ABSTRACT
Experimental phonetics and phonology study speech production, perception, and language sound patterns. When perceiving continuous speech, the human ear makes categorisations that sometimes contradict acoustic cues in the speech signal. The role of experimental phonetics and phonology is to model the constraints linked to human speech production and perception.
The two disciplines are toughly linked to the development of multiple devices allowing for speech signal observation. With new technologies, most instruments and techniques developed over a century are now computerised, allowing for detailed speech signal visualisation, deducing the underlying articulatory behaviours, and understanding the subtle elements essential in perceiving and interpreting acoustic events. Articulatory movements can now be observed directly, using machines developed for this purpose or diverting medical devices.
Experimental methods are also helpful for phonological questions, such as describing and categorising under-endowed languages. They are also crucial in studying many questions related to discourse. Despite this fact, one of the critical issues in the two disciplines concerns using the most natural data possible, allowing connections between the descriptive and explanatory approaches since laboratory data are controlled and elicited.
