Lecture IV

Phonology

November 6th, 2008

Structure of the talk

• Definition of phonology
• Levels of phonological analysis
• Phonological features
• Phonemes vs. allophones
• Complementary distribution and free

variation

• The structure of the syllable
• Phonotactics (SSP, OSDP)

Definition of phonology

• The component of a grammar

made up of the elements and
principles that determine how
sounds pattern in a language

• The study of how sounds structure

and function in various languages

Units of phonological

analysis

• The word – the smallest meaningful unit of

language

• The syllable – a unit of linguistic structure

that consists of a syllabic element and any

segments that are associated with them

• Speech segments – speech sounds (bundles of

features)

• Phonological features – the smallest units of

phonological analysis that can be thought of

as individual articulatory characteristics of a

segment, e.g. [+nasal] or [- voice]

The hierarchy of phonological

analysis

Feature matrix for English

consonants

Feature matrix for English

vowels

Phonemes

• Phonemes – distinctive speech

units, that is, those which are
capable of distinguishing
words of different meanings.

Minimal pair test

• English
• bead – bid – bed –

bad

• pray – play
• take – cake
• back – bag

• Polish
baty – buty – bity
skradać – składać
kot – pot
żal - szal
luźne gadki – luźne

gatki

Allophones

• Allophones – actual realisation of a

given phoneme, particularly one
predictable from its phonological
context

• [] vs. []
• [] vs. []
• []

Aspiration

• Aspiration – voiced interval consisting

of strongly expelled breath between the

release of the plosive and the onset of

the following vowel.

• [], [], []
• Aspiration is the strongest in accented

syllables

• Aspiration doesn’t occur when the

plosive follows // as in spin, skin, stake

Nasal release

• When a plosive is followed by the

homorganic nasal, it is usually
released through the nose.

• [] – sudden
• [] – submerge
• [] - thicken

Lateral release

• bottle [

• kettle []

• shuttle []

Neutralisation

• When a sound may be assigned to

two different phonemes the contrast

between them is neutralised.

• Words beginning with /sb-, sd-, sg-/,

are not contrasted with words

beginning with /sp-, st-, sk-/

• The nasals /m/ and /n/ before the

bilabials /f, v/, e.g. symphony, infant

Complementary

distribution

• Two allophones are said to be in complementary

distribution when they are found in mutually

exclusive environments. In other words, they

are conditioned by the phonological context.

• Examples: // - //
// - //
// - //
// - //, //
// - //

Free variation

• When two different allophones appear

in the same phonological context
without changing the meaning of a
word, they are said to be in free
variation.

• Examples: // - / /
// - //
// - //

Syllable structure

Phonotactics

• The set of constraints on how sequences of

segments pattern (70% of the world’s

languages only allow CV syllables).

• A branch of phonology that investigates

permissible sequences of consonants in word-

initial, word-medial and word-final clusters.

• Accidental gaps – non-occurring but possible

forms of a language.

• Systematic gaps – gaps in the occurring

syllable structures of a language that result

from the exclusion of certain sequences

Language-specific

constraints

• English –

maximally
three segments
in the onset.

• //
• /,,/
• /, , , /

• Polish – up to

four segments
in the onset,
e.g. /-/,

/-/, and up to

five elements in
the coda, e.g.
/-/

The Sonority Scale(s)

• The organisation of segments in clusters is believed

to be driven by principles of sonority.

• Sonority – perceptual salience or the relative

loudness of a sound which correlates with the

degree of openness of the vocal tract involved in its

production.

• A sonority hierarchy is formed by assigning a

sonority value to each sound category.

vowels > glides > liquids > nasals > fricatives > (affricates) > stops

low vowels > mid vowels > high vowels > glides > nasals > obstruents

G > L > N > O

The Sonority Sequencing

Principle

• More sonorous segments tend to stand

closer to the syllable peak than less
sonorous ones (Sievers 1881, Jespersen
1904)

• Well-formed doubles: //, //, //, /
• Well-formed triples: //, //
• Ill-formed doubles: //, //, //
• Ill-formed triples: //, //, //

The Optimal Sonority

Distance Principle

• Clusters, in order to survive, must be

sustained by some force counteracting

the overwhelming tendency to reduce

towards CV

• The force is explained in terms of

sonority distances between

neighbourng segments.

• The distances are not expected to be

maximal or minimal, but to be optimal

Word-initial doubles

• C1C2V - |son(C1) – son(C2)| ≥ |

son(C2) – son(V)|, i.e. sondis (C1,C2) ≥

(C2,V)

• In word-initial doubles, the sonority

distance between the two consonants

should be greater than or equal to the

sonority distance between the vowel

and the consonant neighbouring on it.

Word-initial doubles

Word-initial triples

•

C1C2C3V - |son(C1) – son(C2)| < |son(C2) –

son(C3)| ≥ |son(C3) – son(V)|,

i.e. sondis (C1,C2) < sondis(C2, C3) ≥ sondis

(C3,V)

For word-initial triples, the distance between

the third consonant and the second should

be greater than or equal to the distance

between this third consonant and the beat,

and greater than the distance between the

second and the first consonant.

Word-initial triples

Bibliography

• Dziubalska-Kołaczyk, Katarzyna. 2002. Beats-and-

biding phonology. Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

• O’Grady, William – Dobrovolsky, Michael – Katamba,

Francis. (1996). Contemporary linguistics. London:
Pearson Education Limited.

• Hyman, Larry. 1975. Phonology: theory and analysis.

New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston Inc.

• Sobkowiak, Włodzimierz. 2001. English phonetics for

Poles. Poznań: Wydawnictwa Poznańskie.