ABSTRACT
Linguistic subdiscipline that studies the phonetic aspect of speech with regard to the following processes: (a) articulatory-genetic sound production ( articulatory phonetics); (b) structure of the acoustic flow ( acoustic phonetics); and (c) neurological-psychological processes involved in perception ( auditory phonetics). An understanding of anatomy, physiology, neurology, and physics is fundamental to these studies. In contrast to phonology, phonetics studies the concrete articulatory, acoustic, and auditory characteristics of all the possible sounds of all languages. Instrumental phonetics makes use of electronic equipment, whereas experimental phonetics involves empirical and experimental processes.
