[INTERNAL LAB]

• vs. = versus
• IPA = International Phonetic Alphabet
• RP = Received Pronunciation
• GA = General American
• CVC = Consonant–Vowel–Consonant
• e.g. = for example

1. Phonetics vs. (versus) Phonology

• Phonetics = the physical sounds of speech: how they are produced, transmitted, and perceived.
• Phonology = how those sounds function in a particular language: which ones are distinctive, how they combine, and how they pattern.

So phonetics asks: What sounds are actually made?
Phonology asks: Which sounds matter in this language, and under what rules?

2. Phonetics of a word

For a word, phonetics describes:

• Pronunciation: the actual speech sounds, usually written in the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet).
• Articulation: how each sound is made — place, manner, voicing.
• Acoustic properties: formants, duration, pitch, loudness.
• Perception: how listeners hear and categorize the sounds.

Example: English “word”

• GA (General American): /wɝd/ or [wɝd]
• RP (Received Pronunciation): /wɜːd/

Segments:

• /w/ = voiced labial-velar approximant
• /ɝ/ or /ɜː/ = central vowel; in GA (General American) it is rhotic
• /d/ = voiced alveolar plosive

3. Phonology of a word

Phonology looks at the sound system behind the word:

• Phonemes: contrastive sound units in the language.
• Allophones: variant pronunciations of the same phoneme.
• Minimal pairs: pairs that differ by one phoneme, proving contrast.
• Syllable structure: onset, nucleus, coda.
• Stress: which syllable is prominent.
• Tone: whether pitch distinguishes word meaning.
• Phonotactics: which sound combinations are allowed.

For “word”:

• Phonemes: /w/ + /ɝ/ + /d/ in GA (General American); /w/ + /ɜː/ + /d/ in RP (Received Pronunciation).
• Syllable: one syllable, CVC (Consonant–Vowel–Consonant):
  • Onset: /w/
  • Nucleus: /ɝ/ or /ɜː/
  • Coda: /d/
• Stress: monosyllabic content words are normally stressed.
• Tone: English is not a tonal language, so “word” does not have lexical tone. English uses intonation instead.
• Allophones: final /d/ may be released [d], unreleased [d̚], or partially devoiced in some contexts.
• Minimal pairs: word vs. (versus) ward; word vs. (versus) bird; word vs. (versus) weird in some accents.

4. Stress and tone

• Stress = prominence of a syllable. English can use stress to distinguish words, e.g. (for example), REcord noun vs. (versus) reCORD verb.
• Tone = pitch used to distinguish word meaning, e.g. (for example), Mandarin mā, má, mǎ, mà.
• Intonation = pitch movement over a phrase or sentence, e.g. (for example), “Word?” vs. (versus) “Word.”

So for English “word”: no lexical tone, but it can carry intonation and stress in connected speech.

5. How to analyze any word phonetically and phonologically

1. Get its IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) pronunciation.
2. Identify the phonemes.
3. Note allophones and contextual variants.
4. Divide it into syllables.
5. Mark stress.
6. Check whether the language uses tone.
7. Note any phonological rules, like assimilation, elision, flapping, or final devoicing.

If you give me a specific word and language, I can do this full phonetic and phonological analysis for it.