1. What is phonetics? It is the scientific study of speech. But why do we want to study speech? 2.

The Primacy of Speech: speech is the primary way in which linguistic information is communicated between people. There are only two ways of linguistic communication that are natural (biological, independent of culture?): speech and sign (among the congenitally deaf and in some huntergatherer societies). Of these, speech is more widespread. 3. Naturalness of speech 1 In history: for most of human history, writing did not exist. Writing is a comparatively recent social invention. 2 In world society: languages with established writing systems are numerically a small minority. Most languages are unwritten (or were until this century). 3 In human development: children without disabilities acquire speech as a natural human function, e.g. like walking or eating. It does not require explicit instruction, is biologically pre-programmed, and is achieved to an equal degree of mastery by everyone (though some become more eloquent in what they have to say than others!) 4 In the development of literary languages: a literary language is a socially established forms of what was, at an earlier stage, merely one spoken dialect among many. 5 In quantity of activity: most linguistic activity is in the spoken medium. Indeed, even among literate people, writing is a relatively rare activity.

This is a poem that was given in 1974 at Stockholms Higher General Secondary School for Girls, Norrmalm by a temporary teacher whose name has been forgotten. It is one of the most well-known poems that showcases the complexity in English pronunciations. You may find quite a number of variants of this poems from the Internet. The version recorded here is supposedly the original version. in Greek mythology, the Labyrinth (Greek labyrinthos,) was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos. Its function was to hold the Minotaur, a mythical creature that was half man and half bull and was eventually killed by the Athenian hero Theseus. Daedalus had so cunningly made the Labyrinth that he could barely escape it after he built it.[1] Theseus was aided by Ariadne, who provided him with a skein of thread, literally the "clew", or "clue", so he could find his way out again. In colloquial English, labyrinth is generally synonymous with maze, but many contemporary scholars observe a distinction between the two: maze refers to a complex branching (multicursal) puzzle with choices of path and direction; while a single-path (unicursal) labyrinth has only a single, nonbranching path, which leads to the center. A labyrinth in this sense has an unambiguous route to the center and back and is not designed to be difficult to navigate. Branching mazes were reintroduced only when garden mazes became popular during the Renaissance. Labyrinths appeared as designs on pottery or basketry, as body art, and in etchings on walls of caves or churches. The Romans created many primarily decorative labyrinth designs on walls and floors in tile or mosaic. Many labyrinths set in floors or on the ground are large enough that the path can be walked. They have been used historically both in group ritual and for private meditation.