Definition of Phonetics and Phonology

Phonetics and phonology are primarily concerned with the sound representations of language, the meaning of sounds and their projection. This means that its object of study is the sound part of the linguistic sign, how it sounds and how it is heard, as well as how it is reflected in written signs.

According to Coseriu’s statements, the two disciplines are interdependent and complement each other. Said thought is justified by the fact that these, with respect to sounds, deal with two aspects that can be equated with Saussure’s perception of the linguistic sign (which contains signifier and signified). Phonetics studies the meaning of sounds, their materialization in the human voice, while phonology treats them as signifiers, providing them with a written representation.

Phonology

Phonology interprets the value of the phonic units in a system, and with the international phonetic alphabet it is intended to standardize the graphic signs with which sounds are represented.

Taking the systems of the Italian language and the Spanish language as an example, it can be seen that the sound of “c” is represented by the same spelling and different characters in the international phonetic alphabet. The letter with which we represent the sound (“c”) is the field of phonology.

It is necessary to consider that within a linguistic system the brain creates intrinsic relationships between sounds and the way they are represented. We know how a “p”, a “b”, the vowels sound. The Greek alphabet was able to recreate each sound with a single graphic sign, so there is no confusion and there are no complex spellings (like the Latin “ch”). Each sound is associated with a graphic sign and vice versa. It is that sign that is recognized as a phoneme.

Phonetics

Phonetics is that discipline, complementary to phonology, which studies sounds in terms of their articulation in the human voice. It is the matter of this to indicate what characteristics the phonemes present according to their sound materialization.

It is important to know that this is closely linked to the production of the human voice, which occurs in the vocal apparatus. This is the relation of phonetics to physiology, a relation that was not taken into account by the first linguists, and which proved to be vital for their study. Because? Well, because each letter, as a phoneme (sound representation) is formed in a specific part of the speech apparatus and this determines the type of phoneme in question.

Take for example the Spanish language system and the grapheme “c”. We know that in Spanish this letter, followed by “e”, “i” sounds like an “s” (in Castilian Spanish this “c” sounds like “z”, whose phonetic representation is θ and is an interdental phone); while if it is followed by “a”, “o”, “u” will have the sound of “k”. The first is an alveolar phone (/s/), produced with the tongue and the palate; while the second is a plosive phone (/k/), produced by an obstruction or total occlusion of the oral cavity, so that the air does not come out.

In opposition, in the Italian language system, the spelling “c” can represent two sounds: the plosive /k/, when it is followed by “a”, “o”, “u”; and the voiceless alveopalatal fricative phone /ʃ/ followed by “e”, “i” (which sounds like the Spanish digraph “ch”).

spelling sound rep. orthographic Spanish c /k/
/s/ house, coconut, body
give in, Italian little man c /k/
/ʃ/ white, little
certain, city
/td>

In this area, intonation is also included, although this aspect is also related to dialectology and sociolinguistics.

Throughout the history of humanity, language, as a living and constantly evolving entity, has changed, which includes sounds. Phonetic evolution has had grammatical consequences that are also the object of study in linguistics.

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