Meaning & use
phonetics
Last updated
Meaning
noununcountable
The scientific study of how humans produce, transmit, and perceive speech sounds.
Grammar: Takes a singular verb: Phonetics is interesting. No plural form.
Patterns
- study phonetics
- a course in phonetics
- phonetics of a language
She studied phonetics to understand how sounds are made in the mouth.
The phonetics of English includes many vowel sounds that other languages lack.
His research in phonetics focuses on how children learn to pronounce words.
Common combinations
- acoustic phonetics
- Acoustic phonetics measures sound waves produced by speech.
- articulatory phonetics
- Articulatory phonetics examines how the tongue and lips move.
- phonetics and phonology
- The course covers both phonetics and phonology.
- applied phonetics
- Applied phonetics helps teachers correct pronunciation.
Synonyms and how they differ
- phonology
- Phonology studies sound patterns in a language, while phonetics focuses on the physical sounds themselves.
Word family
- phonetic adjective
- Relating to speech sounds or their written representation.
- phonetician noun
- A person who studies phonetics.
- phonetically adverb
- In a way that relates to speech sounds.
Commonly confused: phonetics or phonics?
phonetics vs phonics
Phonics is a teaching method for reading; phonetics is the scientific study of speech sounds.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'phonetics' correctly?
Choose one answer.
'Phonetics' is an uncountable noun, so it takes no article and no plural. 'Phonetic' is an adjective, so option 2 is wrong; options 3 and 4 add articles incorrectly.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “phonetics”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.