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4 Phonetics and Phonology

In this chapter we sketch the pronunciation system of English. We begin

with phonetics, a system for describing and recording the sounds of language objectively. Phonetics provides a valuable way of opening our ears to

facets of language that we tend to understand by reference to their written

rather than their actual spoken forms. Phonology concerns itself with the

ways in which languages make use of sounds to distinguish words from each

other.

Teachers should be knowledgeable about the phonetics and phonology

of English because (1) the sound system is primary and the basis for the

spelling system; (2) they may have to teach English pronunciation to students who are not native speakers of English; (3) they may have to teach

poetry, which requires that they teach about rhyme, alliteration, assonance,

and other poetic devices that manipulate sound; (4) it is important to understand accents and language variation and to react appropriately to them

and to teach appropriate language attitudes about them to students (see our

chapters on Language and Society and Usage in Book II); (5) we are so literate that we tend to “hear” the sounds of our language through its spelling

system, and phonetics/phonology provides a corrective to that; and (6) phonetics and phonology provide systematic and well-founded understandings

of the sound patterns of English.