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      TeachingEnglish
      Phonetic & Phonemic confusion
      Submitted by cougan2009 on 26 September, 2009 - 06:50

      Hi,

      I am new to this forum.

      Can you explain clearly, with examples if possible, the difference between 'phonetic' and 'phonemic' ?

      Thank you.

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      Claire C's picture
      Claire C
      Phonetics / phonology
      Submitted on 26 September, 2009 - 18:51

      Phonetics is the study of the way humans make, transmit, and receive speech sounds. It is divided into three main branches, corresponding to these three distinctions:

      articulatory phonetics: the study of the way the vocal organs are used to produce speech sounds.

      acoustics phonetics: the study of the physical properties of speech sounds.

      auditory phonetics: the study of the way people perceive speech sounds.

      Eg, among vowels, there are:

      monothongs: /i:/ like in "meet", /u:/ like in "food", /e/ like in "bed",

      diphthongs: like in boat", "house", "poor"

      triphthongs: like in "player", "fire"

      (Look at the phonetic chart available on this site).

      Organs or articulation: lower/upper lip, nose, lower/upper teeth, pharynx, uvula, soft/hard palate, alveolar ridge

      eg /i:/ front of tongue raised to lsightly below and behind close front position; lips spread; tongue tense; side rims make firm contact with upper molars.

      eg among consonants, you have:

      plosives: /p/ and /b/ are bilabial plosives. /k/ and /g/ are velar plosives.

      Phonology is the study of the sound systems of languages, and of the general properties displayed by these systems. Phologies studies only those contrasts in sound (the phonemes) which make differences of meaning within language.

      (cf David Crystal)

       

      paulpuvi's picture
      paulpuvi
      Re:Phonetics
      Submitted on 23 August, 2011 - 13:57

      Phonetics: the study of speech sounds

      Phonics: the relationship between the sounds of a language and the letters used to represent those sounds

      Phoneme: basic sound unit of speech

      Phonemic Awareness: the understanding that words are made up of individual sounds.It includes the ability to distinguish rhyme, blend sounds, isolate sounds, segment sounds, and manipulate sounds in words.

      ref : http://www.neutralaccent.com/phonetics.php

       


       


      Heath's picture
      Heath
      Phonetic & phonemic
      Submitted on 19 September, 2011 - 09:53

      phonetic = related the study of sounds people can make in general / in the whole world

      phonemic = related to the study of the sounds of a particular language

      berberiegla's picture
      berberiegla
      I can give a response for that
      Submitted on 9 October, 2011 - 07:21

      Hi,

      I can give a response for that, from my opinion

      Phonetic is a branch of linguistics that comprises the study of the sounds of human life

      Phonemic comprises the study of the sound system of a given language and is concerned with grammatical characterization of this system of the sound.

      So phonemic has to do with function, and phonetic with the form.

      Thank you.