________ is the branch of linguistics which studies the characteristics of speech sounds and provides methods for their description, classification and transportation.
语音学(Phonetics)是从自然的角度出发研究语言发音的语言学分支，主要关注语音的产生、传播和接受的过程，并着重考察人类语言中的单音，包括对语音的描述、分类、标示等。