Ans. The scientific study of speech sound is called Phonetics. It deals with the production, description and representation of speech sounds by written symbols.
There are three branches of Phonetics. These are:
Articulatory Phonetics: Articulatory Phonetics is the study of movement of the speech organs in the articulation of speech. It deals with production and description of speech sounds. Speech is produced by the movements of the organs of speech, such as – lungs, larynx, soft palate, tongue, teeth and lips. For an example, /p/ sound is produced by aggressive air from lungs and there is no obstruction in vocal cards. Articulations are upper and lower lip.
Acoustic Phonetics: Acoustic Phonetics is the study of the physical properties of speech sounds. It deals with the transmission of speech sounds. Sound is spread from the speaker to the hearer through the medium of air. Sound consists of airwave frequencies. Frequency of vibration is measured in hertz and volume is measured in decibel.
Auditory Phonetics: Auditory Phonetics is the study of hearing and perception of speech sounds. From inner ear, message is sent to central nervous system and then we understand the quality of sound like – harsh, sweet, melodious or kind of sounds like – cry, anger, boy, girl, man, woman, sounds of mosquito.
Indeed, Phonetics deals with voiced and voiceless sounds, vibration in glottis, nasal and oral sound, tongue movements and so on. Phoneticians mainly start their study in Articulatory Phonetics which deals with the place and manner of articulation.
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