An introduction to phonology

Abstract

3 a Phonetics is concerned with the production and interpretation of speech sounds in general, i.e. across all languages, whereas phonology is concerned with that subset of sounds that are specific – and meaningful – to a particular language. For example, there are many more consonant and vowel sounds in the world’s languages than are used in English. Likewise, no two speakers of English will produce a sound in exactly the same way, yet they will each ‘hear’ the sound as if, for all intents and purposes, it has the same value. Whether you say ‘coffee’ in Sydney with a New York accent or with a London accent, you will still be understood. Phonology deals with these language-specific similarities. It is arguable, therefore, that the teacher of a specific language, such as English, needs to know more about phonology than about phonetics. To use a sporting analogy, a soccer referee needs to know the rules of soccer, not all the moves that are possible in all the different varieties of games that involve moving a ball around a field. Having said that, it is probably helpful if teachers also know something about the phonology of their learners’ language(s) as well, such as what sounds are similar or different to English. This kind of knowledge may well take them into areas of phonetics. b There is no ‘best model’. The fact is, however, that RP, while spoken by a relatively small minority of native speakers, is still generally regarded as a ‘standard’ variety of British English for global communication and educational purposes. Native speakers are less likely to be surprised by a foreigner speaking with an RP accent than, say, with a Glaswegian or broad Australian accent. Likewise, a standard American accent (even if there is some debate as to whether such an accent in fact exists) may be the most widely recognized form of American English. And it may be the case that two non-native speakers having to speak English together are more likely to be mutually intelligible if they have each learned to speak with the same accent. In fact, given that many learners need English in order to communicate with other non-native speakers (i.e. as a lingua franca) it is arguable that a better model than a nativespeaker one would be one that is spoken by successful ‘English as a lingua franca’ (ELF) users.

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