1. The phonic medium of language

语言的声音媒介

Speech and writing are the two media used by natural languages as vehicles for communication. Of the two media of language, speech is more basic than writing. Speech is prior to writing. The writing system of any language is always “invented” by its users to record speech when the need arises.

For linguists, the study of sounds is of greater importance than that of writing.

The limited ranges of sounds which are meaningful in human communication and are of interest to linguistic studies are the phonic medium of language (语言的声音媒介) . The individual sounds within this range are the speech sounds （语音）.

2．What is phonetics?

什么是语音学？

Phonetics is defined as the study of the phonic medium of language；It is concerned with all the sounds that occur in the world’s languages.

语音学研究的对象是语言的声音媒介，即人类语言中使用的全部语音。

There are three branches of phonetics. They are:

Articulatory phonetics （发音语音学）, it studies the speech sounds from the speaker’s point of view. It studies how a speaker uses his speech organs to articulate the sounds.

Auditory phonetics （听觉语音学），it studies the speech sounds from the hearer’s point of view. It studies how the sounds are perceived by he hearer.

Acoustic phonetics（声学语音学），it studies the speech sounds by looking at the sound waves. It studies the physical means by which speech sounds are transmitted through the air from one person to another.

3. Organs of speech

发音器官

The pharyngeal cavity 咽腔  the throat

The oral cavity 口腔the mouth

The nasal cavity 鼻腔the nose

The air stream coming from the lungs may be modified in these cavities in many ways. It may also be modified in the larynx (喉) before it reaches any of the cavities.

Lying across the glottis (声门) are the vocal cords (声带). Vibration of the vocal cords results in a quality of speech sounds called “voicing”. The speed of the vibration determines the pitch of the sound.

The tongue is the most flexible in the oral cavity.

4. Orthographic representation of speech sounds –broad and narrow transcriptions

语音的书写形式－宽式和窄式音标

IPA-International Phonetic Alphabet 国际音标

There are two ways to transcribe speech sounds. One is the transcription with letter-symbols (字母符号) only, called broad transcription (宽式音标). The other is the transcription with letter-symbols together with the diacritics (变音符号), called narrow transcription (窄式音标).

实例：

对pit/spit中p音的比较：

pit中的p是送气音，在窄式音标中标为上标，写作：[phit]

spit中的p是不送气音，在宽式音标中不作标示，写作：[spit]

对leaf/feel/build/health中l音的比较：

Leaf中l 在元音前，叫清晰音，在宽式音标中不作标示，写作：[li:f]

Feel中l出现在单词结尾，叫模糊音，在窄式音标中加变音符号[~]

Build中l出现在另一个辅音前，也叫模糊音，在窄式音标中也加变音符号[~]

Health中l出现在齿音前，受其影响叫齿音[l]，在窄式音标中加变音符号[II]

5. Classification of English speech sounds

英语语音的分类

a)Classification of English consonants

英语辅音的分类

按发音方式分

Stop or plosive 塞音或爆破音: [p] [b] [t] [d] [k] [g]

Fricative 擦音：[f] [v] [s] [z] [W] [T] [s] [V] [h]

Affricate 塞擦音：[tF][dV]

Liquid流音：[l] [r]

Nasal鼻音：[m] [n] [N]

Glide滑音：[w] [j]

按发音部位分

Bilabial双唇音：[p] [b] [m] [w]

Labiodental唇齿音：[f] [v]

Dental齿音：[W] [T]

Alveolar齿龈音：[t] [d] [s] [z] [n] [l] [r]

Palatal硬腭音：[V][tF][dV][i]

Velar软腭音：[k] [g] [N]

Glottal声门音：[h]

B) Classification of English vowels

英语元音的分类

按舌头在口中的位置分：

Front vowel前元音：[i:] [i] [e] [A] [a]

Central vowel中元音：[[:] [[] [Q]

Back vowel后元音：[u:] [u] [R:] [R] [a:]

按口形的大小分：

Close vowel闭元音：[i:] [i] [u:] [u]

Semi-close vowel半闭元音：[e] [[:]

Open vowel开元音：[A] [a]

Semi-open vowel半开元音：[[] [R:] [Q] [R] [a:]

按唇形是否为圆分

Unrounded vowel不圆唇元音：[i:] [i] [e] [A] [a] [[:] [[] [Q] [a:]

rounded vowel圆唇元音：[u:] [u] [R:] [R]

按语音的长短分

Long vowel长元音[i:] [[:][a:] [u:] [R:]

Short vowel短元音[i] [e] [A] [a] [[] [Q] [u] [R]

在元音中还有一些(diphthong)双元音，包括：[ei] [ai] [[u] [a u] [Ri ] [i[] [e[] [u[]