phonetics
[fuh-net-iks, foh-]
- the science or study of speech sounds and their production, transmission, and reception, and their analysis, classification, and transcription.Compare acoustic phonetics, articulatory phonetics, auditory phonetics, physiological phonetics.
- the phonetic system or the body of phonetic facts of a particular language.
- the symbols used to represent the speech sounds of a language.
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Origin of phonetics
phonetic
[fuh-net-ik, foh-]
- Also pho·net·i·cal. of or relating to speech sounds, their production, or their transcription in written symbols.
- corresponding to pronunciation: phonetic transcription.
- agreeing with pronunciation: phonetic spelling.
- concerning or involving the discrimination of nondistinctive elements of a language. In English, certain phonological features, as length and aspiration, are phonetic but not phonemic.
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- (in Chinese writing) a written element that represents a sound and is used in combination with a radical to form a character.
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Origin of phonetic
1820–30; < New Latin phōnēticus < Greek phōnētikós vocal, equivalent to phōnēt(ós) to be spoken (verbid of phōneîn to speak) + -ikos -ic
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
utteranceaccentdictionenunciationarticulationtwangelocutionspeechdrawlphoneticsphonologysyllabificationphonemicsorthoepyExamples from the Web for phonetics
Contemporary Examples
It was a small step in learning to stick to my guns, but a leap in my comprehension of phonetics.
Almost all French speakers have to do a serious amount of self-study to become conversant, especially when it comes to phonetics.
Historical Examples
In its phonetics, it possesses six elements which to the Spaniards were new.
The Maya ChroniclesVarious
Sussex men are curiously intolerant of the phonetics of orthography.
Highways & Byways in SussexE.V. Lucas
(a) Phonetics, which teaches us to recognize and to reproduce sounds and tones.
The Principles of Language-StudyHarold E. Palmer
How can we combine a study of phonetics with a study of orthography?
The Principles of Language-StudyHarold E. Palmer
Jones is lecturer in phonetics at University College, London.
The American LanguageHenry L. Mencken
phonetics
- (functioning as singular) the science concerned with the study of speech processes, including the production, perception, and analysis of speech sounds from both an acoustic and a physiological point of view. This science, though capable of being applied to language studies, technically excludes linguistic considerationsCompare phonology
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phonetic
- of or relating to phonetics
- denoting any perceptible distinction between one speech sound and another, irrespective of whether the sounds are phonemes or allophonesCompare phonemic (def. 2)
- conforming to pronunciationphonetic spelling
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Word Origin
C19: from New Latin phōnēticus, from Greek phōnētikos, from phōnein to make sounds, speak
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for phonetics
phonetic
adj.
"representing vocal sounds," 1803, from Modern Latin phoneticus (1797), from Greek phonetikos "vocal," from phonetos "to be spoken, utterable," verbal adjective of phonein "to speak clearly, utter," from phone "sound, voice" (see fame (n.)).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
phonetics
(fə-nĕt′ĭks)- The branch of linguistics that deals with the sounds of speech and their production, combination, description, and representation by written symbols.
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phonetic
(fə-nĕt′ĭk)- Of or relating to phonetics.
- Representing the sounds of speech with a set of distinct symbols, each designating a single sound.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
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