Chapter 7/8 Fall 11Phonemic Analysis

PHONOLOGY (Lane 335)

What is Phonology?

It is a field of linguistics which studies the distribution of sounds in a language as well as the interaction between those different sounds.

What is Phonology?

Phonology tackles the following questions:

What sounds in a language are predictable? What is the phonetic context that predicts the

occurrence of these sounds? Which sounds affect the meaning of words?

Phonetics Vs Phonology

Phonetics: studies how speech sounds are produced, their physical properties & how they are interpreted.

Phonology: studies the organization of speech sounds in a particular language.

Distinctive and Non-distinctive Sounds Distinctive (contrastive) Sounds: make a difference in

meaning; e.g. /p/ & /b/ in pin, bin.

Non-distinctive (non-contrastive) Sounds: Do NOT make a difference in meaning; e.g. [ph] in pin & spin.Example:/t/ in : top [thɒp] stop [stɒp] little [liɾ l] kitten [kiʔn] (n is syllabic here) hunter [hʌ nr]

Phoneme and Allophone A phoneme: a class of speech sounds that are identified

by a native speaker as the same sound; e.g. /t/; unpredictable (given “in” in pin like the example above we CANNOT predict which sound can come before it like bin, tin, din, kin, gin, fin, thin, sin, shin, chin)

A phoneme: a class of speech sounds that are identified by a native speaker as the same sound; e.g. /t/; phonemes are unpredictable

A phoneme is an abstract representation & cannot be pronounced (it is not a speech sound)

A phone: the actual phonetic segment produced by a speaker & has been classified as belonging to some phoneme; e.g. [th]; predictable

An allophone: a variant of a phoneme, e.g. /t/ = [ʔ], [ɾ]

Phoneme and Allophone

The phonological system of a language has two levels:1- the more concrete level which involves the physical

reality of phonetic segments, the allophones represented by square brackets [ ] (greater number).

2- The abstract (underlying) level which involves phonemes represented by / / slanted brackets (small inventory).

/p/ has 3 allophones ([p], [ph], [pA ])

Similar to natural sciences (H2O is realized as ice, water, & water vapor); different realizations/forms of the same thing.

Distribution of Speech Sounds The distribution of a phone = the set of phonetic

environments in which it occurs.

Contrastive Sounds: if two sounds are separate phonemes, they are contrastive

(interchanging the two, change the meaning of a word)

Non-contrastive Sounds: if two phones are allophones of the same phoneme, they are non-contrastive

(interchanging the phones, doesn’t change the meaning of a word BUT it changes the pronunciation)

Minimal Pair : Commutative test A test to determine whether sounds are contrastive

or not. Defined as a pair of words with different meanings

which are pronounced exactly the same way except for one sound that differs: pat, bat, fat, sat, mat

Thus /p, b, f, s, m/ are separate phonemes.

In some languages, no minimal pairs, but we can still establish phonemes

Near Minimal Pair: (differ in more than one sound but the environment of the sound is identical short i and schwa in ‘mission’ & ‘vision’)

Kinds of Phonemic Distribution Overlapping Distribution: when the sets of phonetic environments

in which two sounds occur are partially or completely identical.bait [bet] date [det]lobe [lob] load [lod]knobs [nabz] nods [nadz]

Two Kinds:1- Contrastive distribution (give different meanings= belong to

different phonemes = appear in minimal pairs)2- Free Variation (never cause a contrast in meaning = allophones

of the same phoneme = no minimal pairs) mat mat maʔ can be released, unreleased or a glottal stop either iðər aiðər – neither niðər, naiðər – tomato təmætə, tometə - data dæta , deta

Kinds of Phonemic Distribution Complementary Distribution (mutually exclusive, non-

overlapping): when sounds DON’T occur in the same phonetic environment

Englishspat [spæt] pat [phæt] spool [spul] pool [phul]speak [spik] peek [phik]

No minimal pairs for such sounds Phones in Complementary Distribution are allophones of

a single phoneme The appearance of one allophone or the other is

PREDICTABLE. In Thai and Korean [p] and [ph ] are separate phonemes

Phonological Rules

Two levels of representation:

1- underlying (phonemic, mental)

2- surface (phonetic)

Why do we need rules?

- to link the two levels

- to show when a particular allophone should show up on the surface

Phonological Rules

PHONEMIC LEVEL(underlying form)

PHONOLOGICAL RULES

PHONETIC LEVEL(surface form)

Phonological Rules

Definition

 A phonological derivation is the set of stages used to

generate the phonetic representation of a word from its underlying representation.

Discussion

 Here is a diagram of the stages in a derivation.

Phonological rules influence each stage of a derivation: 

Examples (English)

 Here are some examples of the derivations of words

having the negative prefix /In/: 

Phonological Rules

Phonological rules state that some item becomes some other item in some specific environment

The common way of expressing rules:

A B/ X____ Y

A becomes B in the environment of (/) being preceded by X and followed by Y

____ represents the position of the item affected by the rule

( XAY) becomes (XBY)

Phonological Rules Example from English:

˷ ˷ [fæn]: /æ/ /æ/ /____/n/ A vowel is nasalized whenever it immediately

precedes a nasal stop

[+ syllabic] [+nasal]/ __ [+nasal] A +syllabic sound (= a vowel) becomes + nasal (= nasalized)

when it comes before a + nasal sound (= m, n, ŋ)

The above captures a generalization about all vowels not only [æ] and all nasals not only [n].

