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Phonology Doing Phonology Summary Understanding Phonology Doing Phonology Summary Phonology Darrell Larsen Linguistics 101 Darrell Larsen Phonology Understanding Phonology Doing Phonology Summary Outline 1 Understanding Phonology Basics Phonology vs. Phonetics Distribution of Sounds Distinctive Features 2 Doing Phonology How to Solve a Phonology Problem Example Phonology Problem Writing Phonological Rules 3 Summary Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features What Is Phonology? Definition the study of the sound systems of languages and the mental representation of sounds sound system = inventory of sounds + rules + constraints Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Why Do We Need Phonology? to account for how sounds are groups together despite being phonetically distinct. to explain regular sound alternations (e.g. aspiration of /p t k/) to explain how we extend these alternations to novel words to explain how we extend these alternations to mistakes like spoonerisms Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Why Do We Need Phonology? to explain how we pronounce loan words to explain how we determine what possible words of our language are to save storage space etc Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ? Phonetics: concerned with actual pronunciation concerned with articulation Phonology: focuses on mental representations of sounds has rules mapping mental representations to pronunciations Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ? Phonetics Phonology The /k/ in call [khAl] and in key The /k/ in call and key have the h [kff i] are phonetically distinct. same mental representation. /kAl/ ! [khAl] h /ki/ ! [kff i] Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ? Letter Analogy a A Pseudo-phonetics Pseudo-phonology The symbols above are distinct. The symbols above belong to a single mental representation of the letter ‘a’. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features From Phonology to Phonetics Phonology is the starting point, while phonetics is the ‘output’ of phonology. Phonological rules change sounds from mental representations (phonemes) into phonetic forms. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features From Phonology to Phonetics Letter Analogy The single letter ‘a’ is written as hai or hAi in accordance with the following (simplified) set of rules: Use hAi at the beginning of a sentence. Use hAi at the beginning of a proper noun. Use hai elsewhere. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features From Phonology to Phonetics Actual Example The single phoneme /k/ is pronounced as [k] or [kff] in accordance with the following (simplified) set of rules: Use [kff] in front of the vowel /i/. Use [k] elsewhere. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Phonemes and Allophones The Basics A speech sound in isolation is a phone. The mental representation of a sound is a phoneme. Allophones are phonetic realizations of phonemes. Allophones are generally minimally distinct from phonemes. A phoneme consists of one or more allophones. Every speech sound we produce is an allophone of some phoneme. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Phonemes and Allophones Notation Allophones are written between square brackets [ ]. Phonemes are written between forward slashes / /. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features From Phonology to Phonetics Phonemes &Allophones Native speakers generally think of sounds at the phonemic level. Phoneme Allophone Example [t] ‘stop’ [t^] ‘cat’ [P] ‘cat’ /t/ [th] ‘tie’ [R] ‘atom’ [tS] ‘train’ Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Types of Distributions When comparing the speech sounds of a language, we can classify their relative distribution as one of the following: 1 contrastive 2 complementary 3 free variation Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Contrastive Distribution Two sounds are contrastive when: 1 they occur in the same environment, and 2 replacing one sound with the other can change a word’s meaning Question Are [s] and [z] contrastive in English? Are [k] and [kh] contrastive in English? Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Contrastive Distribution Two contrastive phones are allophones of different phonemes. Two non-contrastive phones are allophones of the same phoneme. Question Do [s] and [z] belong to the same phoneme or different phonemes in English? How about [k] and [kh]? Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Contrastive Distribution Minimal Pairs Minimal pairs provide evidence that two phones are in contrastive distribution A minimal pair is two words... 1 with the same number of sound segments, and 2 which differ in segment only, and 3 which have different meanings Minimal Pairs Not Minimal Pairs [bin] ‘bean’ [min] ‘mean’ [sænd] ‘sand’ [stænd] ‘stand’ [m2d] ‘mud’ [T2d] ‘thud’ [bin] ‘bean’ [bæm] ‘bam’ [læf] ’laugh’ [khæf] ‘calf’ [khæt] ‘cat’ [khæP] Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Complementary Distribution Sounds in complementary distribution... 1 never occur in the same environment 2 occur in predictable environments (with respect to each other) Sounds in complementary distribution are allophones of the same phoneme. Question Are [p] and [ph] in complementary distribution in English? How about [t] and [d]? Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Free Variation Two sounds are free variation when: 1 they occur in the same environment, and 2 replacing one with the other does not change the meaning Sounds in free variation are allophones of the same phoneme. Question Are released [b] and unreleased [b^] in free variation word-finally? Are released [b] and unreleased [b^] in free variation word-initially? Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Crosslinguistic Variation The distribution of any two sounds is language-specific. English [su] ‘sue’ Finnish [ku:si] ‘six’ [zu] ‘zoo’ [ku:zi] ‘six’ English [pi] - Korean [pi] ‘rain’ [phi] ‘pee’/‘pea’ [phi] ‘blood Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Multiple Distributions The distribution of two sounds may vary depending on the environment. Consider the sounds [t], [t^] and [P] in English ‘cat’ [kæt][kæt^][khæP] ‘stop’ [stap] *[st^ap] *[sPap] Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Multiple Distributions A phone may be allophones of more than one phoneme. E.g., [R] can be an allophone of /t/ or /d/. ‘atom’ [æR@m] cf. ‘atomic’ [@thamIk] ‘addict’ [æRIkt] cf. ‘addictive’ [@dIktIv] Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Distinctive Features A distinctive feature is a feature which, when changed, may create minimal pairs. Any feature may potentially be distinctive. Which features are distinctive is language-specific. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Distinctive Features Examples Voicing, [±voice], is a distinctive feature in English, but not in Korean. [p] and [b] are contrastive in English. [p] and [b] are in complementary distribution in Korean. Darrell Larsen Phonology Basics Understanding Phonology Phonology vs. Phonetics Doing Phonology Distribution of Sounds Summary Distinctive Features Distinctive Features Examples Aspiration, [±aspirated], is a distinctive feature in Korean, but not in English. [p] and [ph] are contrastive in Korean. [p] and [ph] are in
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