Introducing Phonetics en 7:45

What is Phonetics? 

Phonetics:

       ·         (a system of) symbols used to show the pronunciation of words.

       ·         The study of sounds of language.

Phonetics is the science which analyses and records sounds and other elements of speech, and their use and distribution in connected speech. It is for this that its necessary the use of a phonetic alphabet. Without such an alphabet, an accurate description and record of speech usages would be clumsy and awkward, and liable to misinterpretation. A dictionary can show the pronunciation of individual words, can even give alternative pronunciations, and can show how words are stressed.

The student is advised to learn to recognize and make the English sounds in isolation and in words, and the symbols which represent these sounds. You will find in this way that a phonetic transcription is a valuable aid to the study of pronunciation. It will help you, in the first place, to get rid of the natural idea that the conventional spelling represents pronunciation. Secondly it will enable you, as no other method could, to realize of your own speech habits.

It should also be remembered that the interpretation of a phonetic transcription requires an understanding of phonetics. There is no science to reading a phonetic transcription. However, as the reader is not trained in speech analysis it’s normal to think that the spelling represents in a manner the pronunciation.

Pronunciation is also connected to grammar resulting in one word having different pronunciation:

Example:  Close

A Close friend (adjective)

Close the door (verb)