Final Assessment Questions on “Theoretical phonetics” Card-1 Connection of Phonetics with Other Sciences

3. Acoustic Phonetics: It is the aspect of phonetics that deals with physical properties of speech sounds. The preoccupation of the acoustic phonetics is the study of the physical properties of the speech sounds during transmission. Phonetics is a branch of linguistics that studies how humans produce and perceive sounds, or in the case of sign languages, the equivalent aspects of sign.^[1] Linguists who specialize in studying the physical properties of speech are phoneticians. The field of phonetics is traditionally divided into three sub-disciplines based on the research questions involved such as how humans plan and execute movements to produce speech (articulatory phonetics), how various movements affect the properties of the resulting sound (acoustic phonetics), or how humans convert sound waves to linguistic information (auditory phonetics). Traditionally, the minimal linguistic unit of phonetics is the phone—a speech sound in a language which differs from the phonological unit of phoneme; the phoneme is an abstract categorization of phones.Phonetics deals with two aspects of human speech: production—the ways humans make sounds—and perception—the way speech is understood. 
2.Methods of Phonetic Investigation. There are 3 methods of investigation: the direct observation method, the linguistic method and the experimental method. The direct observation method comprises three important modes of phonetic analysis: by ear, by sight and by muscular sensation. The aim of the linguistic method is to determine in what way all phonetic features such as sound, stress and intonation are used in a language to convey a certain meaning. The experimental method is based on the use of a special apparatus, such as the laryngoscope, the artificial palate, the magnetic tape recorder and others1. The direct observation method comprises three important modes of phonetic analysis: by ear, by sight and by muscular sensation. Investigation by means of this method can be effective only if the persons employing it have been specially trained to observe the minutest movements of their own and other people's speech organs and to distinguish the slightest variations in sound quality. Every phonetician undergoes a special training, in the course of which his "phonetic ear", and also his muscular sensation, are developed.By a "phonetic ear" is meant the capability to distinguish the exact quality of sounds pronounced in various sound sequences or in isolation.The muscular sensation is developed by constant and regular practice in articulating various sounds. A trained phonetician should be able to pronounce sounds of a given quality, as well as to re-cognize by means of his highly developed muscular sensation the exact nature of the articulation of any speech sound that he hears.2. The aim of the linguistic method of investigation of any concrete phonetic phenomena, such as sound, stress, intonation or any other feature, is to determine in what way all of these phonetic features are used in a language to convey a certain meaning.3. The experimental method is based upon the use of special apparatus or instruments, such as the laryngoscope, the artificial palate, the kymograph, the magnetic tape recorder, the oscillograph, the spectrograph, X-ray photography, slow motion films, as well as speech synthethizers.Experimental methods first came into existence in the seventies of the 19th century.