What does phonetics focus on?

Phonetics focuses on the production and perception of sounds in communication, which encompasses how speech sounds are produced by humans, how they are transmitted, and how they are perceived by listeners. This field examines the articulatory aspects (how sounds are made using the vocal tract), acoustic properties (the physical characteristics of sound), and auditory perception (how sounds are heard and understood). By studying these elements, phonetics plays a crucial role in fields such as linguistics, speech-language pathology, and language education, providing insights into the basic units of spoken language.

The other options address different aspects of language. One option relates to the interpretation of meaning, which falls under semantics. Another focuses on the structure and formation of words, relevant to morphology. The last option pertains to the cultural context of language use, which is part of sociolinguistics. Each of these fields highlights important dimensions of language, but they do not specifically focus on the sounds themselves, which is the essence of phonetics.