelling of words.
3. Graphics - a section that looks at the composition of the Russian alphabet. It details the relationship between sounds and their fixation on the letter, the history of the origin of the alphabet.

Classification

Vowels and consonants distinguish the sounds of speech.

When pronouncing vowels, a stream of exhaled air freely passes through the organs of speech, without encountering obstacles. As a result of pronouncing consonants, on the contrary, exhaled air meets an obstacle, which is formed as a result of complete or partial closure of the organs of speech.

In our language to date, there are 6 vowel sounds and 21 consonants. Note also that vowel sounds are percussion or unstressed, and consonants are divided into soft and solid.

Acoustic characteristics of sounds

All sounds of speech have acoustic characteristics. These include:

• Height. It is expressed in hertz / sec. The higher the value, the higher the sound.
• Strength or intensity, which depends on the amplitude of vibration of the vocal cords. Measured in decibels.
• The timbre depends on the main tone and overtones.
• The duration is measured by the amount of time needed to pronounce the sound. This characteristic is directly related to the speech tempo.

Articulatory signs

For consonants, there are four main articulatory features:

1. The ratio of noise and voice (sonants, noisy voiced, noisy deaf).
2. By the method of articulation: stop (explosive, affricate, stop), slit and close-gap (lateral, trembling).
3. On the active organ involved in the formation of sound: labial (labial-labial, labial-dental) and lingual (front-language, mid-lingual, back-lingual).
4. By the passive organ involved in articulation: dental, alveolar, palatal, velar.

Articulatory signs

Vowels are distinguished by the following features:

• Row - depends on what part of the language during the pronunciation of the sound rises. The front, middle and back rows are distinguished.
• Lifting - depends on how much the back of the tongue is raised when pronouncing. There is a high, medium or low rise.
• Labilization is characterized by the participation of lips in the pronunciation of sound. Isolate the labialized and un-liberalized vowels.

Syllable

Phonetics learns speech sounds and syllables.

The syllable is the minimal semantic unit. In speech, the word is divided into syllables by means 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:

1. Open, which turns out to be a vowel.
2. Closed, ends with a consonant.
3. Covered - begins with a consonant.
4. Uncovered - begins with a vowel.

Emphasis

The stress is the selection in the word of one of the components - the syllable. Formed intonation. The sound or syllable that is in the shock position is pronounced with greater force and clarity.

To check the correctness of stress in the word, you can use the orthoepic dictionary.

Phonetic analysis

Studying the sounds of speech, students and students fix their knowledge with the help of phonetic analysis of words. It is performed as follows:

1. The word is written according to the rules of spelling.
2. The word is divided into syllables.
3. The transcription of the word in square brackets is then written to the line.
4. The emphasis is placed on the word.
5. All sounds recorded in transcription are recorded in a column. Opposite to each of them are recorded his articulatory characteristics.
6. It is counted the number of letters and sounds in the word and the values are written down.
7. It is counted the number of syllables, their brief characteristic is given.

Study at school

Acquaintance with phonetics begins in the first class. Then children are taught to distinguish between vowels and consonants, shock and unstressed vowels, count syllables. In the fifth grade begins a more in-depth acquaintance with the sounds of speech. Children are given a brief articulatory characterization of sounds, they get acquainted with hard and soft consonants, learn to correctly perform a phonetic analysis of the word.

In the tenth grade, the previously acquired knowledge is systematized and repeated. In case there is a profile bias for the study of the native language, knowledge about phonetics is deepened according to the program developed by the teacher earlier.

Studying at the university

Acquaintance of students-philologists with phonetics begins on the first year of the university and lasts for one or two semesters. In this case, one semester is devoted to the study of phonetics, that is, acoustics and physiology of speech, the second - phonology. Throughout the course, students are introduced to various approaches in the study of sounds and phonemes, learn to give characteristics to sounds, to do phonetic analysis. At the end of the course, an exam is given.

In the future, the acquired knowledge will be useful in the study of dialectology, graphics and orthography, orthoepia.

conclusions

Sounds of speech are the minimal language units studied in linguistics. Their study deals with the science of phonetics. Acquaintance with the sounds begins in the first class with the study of the basics. Knowledge of phonetics is the basis of correctness of speech, orthographic culture of a person.