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Sounds in the mind and hands

Linguistics lecture #4

November 7, 2006

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Overview

• Interfaces again

• The atoms of phonology

• Phonological rules and constraints

• Phonological structure

• Sign language phonology

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MIND

LANGUAGE

Physical world

Mental representations

Propositions

Syntax

Phonology

Physical world

semantics

phonology

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Phonology and the world

• Phonology is a mental interface with physics, but it is not itself physics

• For example, which of these two words have the “same main vowel”?

天 貪 貼ㄊ－ㄢ ㄊㄢ ㄊ－ㄝ

• But physically these are more similar• Mentally, these are more similar

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Phonemes

• Phonemes ( 音素 ) are in your head

• They are turned into phonetic forms by the rules of your grammar

/th/ /i/ /a/ /n/ [thin]

rules

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Phonemes as atoms

• Phonemes are like the “atoms” of phonology, but unlike words, they are meaningless

－ ㄨ ㄩ ㄚㄋㄌ

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Uniquely human?

• The atom + rule structure in syntax is expected, since it’s crucial to express meaning

• The atom + rule structure of phonology is perhaps a more surprising discovery

• Unlike other animal communication systems, human language has two levels of patterning: duality of patterning

- patterning of both meaningful and meaningless units

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Formal rules in phonology

• Phonology shows patterns that do not seem to be directly related to physics

sign [ai] signal [Ig]

resign [ai] resignation [Ig]

Rule: Change /Ig/ to [ai] before word-final /n/

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Rule interactions

• Another clue that phonology isn’t just physics: rules interact in complex ways

• Mandarin Tone 3 rule: 3 2 before 3 買馬 老虎

• Tone 0 rule: Tone 0 at end of word (optional) 媽媽 謝謝

• But what if both can apply…?

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Rule ordering?

點點

2 3

[2 0]

姐姐

3 0

[3 0]

/3 3/Input form

Tone 3 rule Tone 0 rule

/3 3/Input form

Tone 3 rule (can’t apply)

Tone 0 rule

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Formal constraints in phonology

• Some patterns cannot be described with rules of the form A B

• Instead, they require constraints

ㄠ ㄡ ㄞ ㄟ－ㄨ

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Constraint: *V1 V2 V1 (V1 = same vowel)

iauiouuaiuei

*uau*uou*iei?iai

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Constraint interactions

• Constraints can conflict with each other

• V1V2 constraint:

ie ( ㄧㄝ ) *io ( ㄧㄛ ) *ue ( ㄨㄝ ) uo ( ㄨㄛ )

• V2V3 constraint:

ei ( ㄟ ) *eu *oi ou ( ㄡ )

• What happens in words with V1V2V3, where both constraints can apply…?

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Constraint ranking

• Question: Which constraint is ranked higher in Mandarin grammar?

• Answer: The V2V3 constraint.

iou, uei: V2V3 obeyed, but V1V2 is violated

*ieu, *uoi: if V1V2 is obeyed (but it’s really not)

• Ranking: V2V3 » V1V2

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Phonological structure

• The ranking of these constraints relates to the structure of Mandarin syllables ( 音節 ):

Syllable

th i a n

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Phonological structure

• There are also larger phonological structures that link to syntactic structure:

老 李 買 好 酒2 3 2 2 3

N V NP

2 3 3 2 3

N V N

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Sign languages:duality of patterning

• Signs also have atoms, such as handshapes

• Examples from Taiwan Sign Language:

ZERO FIVE SIX

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Sign languages:duality of patterning

• The same handshapes appear in other signs with totally unrelated meanings

CUT CLASS HAVE FAST

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Different sign languages,different grammars

• Taiwan Sign Language (TSL) has handshapes that are not used in American Sign Language (ASL)

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A phonemic handshape in ASL

• ASL uses the following handshape for “B”, which is also in the sign meaning BLUE:

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Rule-generated “B” in TSL

• But the “B” handshape is not basic in TSL. Instead, it is always derived by a rule:Close thumb only if touching body (otherwise )

NONSENSE PLEASE DOOR

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Phonology and functionalism

• Phonological grammar (competence) is formal

• But phonology is also affected by language use (performance), especially physics

• “Difficult” forms are avoided:- Difficult sounds like // sound are rare across the world’s languages, and so are difficult handshapes

• Rules often “simplify” forms:- For example, /sIgn/ ends a complex way, but [sain] doesn’t. This makes the /Ig/ [ai] rule “natural”.

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Phonology and functionalism

• Phonological forms may even relate directly to meaning- For example, the shapes of signs often “make sense” (e.g. DOOR in TSL)- Sometimes this is so for spoken language too:

snore, sneeze, snot, sniff….

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Summary

• Phonology involves formal “atoms” (phonemes)

• Phonological grammar also involves rules and constraints

• Phonological atoms are arranged in structures like syllables

• Even sign languages have phonology• Phonology is also influenced by physics