2014-04-03
Sources
" Fromkin, Victoria, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams.
2003. An introduction to language.
 Chapter 6: Phonetics
Introduction to linguistics
 Chapter 7: Phonology
" A free online course on YouTube:  Linguistic
fundamentals
Lecture 3: Phonology
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viAqQl12x8E&list
=PLRIMXVU7SGRJhu62mFhPj5q5CGnvKGYu2
" Listening to the speech sounds, e.g.:
http://www.yorku.ca/earmstro/ipa/
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What is phonology? Phonology
" Each language uses a different set of speech
" The study of how speech sounds form
sounds, e.g.:
patterns.
 Polish has nasalized vowels (Ä…, Ä™);
" It is a description of the speakers mental
 but English vowels become nasalized only in syllables
with a nasal consonant. knowledge (linguistic competence) about the
sound patterns of their language.
" Sounds form different patterns in different
languages, e.g.:
 Phonology says which sounds belong to your
 English /K
/ (as in song) can occur only at the end of
language and which are foreign.
the syllable.
 Which combinations of sounds can be actual
 but in Vietnamese /K
/ can begin a word.
words.
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Phonology Segmental phonology
" Segmental phonology  analyses speech into " To describe the way sounds work in a
discrete segments, e.g. phonemes. language two terms are used:
 phoneme and allophone.
" Segments combine to form words, e.g. man.
" Suprasegmental p.  analyses features which
 If we replace [m] by [p], we get a new word, pan.
are larger than a segment, e.g. the syllable,
stress or intonation.
" Such two words distinguished by a single
sound are termed a minimal pair.
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Phonemes Phonemes
" Through such substitutions, we can finally " This contrast tells us that [p] and [m] are two
determine those speech sounds that are distinct phonemes in English.
phonologically significant in a given lg.:
" PHONEMES  the contrastive units of sound
 because they distinguish one word from another,
which can be used to change meaning.
for example,
 pan `" man  because [p] and [m] are contrastive
sounds.
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Allophones Allophones
" Not every difference that can be heard
" The sounds in the examples are different, but
between two sounds changes the meaning of
we hear them as variants of the same sound.
words, e.g.:
" We call them the allophones of the same
" [k] in kite and sky:
phoneme:
 [k°] with a puff of air (aspiration) in kite, or
 Aspirated [k°] and non-aspirated [k] are the
 [k] without it in sky.
allophones of the phoneme [k]
" [t] in button can have two pronunciations:
 Syllabic [t] and ["] are the allophones of the
)
 [b›t)n]  [t] is syllabic, or
)
phoneme [t].
 [b›"n]  there s the glottal stop.
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Distribution of allophones Distribution of allophones
" Allophones [k°] and [k] appear in different " Where we hear [k], we won t hear [k°] and
environment: vice versa.
Allophone Environment
" This kind of mutually exclusive relationship is
[k°] #k-
(cat, keep, cut) (at the beginning of a word and called complementary distribution:
before a vowel we hear [k°])
 where one allophone occurs, the other cannot.
[k] sk-
(sky, skip, scan) (after [s] we hear [k])
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Distribution of allophones Distribution of allophones
" There are allophones that appear in the same " The allophones that occur in the same
environment, e.g. [t] in button. environment are called a free variation.
Allophone
Environment
[t] V t nasal C (V = vowel, C = consonant)
)
" Replacing one allophone with another does
(button) in many accents of English [t] followed by
not change the word.
a nasal consonant is syllabic
["] V t nasal C
 Allophones in a free variation are not contrastive
(button) in other accents, e.g. in Estuary English,
and they do not complement each other.
[t] is replaced by a glottal stop
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Phonological rules Phonological rules
" Assimilation  neighbouring sounds become " Insertion  an extra sound is added between
similar, e.g.: two other sounds, e.g.:
 input [ÈjnÌpŠt] Ä…ð [ÈjmÌpŠt]  English plural rule: bus + pl -s Ä…ð buses [ÈbÅšsjs]
" Dissimilation  neighbouring sounds become " Deletion (elision)  when a sound is not
different, e.g.: pronounced, e.g.
 lekko Ä…ð letko  the middle consonant in a consonant cluster:
handbag [ÈhćndÌbća] Ä…ð [ÈhćnÌbća]
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