A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics David Crystal

364 phonetic setting
reflects the aim of the phonetician to discover universal principles governing the
nature and use of speech sounds. Experimental phonetics is another term which
reflects the general nature of this ‘pure’ scientific endeavour.
Work in phonetics can, accordingly, be classified into two broad types:
(a) general studies of the articulation, acoustics or perception of speech, and
(b) studies of the phonetic properties of specific languages. In this latter sense,
it is evident that a further dimension will be required, in order to study how
the sounds are used within the pronunciation system of a language. This
‘functional’ approach to phonetics is usually carried on under the heading of
phonology. However, in so far as phoneticians have a specific interest in the
study of individual (groups of) languages or dialects, it might then be argued
that phonetics is a branch of linguistics.
It is this twofold character of phonetic enquiry which gives rise to a difficulty:
is phonetics an autonomous subject, or is it to be seen as a branch of linguistics?
In terms of methods, it is certainly very different, and phonetic research of type
(a) above often has little to do with the aims of linguistic analysis. But phonetic
research of type (b) is plainly part of linguistic enquiry – some would say, an
indispensable foundation. Depending on their traditions, emphases and aims,
then, some university departments have been called ‘Departments of Linguistics’,
some have been called ‘Departments of Linguistics and Phonetics’ – a
distinction which should not be taken to mean that phonetics is not taught in
the former! One compromise has been to talk of the ‘linguistic sciences’ – that
is, linguistics and phonetics.
phonetic setting
see articulatory setting
phonetic transcription
see transcription
phonetic variant
see allophonic
(adj.)
see phone, phonic substance
phonic substance A term used by some phoneticians and linguists to refer to
speech seen as a set of physically definable acoustic, articulatory or auditory
properties. The importance of this notion is that it constitutes an empirical
datum to which theories of language must ultimately relate. To be plausible,
an account of the English sound system, for example, needs to correlate well
with the phonetic facts (as defined in acoustic, articulatory or auditory terms);
and ‘phonic’ (or ‘phonetic’) substance is a convenient label to summarize this
physical level of investigation. The analogous term for the written language is
graphic substance. See also phone.
phonogram (n.) In the study of writing systems, a symbol representing a speech
sound; a contrast is intended with the logogram, where symbols represent
words. Any writing system which represents individual speech sounds (as in the
alphabet and syllabary) is a phonography.
phonography (n.)
phonological form
see phonogram
see phonetic form