Phonetics And Phonology Questions
Phonetics and phonology differ in terms of their methods as follows:
Phonetics is the study of the physical sounds of human speech. It focuses on the production, transmission, and perception of these sounds. Phonetics uses objective and scientific methods to analyze and describe the articulatory, acoustic, and auditory aspects of speech sounds. It employs techniques such as spectrograms, which visually represent the acoustic properties of sounds, and articulatory phonetics, which studies the movements and positions of the speech organs during sound production.
On the other hand, phonology is the study of the abstract, mental representations and patterns of sounds in a particular language or languages. It investigates how sounds function and interact within a linguistic system. Phonology uses more theoretical and abstract methods to analyze and describe the underlying patterns and rules governing the organization of sounds in language. It focuses on phonemes, distinctive features, and phonological processes. Phonologists use techniques such as phonological rules, which describe the systematic patterns of sound changes, and phonological representations, which represent the mental representations of sounds.
In summary, while phonetics deals with the physical properties of speech sounds using scientific methods, phonology focuses on the abstract patterns and rules of sounds within a language using more theoretical approaches.