Lecture 3: Phonology of the language

Definition

Phonology – the study of the sound patterns of the language

Phonology tells us what sounds are in our native language and what sound patters are allowed in our language and which ones are not.

e.g. odhod (odjazd) not ohdod (jdazd)

Phonemes

Phonemes are abstract basic forms of sounds that differentiate words.

Phone is a particular pronunciation of a phoneme, a phonetic sound that occurs in language.

Each phoneme has one or more sounds – allophones. Allophones represent the actual sound corresponding to the phoneme in various contexts, they are predictable phonetic variants of phonemes

e.g. /p/ - phoneme

[p^h] (= aspirated) as in pit and [p] (= not aspirated) as in spit.

• Allophones of [p] differing quality of [p]

Allophones of /t/:

[t^h] team (aspiration occurs between stressed vowel)

[t] stick

butler (występuje glottis – przerwa)

Phonological segments – phonemes and phones are composed of phonetic features such as voiced, labial, nasal and continuant(czy są obstructions to airflow). They distinguish one segment from another . /Fromkin/

Minimal pairs:

A minimal pair is a set of two words that differ only in one segment that occurs in the same place in each word. e.g.

see and bee a minimal pair that differs only in their initial segments

sweet and sweep a minimal pair that differs only in their final segments

Minimal pairs illustrate that some sounds are contrastive in language.

A phonemic feature is a distinctive feature that distinguishes one phoneme from another (we can distinguish one word from another words thanks to it)

For example voicing is a distinctive feature because it distinguishes the words:

zip / sip feel / veel bat / bad

^{voiced voiced voiced}

Non distinctive features

E.g. nasality is nondistinctive feature for English vowels.

The phonological rules in a language show that the phonemic shape of words or phrases is not identical with their phonetic form. The phonemes are not the actual phonetic sounds, but are abstract mental constructs that are realized as sounds by the operation of phonological rules.

/Fromkin/