10/8/2012

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Lecture #9 Oct 8th, 2012

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Today’s agenda: Phonology

• Introducing and . • While phonetics studies how speech sounds are articulated, what their physical properties • How to figure out if two or more sounds are, and how they are perceived, phonology are phonemes or allophones in a studies the organization of speech sounds in a particular language. (An algorithm of particular language. solving phonology problems). • As it turns out, while two or more languages may have the same sounds, no two languages • Doing some phonology problems organize their sound inventories in the same (problem‐solving skills) way. Let’s look at an example.

[s] and [S]in Japanese vs. English [s] and [S]in Japanese vs. English

• In both English and Japanese we hear the • In English, however, the occurrence of each sounds [s] and [S]: sound is unpredictable. Japanese: [Simasu] “do” • Given [ _oɹ], which sound do you think should English: [slæS] “slash” occur in the blank? • Either one can, giving us two words with two different meanings: [Soɹ] “shore” vs. [soɹ] “sore”

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[s] and [S]in Japanese vs. English Phonology

• By contrast, in Japanese, we do not find pairs where • Phonology addresses questions related to the sound [s] and [S] create a difference in meaning. system of a given language. Basically: • In Japanese, if we have [_imasu], and a choice of [s] 1. Which sounds are predictable and which sounds are and [S] , we predict that only [S] may occur in the unpredictable in a given language? blank: [Simasu] “do”. 2. What are the rules regulating the occurrence of • Similarly, if we have [_an], we predict that only [s] predictable sounds? may occur in the blank: [san] “three” 3. How can we state speakers’ knowledge of these • If we make the wrong choice in the blank, we get a rules in a ‘formal’ notation? nonsense word. Japanese cannot have [simasu] or • We discuss the first two questions today and the [San]. third on Wednesday.

Phonological knowledge is subconscious Phonemes vs. allophones

• Native speakers of a particular language typically • Phonologists explain the difference by treat certain sounds as being the same, even when invoking a distinction between phonemes and they are phonetically different, e.g., allophones. the [l] in lay and play • A is a sound that distinguishes the [t] in top and stop meaning in a language, whereas an • But other sounds are considered different even when is a phonetic variant of a particular phoneme they sound the same: that does not affect meaning. [ɹaɪRəɹ] ‘rider’ and [ɹaɪRəɹ] ‘writer’

Minimal pairs Phonemes or allophones?

• Phonemes create words that differ in meaning. • So, bearing this in mind, let’s consider more Hence, they are contrastive. examples from English. • But how do we know if two sounds are • Based on the minimal pair light [laɪt] and right contrastive in a particular language? [ɹaɪt], are the [l] and [r] phonemes or • Answer: Minimal pairs. allophones in English? • A minimal pair is two words with different • Based on the minimal pair pan [pæ̃ n] and ban meanings that are identical except for one sound [bæ̃ n], are the [p] and [b] phonemes or that occurs in the same place in each word, e.g., allophones in English? seed [sid] and seat [sit]

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Phonemes or allophones? Phonemes or allophones?

• How about these further minimal pairs? • How about these further minimal pairs? seat [sit] and sit [sɪt] seat [sit] and sit [sɪt]  [i] &[ɪ] are phonemes. fool [ful] and full [fʊl] fool [ful] and full [fʊl]  [u] &[ʊ] are phonemes. sip [sɪp] and zip [zɪp] sip [sɪp] and zip [zɪp]  [s] &[z] are phonemes. leaf [lif] and leave [liv] leaf [lif] and leave [liv]  [f] &[v] are phonemes.

Aspiration in English Aspiration in Thai

• Now, let’s consider the following (made‐up) • But now consider aspirated and unaspirated minimal pairs: voiceless stops in Thai. a. tar: [tha ] vs. *[ta ] ® ® h b. star: [sta ] vs. *[stha ] [paa] “forest” [p aa] “to split” ® ® h • Now, here’s the question: Are the two sounds [th] [tam] “to pound” [t am] “to do” and [t] phonemes or allophones in English? [kat] “to bite” [khat] “to interrupt” • Since [th] and [t] are not contrastive in English, they are two allophones of the same phoneme, which we might represent here as /t/. • Are these sounds phonemic or allophonic in (Notice the slash, rather than the square bracket, notation.) Thai?

