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

Linguistics has a number of diverse sections. Each of them is devoted to the study of a particular language level. One of the basic ones, which take place both at 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 that studies the sound structure of a language. This section discusses:

1. Sounds, their classification and functioning.
2. Syllables and their classification.
3. Stress
4. Intonational design of words.
5. Sounds of speech are the smallest indivisible language units. Sounds form the syllables that make up words.

Phonetics Sections

In classical phonetics, the following sections are distinguished:

1. Acoustics of speech. She pays attention to the physical attributes of speech.
2. The physiology of speech, studies the work of the articulatory apparatus during the pronunciation of sounds.
3. Phonology is a section of linguistics that studies the sounds of speech as a means of communication, their functioning.

Related sections of linguistics are also distinguished:

1. Orthoepy studying pronunciation norms .
2. Spelling, through which students learn the spelling of words.
3. Graphics - a section that examines the composition of the Russian alphabet. It examines in detail the relationship between sounds and their fixation in writing, the history of the alphabet.

Classification

Vocals and consonants distinguish speech sounds.

When pronouncing vowels, the 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 encounters a barrier that is formed as a result of complete or partial closure of the organs of speech.

In our language today there are 6 vowels and 21 consonants. We also note that vowels are stressed or unstressed, and consonants are divided into soft and hard.

Acoustic characteristics of sounds

All speech sounds 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 the vibrations of the vocal cords. Measured in decibels.
• The timbre depends on the pitch and overtones.
• Duration is measured by the amount of time it takes to pronounce a sound. This characteristic is directly related to the pace of speech.

Articulatory signs

For consonants, four main articulatory characteristics are distinguished:

1. The ratio of noise to voice (sonants, noisy voiced, noisy deaf).
2. By the method of articulation: closure (explosive, affricates, closure), slotted and closure-slotted (lateral, trembling).
3. According to the active organ involved in the formation of sound: labial (labio-labial, labio-dental) and lingual (anterior lingual, middle lingual, lingual).
4. For the passive organ involved in the articulation: dental, alveolar, palatal, velar.

Articulatory signs

The following symptoms are distinguished in vowels:

• A number - depends on which part of the language rises during the pronunciation of the sound. Allocate the front, middle and back row.
• Lifting - depends on how much the back of the tongue is raised during pronunciation. There is a high, medium or low rise.
• Labilization is characterized by the participation of lips in the pronunciation of sound. Labialized and non-labialized vowels are distinguished.

Syllable

Learns the phonetics of speech sounds and syllables.

Syllable is the smallest semantic unit. In speech, the word is divided into syllables with the help 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. An open that sways with a vowel.
2. Closed, ends with a consonant.
3. Cover-up - begins with a consonant.
4. Unprotected - starts with a vowel.

Stress

Stress is the emphasis in the word of one of the components - the syllable. It is made intonationally. A sound or syllable that is in the stressed position is pronounced with more power and clarity.

You can check the correctness of stress in a word using the orthoepic dictionary.

Phonetic analysis

Studying the sounds of speech, schoolchildren and students reinforce their knowledge with the help of phonetic parsing . It is performed as follows:

1. The word is written according to the rules of spelling.
2. The word is divided into syllables.
3. Then the transcription of the word in square brackets is written in the line.
4. The word is stressed.
5. All sounds recorded in transcription are recorded in a column. Opposite each of them, his articulation characteristics are recorded.
6. The number of letters and sounds in the word is considered and the received values ​​are recorded.
7. The number of syllables is considered, their brief description is given.

Studying at school

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

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

University study

The acquaintance of philology students with phonetics begins in 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 get acquainted with various approaches to the study of sounds and phonemes, learn to characterize sounds, do phonetic analysis. At the end of the course, an exam is taken.

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

conclusions

Sounds of speech are the minimum language units studied in linguistics. Their study is the science of phonetics. Acquaintance with sounds begins in the first grade with the study of the basics. Knowledge of phonetics is the basis of correct speech, spelling culture of a person.