Phonetics

Phonetics

Fonetik ialah ilmu yang menyelidiki bunyi bahasa tanpa melihat fungsi dan bunyi itu sebagai pembeda makna dalam suatu bahasa(language). Fonetik menyelidiki bunyi bahasa dari sudut tuturan atau ujaran(parole).

Phonetic adalah ilmu yang membahas bagaimana suatu suara bisa terbentuk menggunakan beberapa bagian tubuh yaitu bibir, gigi, lidah, faring dan paru-paru. Ilmu ini hanya membahas mengenai hubungan antar bagian tubuh yang menghasilkan suara. Untuk pembentukan sebuah bahasa, produksi hingga persepsi suara akan dipelajari di ilmu yang satu ini. Di dalam mempelajari ilmu phonetic, Anda akan mengenal 3 jenis phonetic di antaranya articulatory phonetic yaitu ilmu yang mempelajari jalannya suara terbentuk, auditory phonetic yaitu ilmu yang mempelajari suatu bahasa diterima oleh pendengar dan acoustic phonetic.

Airstream and articulation

Speech sounds are made by modifying an airstream. The airstream we will be concerned with in this book involves the passage of air from the lungs out through the oral and nasal cavities (see figure 1). There are many points at which that stream of air can be modified, and several ways in which it can be modified (i.e. constricted in some way). The first point at which the flow of air can be modified, as it passes from the lungs, is in the larynx (you can feel the front of this, the adam’s apple, protruding slightly at the front of your throat: see figure1), in which are located the vocal folds (or vocal cords). The vocal folds may lie ope,  in which case the airstream passes through them unimpeded. Viewed from above, the vocal folds, when they lie open, look like this :

The vocal folds may be brought together so that they are closed, and no air may flow through them from the lungs:

One way in which the outgoing stream of air may be modified is by applying a certain level of constant muscular pressure sufficient to close the vocal folds along their length, but only just: the build-up of air pressure underneath this closure is sufficient,given the degreeof muscular pressure, to force that closure open, but the air pressure then drops, and the muscular pressure causes the folds to close again. The sequence is then repeated, very rapidly, and results in what is called vocal fold vibration. You should be able to feel this vibration if you put your fingers to your larynx and produce the sound which is written as <z> in the word hazy (although you will probably also feel vibration elsewhere in your head). Sounds which are produced with this vocal fold vibration are said to be voiced sounds, whereas sounds produced without such vibration are said to be voiceless.

To transcribe speech sounds, phoneticians use the  international Phonetic Alphabet (the IPA: see figure 2) the ipa symbol for the sound written <z> in hazy is [z] . you should be able to feel the presence of vibration in [z] if you put your fingers to your larynx and produce [z], then [s] (as in miss), then [z] again: [z] is voiced, whereas [s] is voiceless. This distinction will constitute the first of three descriptive parameters by means of which we will describe a given consonantal speech sound: we will say, for any given consonant, whether it is voiced or voiceless.

Place of Articulation (tempat artikulasi)

We will refer to the points at which the flow of air can be modified as places of articulation. We have just identified the vocal folds as a place of articulation: since the space between the vocal cords is referred to as the glottis, we will refer to sounds produced at this place of articulations as glottal sounds. There are many other places of articulation: we will identify a further seven.

Firstly, sounds in which the airflow is modified by forming a constriction between the lower lip and the upper lip are referred to as bilabial sounds. An example is the first sound in pit.


 

Secondly, sounds in which there is a constriction between the lower lip and the upper teeth are referred to as labio-dental sounds. An example is the first sound in fit.

 

Thirdly, sounds in wich there is a constriction between the tip of the toungue and the upper teeth are referred to as dental sounds. An example is the first sound in thin.

 

Sounds in which there is a constriction between the blade or tip of the tongue and the alveolar ridge are called alveolar sounds. An example is the first sound in sin.

 

Sounds in which there is a constriction between the blade of the tongue and the palate-alveolar (or post-alveolar) region are called palate-alveolar sounds. An example is the first sound in ship.


 

Sounds in which there is a constriction between the front of the tongue and the hard palate are called palatal sounds. An example is the first sound in yes (although this may be less abvious to you: we will return to this sound blow).

Sounds in which there is a constriction between the back of the tongue and the velum are called velar sounds. An example is the first sound in cool.

  

References :

English Phonetics and Phonology. Wiley-Blackwell