Nasal vowels in English Nasal vowels in French and Akan

• How about nasal vowels in English? Are they • Now, consider nasal vowels in French: phonemes or allophones? gars [ga] “lad” gant [ga)] “glove” • First, let’s try to find (or construct) a couple of • Are they phonemes or allophones? minimal pairs: • How about Akan, a Ghanian language? a. ban [bæn] vs. *[bæn] ̃ [ka] “bite” [ka)] “speak” b. bat [bæt] vs. *[bæt] ̃ [tu] “pull” [tu)] “den” • Is the contrast here phonemic or allophonic? [pam] “sew” [pa)m] “confederate”

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Distribution: contrastive vs. complementary Sounds in ‘’ • From all these examples, you should have noticed • Occasionally, two sounds in a language can be in that different allophones occur in different free variation, that is, they may optionally occur environments, that is, where one of them occurs, in the same context without affecting meaning. the other doesn’t, and vice versa, which is not the • For example, English stops may or may not have case with phonemes. an audible release in final position. • We say that allophones occur in complementary mat [mæt] or [mæt˺] distribution, whereas phonemes occur in • contrastive distribution. And this is the key way The IPA symbol for ‘no audible release’ is ˺. to distinguish between a phoneme and an • Obviously, since sounds in free variation do not allophone in a given language. create a difference in meaning, they are ______.

Phonemes are abstract entities Phonemes are abstract entities

• So, phonemes are meaning‐distinguishing sounds, • The psychological existence of phonemes can whereas allophones are phonetic variants of the be noticed in native speakers’ slips of the same phoneme that occur in specific contexts. tongue, e.g., key chain [ki tSeɪn] may come out • Notice that this means that phonemes are actually as [tSikejn], but never as *[ti kSeɪn]. abstract entities in your head rather than actual sounds that come out of your mouth. • This shows that the affricate [tS] is stored in Phoneme: /t/ the mind as a single unit, just as [k] is. e|i Allophones: [t] [th][t˺]

Steps for solving phonology problems Minimal pairs?

• Given two sounds and a set of data, the task is • Step 1: to determine if the two sounds are separate See if there are any minimal pairs in the data phonemes or allophones of the same where the two sounds in question are in phoneme in a language. To do that, we contrastive distribution. If yes, then the two proceed methodically. sounds are phonemes. If not, then proceed to step 2.

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Overlapping or complementary? Which is underlying, and which is derived?

• Step 2: • Step 3: Find out if the two sounds are in overlapping or in Once you determine the environments in complementary distribution. which each sound occurs, it is time to ‐ If overlapping, then the two sounds are most likely determine which one is the underlying form two different phonemes (but we cannot be sure). and which one is derived. In most cases, the ‐ If complementary, then the sounds are allophones sound that appears in more environments can of the same phoneme, in which case we state the phonological environments in which each allophone be taken to represent the underlying occurs and then move to step 3. phoneme.

Write a rule! Some phonology problems: Tagalog

• Step 4: • Now, consider these Tagalog words: Now, you are in a position to write a 1. [datiŋ] “to arrive” 6. [daRa/iŋ] “will complain” phonological rule that shows the process 2. [dami] “amount” 7. [maRumi] “dirty” whereby the allophones are derived from the 3. [dumi] “dirt” 8. [maRami] “dirty” underlying phoneme. 4. [daRatiŋ] “will arrive” 9. [da/iŋ] “to complain”

5. [manduRukot] “pickpocket” 10. [mandukot] “to go pickpocketing”

• Question: Are [d] and [R] phonemes or allophones?

Sindhi Standard Italian

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Standard Spanish Russian

Tojolabal Mokilese

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Summary Next class agenda

• Phonemes are meaning‐distinguishing sounds. They are unpredictable. They are abstract entities. • Phonological rules. Chapter 7, pp. 284‐296. • Allophones are phonetic variants of the same phoneme. They are predictable by rule. They are the physical sounds we produce. • Phonemes become allophones via phonological processes, which are represent formally as phonological rules. We discuss how to do this on Wednesday.

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