Choosing the Underlying Form How do we decide on the representation at the

phonemic level?

Phonemes and their allophones SHARE some phonetic features

The choice is “phonetically natural” Take the form which has the simplest form

Choosing the Underlying Form How do we decide on the representation at the

phonemic level? We can use an arbitrary number like 3 or Fred = harder to

read the rules Using /p/ tells us that the allophones associated with /p/ all

share some features like [voice, continuant, anterior, coronal].

/p/ is the simplest of the 3 phonetic forms with nothing added to its ‘p-ness’ like being aspirated or being unreleased: /pʰ/ and /p ̚/

Use the form with the widest distribution

7.13 p. 104

Form with the widest distribution:

Take the case of the devoicing of liquids and glides following voiceless consonants

kwit, flei, trap, pjur, swaip (all are devoiced) jɛs, wiʃ, bɔƗ, sk^ri, brik glas, fiƗθ, fiƗm If the [–voice] allophone were chosen to

represent then our rule(s) would specify many environments thus the rule would be:

“A voiceless oral sonorant (liquid or glide) becomes voiced when: 1. word-initial 2. word-final 3. before a consonant 4. between two vowels 5. following a voiced consonant (see p. 105)

So using the voiced member of the pair i.e. the allophone with the widest distribution is: Simpler Expresses a generalization that non-nasal

sonorants (liquids and glides) devoice following voiceless segments

Shows there is an assimilation process with voicelessness spreading to the following consonant.

Phonetic Naturalness & Phonological Analysis

Natural means “to be expected”, “frequently found across languages”

Does NOT mean “English-like”

No words in English begin with onset clusters like [ps], [pn], [pt].

These clusters appear word initially in other languages like German, Greek, & French.

Phonetic Naturalness & Phonological Analysis (cont)

What applies to one language is not necessarily true of other languages.

English /p/ has unaspirated p and aspirated p as allophones

Thai /p/ and /ph/ are two phonemes: paa ‘forest’ ph aa ‘to split’

English has /p/ and /b/ Arabic has /b/ with two allophones [b] and [p]

Phonetic Similarity

To choose the phonemic form, we have to consider phonetic similarity.

Example: [h] occurs syllable-initially [hæ m] [ŋ ] occurs only syllable-finally [brɪ ŋ]

Not allophones of the same phoneme

They lack phonetic similarity [h]: non-nasal, obstruent, continuant [ŋ] nasal, sonorant, non-continuant

Pattern Congruity Phonologists consider the consequences of choosing

one phoneme over the other

Pattern Congruity: the systematic organization of the set of phonemes and their distribution.

Choosing an allophone depends on the overall patterns found in the phonological system (pattern congruity)

For example:In English: obstruent clusters have uniform voicingEither all members of the cluster are [+ voice], or [- voice]. ‘Mixed voice clusters’ DON’T occur phonemically

Pattern Congruity

/-ft, -pt, -ps, -kst, -sp/ e.g. ‘daft’, ‘apt’, ‘apse’, ‘next’, ‘asp’/-bd, -dz, -zd, -vz/ e.g. ‘robbed’, ‘adze’, ‘phased’, leaves’* /-fd, -bt, -pz, -ds/

Process Naturalness In choosing the underlying form, the linking processes

should be considered

pass [ph æs] pass you [ph æʃ ju] this [ðɪs] this year [ðɪʃjiə ]

[s] appears in more environments so it makes sense to choose it as the underlying form instead of vice versa

Assimilation: [s] alveolar [+coronal, +anterior] becomes [ʃ] palato-alveolar [+coronal, - anterior] when followed by

[j] palatal [+ coronal, - anterior]

Phonology

Phonology is concerned with the organization of the system underlying the speech sounds

The phonemic level represents native speakers’ knowledge of the sound system of their language

Phonology vs. Phonetics

Phonology: is a cognitive study which deals with the representation of knowledge in the mind

Phonetics: deals with the physical properties of speech sounds

Chapter 7 ExercisesExercise 1 page 110/130 Consider the distribution of [w] and [ʍ] in the following data. Are the phones allophones of the same or different

phonemes?Why? If they are allophones of a single phoneme, give a rule

to account for the distribution. a. ʍa’e why h. we wayb. ʍɪʧ which i. weð^r weatherc. ʍ^ɪt white j. wɔnt wantd. ʍeƗz whales k.wɪʧ witche. ʍɪp whip l. ʍ^ɪp wipef. əʍ^ɪl awhile m. weƗz Walesg. ʍɛð^r whether n. əʍɔʃ awash

Chapter 7 Exercises

a. ʍa’e why h. we wayb. ʍɪʧ which i. weð^r weatherc. ʍ^ɪt white j. wɔnt wantd. ʍeƗz whales k. wɪʧ witche. ʍɪp whip l. ʍ^ɪp wipef. əʍ^ɪl awhile m. weƗz Walesg. ʍɛð^r whether n. əʍɔʃ awash

Chapter 7 Exercises

a. bomba ‘bomb’ e. beŋga (s/he) comesb. beɣa ‘plain’ f. boβa ‘foolish’c. tuβo ‘tube’ g. gato ‘cat’d. paɣa ‘pay’ h. tumbo ‘fall’

i. rondar ‘to patrol’ k. roðar ‘to roll’j. dar ‘to give’ l. deðo ‘finger’

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