CHAPTER VII: Physiological Phonetics (page 32 – 37)
Critical summary:
In this chapter, Saussure briefly explained the necessity of using writing as a tool to record sound, i.e. as orthographic sign. He also cautioned that while writing (as he expounded in previous chapter) can be misleading to linguistics inquiries, but at present we still need to rely on writing to help with the transcription of sound, and thus must continue to learn about our writing system as an orthographic sign system.
What is important, according to Saussure, is to understand writing as representation of sounds, not the language itself.
Saussure also explained the two kinds of phonetics studies, one which concerns itself with the evolution of sounds, which he called “historical phonetics”. Another which studies the mechanics of phonation, which he called “physiological phonetics”.
Saussure also cautioned that although speech sound is the basis of language analysis, not all sounds are meaningful. Different languages employ different sets of sounds, and thus different sets of sounds are meaningful in different languages.
Saussure in the third section explored the ways of using writing as a form of evidence to establish the sound system of a language that is no longer in use. He described three different ways: using writing as external evidence, as evidence of historical sound change, and as contemporary evidence as part of comparison.
For language still in use, the only sensible approach is to observe directly, especially when there are ways to record the language in action directly via sound or video recording.
Some important quotes and notes as follow:
Q: … without its orthographic sign a sound is something very vague.
Q: A language is a system based upon psychological contrasts between these auditory impressions, just as a tapestry is a work of art based upon the visual contrast between strands of different colours. What is important for an analysis is the effect of these contrasts, and not the processes by which the colours were obtained in the first place.
N: Psychological contrasts, means that only those contrasts we perceive is meaningful. For example, in Chinese, tonal contrasts are important, whereas in English it carries less meaning.
Q: The primary requirement of the linguist is that writing should provide him with a system for representing sounds which is free from ambiguity.
N: This is a nice concept, but one that is not practical, because such a system will exceed the needs of any one language and thus unwieldy.
Q: Another requirement is to draw a strict distinction between abductive and adductive sounds.
N: Note abductive and adductive sounds.
Q: Is there a case for replacing conventional orthography by a phonetic alphabet? … In our opinion, any such alphabet is destined to remain a tool for linguists.
Q: There is also the question of reading…A new or unknown word is scanned letter by letter. But a common, familiar word is taken in at a glance, without bothering about the individual letters: its visual shape functions like an ideogram.
N: Saussure might have touched on something more important than what he believed. This shows that there is a human tendency to directly connect written symbols with the actual meaning without relying on auditory impressions. It also shows that it is possible to approach language via a written system which has a direct link to meaning, if not a phonetic writing system.
Q: For each language use a fixed number of distinct speech sounds and this is the only sound system which has any reality as far as the linguist is concerned.
Q: In the case of a contemporary language, the only rational procedure is: (a) to establish the system of sounds by direct observation, and then (b) to compare this with the system of letters used – inexactly to represent them.
N: It is around this time (late 19th century) that the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) was established in France and Britain. It is hard to determine whether Saussure’s thought has influenced this development or the other way round.
APPENDIX: Principles of Physiological Phonetics (page 39 – 63)
Critical summary
This portion of the book deals heavily with the mechanics of phonation. It is divided into two chapters.
The first chapter deals with sound types, and how the individual sounds are categorized according to the articulatory methods. It discusses the various vocal apparatus of sound production and relate them to the existing phonetic classification. This is still relevant today.
The second chapter deals with sounds in spoken sequences, i.e. when sounds are put in relation to each other in a speech stream. Saussure points out, correctly, that when two or more sounds are put together, not all combinations make sense: it is limited by articulatory sensibility. Thus, it is important to consider speech sound not in isolation, but when they are put together in a speech stream.
The important concept Saussure introduce is the difference between adductive and abductive pronunciation. Adduction is a closing movement for a speech sound in action, while abduction is an opening movement. This observation sheds light on why certain speech sounds become altered in actual use and why certain speech sounds are possible.
Quotes and Notes from Chapter 1 of Appendix:
Q: … The impression produced on the ear is not only given to us as directly as that of the movements of the speech organs, but also provides the more natural basis for a theory of speech sounds… It is the sequence the ear hears that enables us immediately to detect when one sound is replaced by another.
N: Here, Saussure tells us that speech sound is determined by auditory impression, not articulatory attempt.
Q: The sequence of sounds we hear is not divided into segments of equal duration, but into segments identifiable as auditory units. This facts provides us with a natural starting point for the study of speech sounds.
Q: The identification of sounds in a spoken sequence thus rests solely on auditory impressions. But their description is a different matter. This must be based upon articulatory considerations, since the units of an auditory sequence as such as unanalysable. We need to appeal to the corresponding sequence of movements in phonation.
N: When we describe speech sounds, we need to rely on how they are pronounced to categorize them.
Q: The speech sound is an aggregate of auditory impressions and articulatory movements, comprising what is heard and what is spoken, one delimiting the other.
N: The speech sound is delimited by pauses, the complete absence of movement and sound.
Summary from Chapter 2 of Appendix:
It is very tempting to quote large swathe of text from the Chapter 2 of the Appendix dealing with adductive and abductive sounds. But it is necessary to condense its text into something more digestible.
Firstly, the concept of classifying sounds based on aperture (how wide the mouth is opened) of mouth is introduced in the previous chapter. For all sounds except ‘a’ (the maximum aperture), there exists two possible variant or rather stage of a sound, the adductive and the abductive sound. The adductive sound, denoted with a ‘>’, is a closing sound, while the abductive sound, denoted with a ‘<’, is an opening sound. Most easily identify by combining with ‘a’ in a phonic sequence, as in “aiia”, where the first “I” is adductive (>), and the second “I” is abductive (<).
The aperture of the sound, combined with whether it is adductive or abductive determines whether certain combination of sounds is possible or natural. For example, the sound (K<>r) is always possible (as in car), so is (k<<r), (as in cry). The sound (r>>k) would be natural too because ‘r’ has a wider closing aperture than ‘k’. (like irk). However, in the sound (r<<k), the abductive ‘r’ would produce no perceptible sound because it is taken over by the sound of abductive ‘k’. That’s why there is no relative phonics denotion of ‘rk+vowel’. Using the concept of adductive and abductive sounds, Saussure defined the syllabic boundaries and vocalic peak. Syllabic boundaries happened when an adductive sound transit to an abductive sound (><), whereas the vocalic peak happens when an adductive sound occurs after silence or an abductive sound ( >) or (<>).
Example: The word : “A>r>t<i>s>t>”, the syllabic boundary is between the adductive ‘r’ and the abductive ‘t’, while the vocal peak occurs with the adductive ‘A’ when it transit from silence, and the adductive ‘I’ when it transit from the abductive ‘t’.
Other concepts of ‘sonant’, ‘adsonant’ and also the diphthong spelling system is also discussed.