Phones are generally divided into vowels and consonants.
vowel
Vowel, also known as vowel, is a kind of phoneme, as opposed to consonant. In the process of pronunciation, the sound made by air flowing through the mouth without obstacles is called vowel. They are divided into high vowels, middle vowels and low vowels. According to syllables, it can be divided into monophthongs and diphthongs.
consistent
Consonants, also called consonants, are a kind of phonemes, as opposed to vowels. When pronouncing, coming out of the lungs does not necessarily vibrate the airflow of the vocal cords, but is completely or partially hindered by the vocal organs. Phones that are not clear and loud enough are called consonants.
Phonetic symbols/phonetic symbols
Phonetic symbols are symbols for recording phonemes and writing phonemes. Its principle is that a phoneme is only represented by a phonetic symbol, and a phonetic symbol does not only represent a phoneme (diphthongs is composed of two phonemes, as opposed to a single vowel). A phonetic symbol consisting of two phonemes is called diphthongs.
Such as Chinese phonetic symbols, English Webster phonetic symbols, international phonetic symbols, etc.
syllable
Syllables are the basic phonetic units that can be clearly distinguished by hearing, which are divided into three parts: ventral and caudal, so there are obvious perceptible boundaries between syllables.
Syllables are different from music bars. Many people are confused and should be distinguished.
phoneme
Phoneme is a unit that can express semantics in a language. According to the definition of the International Phonetics Association, a phoneme is "a set of related sounds in a certain language without adding any other points". It is the smallest phonetic unit that can distinguish meanings in a specific language or dialect.
Such as [ts], [ts'], [s], [t? ]、[t？' ]、[? ] (This is an international phonetic symbol, which corresponds to Chinese Pinyin as Z, C, S, zh, ch, sh) are two different groups of phonemes in Mandarin, and many southern dialects are the same group of phonemes.
Phonemes in different languages are different. For example, in Chinese, different tones represent different meanings, which is a kind of phoneme. Tone only expresses feelings in English and French, and the same word has the same meaning in different tones, so tone is not phoneme in English and French. The same stress is a phoneme in English, but not in Chinese and French.
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), also known as International Phonetic Alphabet, is a symbol system used for phonetic notation of all languages in the world.
1888, linguists of the International Phonetic Alphabet Association developed a set of international phonetic symbols, hoping to use one symbol to represent a sound, so as to avoid the inconvenience caused by using one set of their own symbols.
International phonetic symbols, as the name implies, are used to mark the pronunciation of various international languages. Many linguists modify the international phonetic symbols locally to mark the languages they have learned, so there are many kinds of international phonetic symbols.
International Phonetic Alphabet for English
International phonetic symbols can be used to mark the pronunciation of any language, and English international phonetic symbols refer to the situation when applied to English.
The local accents of several native English speakers differ more in vowels than in consonants. Therefore, the description of English international phonetic alphabet vowels is divided into three parts, namely: receiving pronunciation, common American English and Australian English.
Extended article
Related concepts of phonemes, vowels, consonants, phonetic symbols, syllables and phonemes in the international phonetic alphabet.
International phonetic alphabet syllable structure division, consonant, vowel, pronunciation learning
English phonetic syllable structure division, consonants, vowels and pronunciation learning.
Pinyin related concepts: initial consonant, vowel, rhyme head, rhyme belly, rhyme ending, tone and pentatonic.
The syllable structure, initials, finals and tone division of Chinese Pinyin.
The syllable structure, initials, finals and tone division of Cantonese Pinyin.
Division of syllable structure, initials, finals and tones in Chaozhou dialect.
Division of syllable structure, initials, finals and tones of Hakka phonetic symbols