Phonetics and Phonology

EXAMPLES:

• /æ/ cat Similar to the Spanish “a”.
• /ɑː/ car, fast Sound between a Spanish “a” and “o”.

• /e/ /ɛ/ egg More open than the Spanish “e”.

• /k/ key, skirt, pick Sound of the Spanish "c" when it precedes the "a", "o" and "u". Also, sound of “qu” before “e” and “i”.

• /b/ ball, rabbit, cab Sound of the Spanish "b".

P h o n e t i c s

Is the linguistic discipline that studies human speech sounds and the realization and physical perception of the signs that make up the language. Phonetics consists of an approach to the physical aspect of verbal language and the different ways in which it can be articulated, that is, to the specific way in which speakers of the same language put it into practice.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY

"Phonetics and phonology are two branches of linguistics that deal with the study of the sounds of language. While phonetics focuses on the physical properties of speech sounds and represents them through symbols, phonology analyzes the sound patterns of a language and identifies the distinctive units known as phonemes. It studies the ways in which phonemes interact with each other and how they contribute to meaning in a given language."70

CHAPTER 1

• The bad-lad split the bad-lad split refers to the situation in certain varieties of Southern British English and Australian English, where there is a long /æː/ phoneme in words like bad that contrasts with a short /æ/ in words like the lad.

• The cot-caught merger the cot-caught merger is a sound mutation whereby the vowel in words like cot, rock, and doll is pronounced the same as the vowel in words like caught, talk, and tall. This merger is widespread in Northern American English, occurring in about 40% of American English speakers and all Canadian English speakers.

Ph o n o l o g y

The word phonology comes from the Greek root “phonos” which means "sound", and "logo" which translates as "study", therefore, phonology is the branch of linguistics that studies and describes the sound of a language. It also studies how each of the articulations of the speech organs should be used so that the sounds can be said appropriately according to their accent or intonation.