What Does Phonetics Mean?

Phonetics, the study of the sounds of human speech, is one area of specialization within the field of linguistics. Unlike semantics, which deals with the meaning of words, phonetics is focused exclusively on the properties of speech sounds and their production.

Within phonetics, there are three main areas of analysis:

• Auditory Phonetics: The study of speech perception and how the brain forms perceptual representations of the input it receives during the course of communication
• Articulatory Phonetics: The study of the positions and movements of the lips, tongue, vocal tract, and other speech organs
• Acoustic Phonetics: The study of the properties of the sound waves and how they are perceived by the inner ear

Although phonetics might seem like a relatively obscure area of study, it has a surprisingly long history. Approximately 2,500 years ago, ancient Indian grammarian, Panini, documented the articulation of consonants in his treatise on the Sanskrit language.

A working knowledge of phonetics is useful even if you're not planning a career as a linguist. Speech therapists use phonetics to help people suffering from communication disorders learn to improve their spoken language skills. Foreign language teachers often incorporate phonetics as a tool to show their students how speech sounds are similar across different languages. Singers and actors use phonetics when they must replicate the speech styles of various characters in their daily work.

International Phonetic Alphabet

As you might expect, studying the sounds of spoken language presents many unique challenges. To make it easier to represent speech sounds in written documents, researchers use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Based on the Latin alphabet, the IPA was created by the International Phonetic Association as a standardized representation of the sounds of spoken language. The IPA is unique in that it is independent of any particular language and applicable to all languages.

In 2007, the IPA contained 107 distinct letters with 56 additional diacritics and suprasegmentals in the IPA proper. However, symbols are occasionally added, modified, or removed by the consensus of the International Phonetic Association.

Symbols within the IPA represent the separation of words and syllables, as well as phonemes and intonation. Recording distinctive speech qualities, such as lisping or speaking with a cleft palate, requires the use of extra symbols included in the Extended IPA for disordered speech.

You can download a PDF copy of the IPA from the International Phonetic Association Web site. To learn more about what the various symbols within the IPA mean, visit David Madore's IPA Tutorial.

Additional Information

If you are interested in learning more about the study of phonetics, check out the following helpful resources:

• A Little Encyclopedia of Phonetics: Download this 93-page PDF file to use as a study guide for understanding the basic principles of phonetic analysis. Students will find the glossary of common terms to be particularly useful.
• The Sounds of Spoken Language: This resource from The University of Iowa contains animated articulatory diagrams, step-by-step descriptions, and audio recordings of sounds within the phonetic alphabet. A diagram of articulatory anatomy is also included for those who are having trouble replicating certain sounds.
• What is Phonetics?: Visit this site for a selection of exercises which illustrate the various characteristics of phonetic analysis. The exercises are automatically scored and correct answers are provided for your convenience.
• Phonetic Transcriptions of English: Learn how to accurate transcribe the sounds of spoken language.
• Doing Phonetics by Computer: Download software to assist with phonetic analysis. This free program is available for both Windows and Macintosh systems.
• ESL Phonetics Worksheets: Turn to this site for an assortment of free printable worksheets designed to assist students who are learning English as a second language.
• Studying Phonetics on the Net: This page provides an extensive listing of phonetics resources from across the Web.