同学们，本栏目是对你们学过的知识和生活中常见问题的归纳。其中，有一些共性问题，也许你会需要哦！

Question1: How do you understand the difference between phonetics and phonology?

Answer:

Phonetics is the study of speech sounds. Phonology is the study of sound systems and patterns. Phonetics and phonology are both concerned with the study of speech sounds, but they two differ in perspectives. Phonetics, particularly articulatory phonetics, focuses on how speech sounds are produced, what phonetic features they have, and how to transcribe them. In phonetics, sound segments are assumed to be invariable; variations are overlooked. Phonology focuses on the following three fundamental questions: What sounds make up the list of sounds that can distinguish meaning in a particular language? What sounds make up the list of ways in what context? What sounds can appear together in a sequence in a particular language?

Question2: Identify the difference between a hotdog and a hot dog.

Answer:

“Hotdog” is a compound word and the stress is on the “hot”. A hotdog is a long cooked sausage. “Hot dog” is a noun phrase and the stress is on “dog”. A hot dog refers to a dog that is hot.

Question3: What are the functions of stress and intonation?

Answer:

Stress and intonation generally occur simultaneously in utterance. When intonation contour falls on a syllable, the nucleus is stressed and the vowel is naturally lengthened a bit. In the meantime, there is a little pause after the syllable. This is simultaneous functioning o the features serves to highlight the information focus, or to eliminate ambiguity.

Every component of a sentence contains some information. It may or may not be highlighted in speech, depending on the speaker’s intention and the situation. Intonation contour can indicate the information focus of the sentence. Intonation and stress are very important in that they distinguish phrases and sentences.