What are the three main areas of research in phonetics?

The three main areas of research in phonetics are articulatory, acoustic, and auditory. Each of these areas focuses on different aspects of sounds in human language.

Articulatory phonetics examines how speech sounds are produced by the movement of the articulators, which include the tongue, lips, and vocal cords. This area studies the physical processes and structural anatomy involved in forming spoken sounds.

Acoustic phonetics analyzes the physical properties of sound waves produced in speech, such as frequency, wavelength, and amplitude. This field looks at how these sound waves are transmitted and received, providing insight into the acoustical characteristics of different speech sounds.

Auditory phonetics focuses on how speech sounds are perceived by the ear and processed by the brain. This area includes understanding how listeners differentiate between sounds, recognize them, and comprehend spoken language.

These interconnected areas provide a comprehensive understanding of how sounds function within language, making the correct response clear. The other options include fields that are related to language structure or semantic meaning, but they do not pertain specifically to the study of speech sounds in the way that articulatory, acoustic, and auditory do.