Теоретическая фонетика английского языка (803492), страница 3

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Though we consider the discriminatoryfunction to be the main linguistic function of any phonetic unit we cannotignore the other function of phonetic units, that is, their role in the forma­tion ofsyllables, words, phrases and texts. This functional or social aspect ofphonetic phenomena was first introduced by I. A. Baudouin-de-Courtenay.Later on N. S. Trubetskoy declared phonology to be a linguistic disciplineand acoustic phonetics to anatomy, physiology andacoustics only. This conception is shared by many foreign linguists who in­vestigate the material form and the function of oral speech units separately.Russian linguists proceed from the view that language is the medium ofthought and can exist only in the material form of phonetic units.

That iswhy they consider phonology a branch of phonetics that investigates itsmost important social aspect.2Branches of Phoneticsarticulatoryphoneticsauditoryphoneticsacousticphoneticsfunctional phonetics(phonology)3. Methods of Phonetic InvestigationEach branch of phonetics uses its own methods of research. We shallconsider now some ofthe methods applied in investigating the sound matterofthe language.They generally distinguish methods of direct observation (phoneticstudies are carried out without any other instruments of analysis than thehuman senses) and instrumental methods based on the use ofvariousnical devices.From the beginning of phonetics the phonetician has relied to a greatextent on the perception ofhis own speech and the informants' speech.

The3. Metods of Phonetic Investigation11experience in such observation allows him to associate the qualities of thesound heard with the nature ofthe articulations producing it. Such skills areobligatory for phoneticians and make phonetics not only a science but alsoan art, an art which must be specially learned. Phonetic research based onthe methods of direct observation is effective only when the scholars con­ducting it are trained in analyzing both the movements of the organs ofspeech and the auditory impression of speech segments.Instrumental methods were introduced into phonetics in the second halfofthe 19th century in order to supplement the impressions deriving from thehuman senses, especially the auditory impressions, since these are affectedby the limitations of the perceptual mechanism, and in general are rathersubjective.Instrumental analysis is based on the use of special technical devices,such as spectrograph, intonograph, x-ray photography and cinematogra­phy, laryngoscope and others.

In a general way, the introduction of ma­chines for measurements and for instrumental analysis into phonetics hasresulted in their use for detailed study ofmany ofthe phenomena which arepresent in the sound wave or in the articulatory process at any given mo­ment, and the changes ofthese phenomena from moment to moment. Thistype of investigation together with sensory analysis is widely used in experi­mental phonetics.The results available from instrumental analysis supplement those avail­able from sensory analysis.

Practically today there are no areas of phoneticsin which useful work can and is being done without combining these twoways of phonetic investigation. The "subjective" methods of analysis bysensory impression and the "objective" methods of analysis by instrumentsare complementary. Both "objective" and "subjective" methods are widelyused in modern phonetics.

Articulatory phonetics borders with anatomyand physiology, it uses methods of direct observation, whenever it is possible(lip movement, some tongue movement) combined with x-ray photographyor x-ray cinematography, observation through mirrors as in the laryngo­scopic investigation of vocal cord movement, etc.Acoustic phonetics comes close to physics and the tools used in thisfield enable the investigator to measure and analyse the movement ofthe airin the terms of acoustics.

This generally means introducing a microphoneinto the speech chain, converting the air movement into correspondingelectrical activity and analysing the result in terms of frequency ofvibrationand amplitude of vibration in relation to time. The use of various soundanalysing and sound synthesising machines is generally combined with the12Introductionmethod of direct observation. Today computer technologies make it possi­ble to conduct acoustic spectral analysis ofspeech sounds and intonograph­ic analysis.It should be mentioned that computer technologies are widely usedboth for processing and measuring acoustic data and for pronunciationtraining.

One of the advantages of using computers for the experimentalstudy is the possibility of storing substantial corpora of various spoken dis­course to serve as the material for phonetic investigation.Phonology possesses its own methods ofinvestigation which will be de­scribed later in the course.4. Phonetics and Other DisciplinesOur further point will be made in connection with the relationship ofphonetics and other disciplines.

As it was already mentioned phonetics isone of the basic branches of linguistics, naturally it is closely connectedwith the other linguistic disciplines: lexicology and grammar.Special attention should be given to the relations of phonetics and socialsciences. Language is not an isolated phenomenon; it is a part of society, apart of ourselves. The functioning of phonetic units in society is studied bysociophonetics. It should be mentioned here that over the last few decadesthere appeared a number ofdistinct interdisciplinary subjects, such as socio­linguistics (and sociophonetics correspondingly), psycholinguistics, mathe­maticallinguistics and others.

These, as their titles suggest, refer to aspects oflanguage which can be studied from two points ofview (sociology and linguis­tics, psychology and linguistics and so on), which requires awareness and de­velopment of concepts and the techniques derived from both disciplines.Sociophonetics studies the ways in which pronunciation interacts withsociety. In other words, it is the study of the way in which phonetic struc­tures change in response to different social functions. Society here is used inits broadest sense, to cover a spectrum of phenomena such as nationality,regional and social groups, and specific interactions of individuals withinthem.

There are innumerable facts to be discovered and considered, evenabout a language as well investigated as English, concerning, for instance,the nature ofthe different situations - when we are talking to equals, supe­riors or subordinates; when we are 'on the job', when we are old or young;male or female; when we are trying to persuade, inform, agree or disagreeand so on. Needless to say sociophonetic information is of crucial impor­4.

Phonetics and Other Disciplines13tance for language teachers and language learners in the context of cross­cultural communication.One more example ofinterdisciplinary overlap is the relation oflinguis­tics to psychology. Psycholinguistics as a distinct area ofinterest developedthe sixties, and in its early form covered the psychological implications ofan extremely broad area, from acoustic phonetics to language pathology.Nowadays no one would want to deny the existence ofstrong mutual bondsbetween linguistics, phonetics in our case and psychology. Here are some ofthe problems covered by psycholinguistics: the acquisition of language bychildren, the extent to which language meditates or structures thinking;extent to which language is influenced and itself influences such things asmemory, attention, perception; the problems of speech production andspeech perception; speech pathology.Phonetics is also closely connected with a number ofnon-linguistic dis­ciplines which study different aspects ofspeech production and speech per­ception: physiology, anatomy, physics (acoustics).

In phonetic researchthey use mathematics, statistics, computer science.There is one more area phonetics is closely connected with. It is thestudy of non-verbal means ofcommunication.How do people communicate?Too often there is a difference between what we say and what we thinkwe have said, though we use appropriate grammatical structures, words andintonation. It may even cause a break in communication.It may happen because we speak with our oral organs, but we conversewith our entire bodies. Conversation consists of much more than a simpJeinterchange ofspoken words. All ofus communicate with one another non­verbally. It means that we communicate without using words and involvingmovements of different parts of the body.It is believed that 7% of communication is conveyed by words, 38%by sounds and intonation and 55% - by non-verbal means. They are: facialexpression, gestures and postures.D.

Crystal insists that the meaning of particular nuclear tones dependson the combination with particular facial expression.Non-verbal elements express very efficiently the emotional or the mod­al side of the message.The study of non-verbal means of communication is called kinesics.The analysis ofspoken discourse often includes references both to the pho­netic and non-verbal aspects ofspeech communication. So we can say thatphonetics overlaps with kinesics.Introduction14The field of phonetics is thus becoming wider and tends to extend overthe limits originally set by its purely linguistic applications. On the otherhand, the growing interest in phonetics is partly due to increasing recogni­tion of the central position of language in every line of social activity.

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