This document discusses the field of phonetics and its importance in understanding human oral communication. It examines phonetics from a physical, social, and theoretical perspective. Physically, phonetics involves using parts of the vocal tract like the lips, tongue, and larynx to produce different speech sounds. Socially, communication is complex, involving factors like body language, tone of voice, and shared context between speakers. Theoretically, phonetics analyzes phonemes - the units of sound in a language - and how they are represented in writing systems. The document focuses on English phonology and the production of vowels and consonants. It emphasizes the importance of phonetic knowledge for language teachers to help students learn correct

1. UNIVERSIDAD CATOLICA DE LA SSMA. CONCEPCION
SYSTEMS OF THE LANGUAGE
PHONETICS
GABRIEL JARA MUÑOZ
DIDACTICA EN INGLES 1
ROXANNA CAROLINA CORREA PEREZ
CONCEPCION, 2012

2. In this essay it will be analyze one of the systems of the language,
phonetics, in which the aim is try to understand or comprehend the phenomenon of
human oral communication by answering questions such as Why oral
communication over any other mean? How do we produce sounds? How come do
we understand a message? How are sounds represented? All of these questions
will lead to a better and deeper understanding of how phonetics work and how it
affects the way people interact within the society.
Humans as social beings rely on the language to communicate and interact with
their similar; building an entire system of communication just as any other system
of organization they have created (economy, religion, hierarchy). When any other
system of organization is analyzed it can be tell how humans reached to that
system by looking back in time, for example economy can be described since it
earliest appearance within the first civilization and it first trade among culture,
establishing rules, procedures, vocabulary and even studies about it. And so can
language be analyzed in that way.
However the difference seems to appear when a deeper study is made to the way
humans produce an idea which is decoding by the listener generating the
magnificent act of communication itself. Now communication can be understood as
the act of sharing information with others by speaking, writing, moving your body or
using any other signals (Freeman et al, 2004), therefore different systems can
cover these areas, in this case phonetics.

3. Phonetics are described as the study of the sounds made by human voice in
speech (Freeman et al, 2004), this system can be contemplated in a physical area
(how the sound is produce), in a social aspect (when the message is sent and
received) and in a theoretical aspect (how are the phonetics understood, analyzed
and expressed in a written way).
In a physical point of view when it comes the time to study to analyze oral
communication, it involves pushing air from the lungs up into the mouth and using
the lisp and tongue to produce different sounds (Freeman et al, 2004). This
basically works by the variation that takes place in the vocal tract (between the
vocal cords and the lips).
Once the sound is produce we are able to pronounce words which represent ideas
that intend to express ideas. Communication itself is rather complex and
fascinating, for there is an entire process of understanding a message within a
social context wherein the message can be modified according to certain factors,
such as expectations and predictions of common situations or procedures in the
communication interaction (the listener is able to predict what the speaker is going
to say based on usual social procedures), the usage of gestures or body language
helps to understand the message (considering that ninety three percent of the
communication is non-verbal communication), tone of voice (intonation that
expresses intention, feelings or attitudes towards a situation), assumed knowledge
(the assumption that the listener knows what the speaker is talking about, also
known as the reference in a conversation) and finally literal or non-literal meaning
of expression in the language (Freeman et al, 2004).

4. Now getting deeper into the study of the sounds produce by humans, it will
be analyzed the phonology of English language wherein concepts such as the
phonemes and their representation in written channel affects the way people
communicate. When producing a sound many parts of the human respiratory
system get involved, which in the context of phonology is called the physiology of
speech. The way it works consists basically of the air that comes from the lungs
passing through the glottal region to the larynx where the vocal cords create
vibration to produce voicing sounds. The air still flows from the larynx up to the oral
cavity in which the resulting movements of the tongue and lips that are produced
generate vowels or consonants (Freeman et al, 2004). Are a free obstacle sound
Vowels as described by Freeman (2004) are a free obstacle sound that can be
classified as short, long and reduced vowels depending on the tension generated
on the oral cavity when pronounced and the shape variations of the vocal tract and
the shape of the lips. Obviously this does not mean that the entire English speaker
community speaks that way, there are certain variations that might change the way
people produce phonemes, and it could be geographical variations, cultural
variations and even social class variations. For example in The United States
pronouncing very well the /r/ at the end of words has a positive connotation,
whereas omitting this phoneme at the end of words that carry a final /r/ has a bad
connotation or it can be inferred by people that the person who is omitting that
sound belong to lower social classes. Short vowels consist of 6 sounds
represented with one letter in the phonemic transcription chart. Long vowels

5. consist of seven sounds compound of a vowel and the addition of a specific
movement of the tongue that allows the speaker to extent the sound. Reduced
vowels consist of two vowels that are produced with a weaker airflow (Freeman et
al, 2004), receiving no stress when they are pronounced. These vowels are known
as schwa and barrel i. Consonants on the contrary are produced by the restriction
of airflow, which depending on where the stop occurs in the vocal tract, can be
classified in different categories. On of them is to describe whether a consonant is
voice or voiceless, and from that criteria it can be also classified in stops, fricatives,
affricatives, nasals, liquids and glides. Now, in the strict context of the phonology
knowledge, is it highly recommended of educators to be aware of the production of
vowels for the main reason that when it comes the time to teach children how to
produce a certain sound is really helpful to know the theory behind the production
of a sound so the teacher is able to explain how to produce a phoneme according
to the parts of the physiology speech that are involved.
However it is interesting how David Freeman (2004) describes that the language
production is so complex that must be acquired not learned. But how come then,
are educators from other countries going to teach a language when their students
will only learn the language by grammatical rules and worksheet? How do we
expect to acquire a second language if we are not even living in the context where
the language is lived, changed and produced? Because, a teacher that studies a
second language in a country that only speaks his first language, acquisition of the
language is never going to happen. However phonetics do gives people a hand to
produce language, and obviously the educator can go beyond the rules and teach
phonetics through context and real life situations. Real language.

6. Bibliography
Freeman D. (2004). Essential Linguistics, Potsmouth, NH: Heinemann. pg 49-73