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Module 21: Types of Phonological Processes-I Linguistics

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Module 21: Types of Phonological Processes-I Linguistics Module 21: Types of Phonological processes-I Linguistics Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology Types of Phonological Processes-I Principal Investigator Prof. Pramod Pandey Centre for Linguistics, SLL&CS, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi-110067 Paper Coordinator Prof. Pramod Pandey Module ID & Name Lings_P2_M21; Types of Phonological Processes- I Content Writer Pramod Pandey Email id [email protected] Phone 011-26741258, -9810979446 Objectives: • To give a comprehensive account of the typology of phonological processes • To make students aware of the wide use of the processes in various fields dealing with phonology Contents: Introduction Types of phonological processes Whole segment phonological processes Co-occurrence Modification types of phonological processes 1 Syllable-based phonological processes Articulatory phonological processes: Strengthening and Weakening processes Summary 21.1 Introduction This module introduces the various types of phonological processes that are found in world languages. These are presented with definitions and examples. Although an attempt has been made to present the processes as comprehensively as possible, they are by no means exhaustive. A full treatment of the processes will take up more space than we have available in this course. Besides, there is need to distinguish between individual phonological processes and the classes of phonological processes. Many of the specific phonological processes can be grouped into more than one class. Essentially then it is the individual phonological processes that should be kept in mind. 21.2 Need for the study of phonological Processes Why should we study phonological processes? The following are some of reasons for the study of phonological processes: • Each language has a unique phonological system that makes use of phonological process that are specific to itself. The types of processes, however, are finite. This explains the universality of the processes and the phonological systems they give rise to. • Many disciplines, such as psycho-neurolinguistics, historical linguistics, language acquisition, etc. deal with phonology. Although they differ in their approaches, the processes are common to them. For a phonologist, it is thus necessary to know them in order to describe them in those disciplines. • In the study of the phonological system of a language, students are expected to name the phonological processes that they discover in the course of their study. 2 • It is assumed that students are familiar with the types of phonological processes that are discussed in phonological grammars and studies. 21.3 Types of Phonological Processes There are two main types of phonological processes- Whole Segment processes and Modification type processes. Whole segment processes are those processes that affect the segmental structure of the word, by deleting, inserting or changing segments from one contrasting segment type to another. These operate at the level of phonemes 21.4 Whole segment processes The whole segment processes are the following: • Insertion • Deletion • Syllabication • Desyllabication • Coalescence • Metathesis The whole-segment processes are discussed below. 21.4.1 Insertion Insertion takes place when one or more segments are added to a morpheme or a word. For example, /u/ insertion in Tamil. [u] insertion in Tamil (Vasanthakumari 1989) /u/ is inserted at the end of stems ending a consonant other than the palatal approximant /j/. E.g. (21/1) a. /u:t̪/ [u:t̪u] ‘to blow’ /ko:r/ [ko:ru] ‘to collect’ /a:ɭ/ [a:ɭu] ‘to rule’ /ʋe:r/ [ʋe:ru] ‘root’ /tu:n/ [tu:nu] ‘pillar’ /e:ʋ/ [e:ʋu] ‘to send’ 3 b. /pa:l/ [pa:lu] ‘milk’ /pe:r/ [pe:ru] ‘name’ /self/ [selfu] ‘self’ /te:n/ [te:nu] ‘honey’ Stem-final vowel insertion is found in many languages, for example, Japanese and Kannada. Depending on where in the word a segment is inserted, we have three different types of insertion Insertion at the beginning of words is called Prothesis, , e.g. /i/ epenthesis in Hindi dialects. Words beginning with a sC- cluster are pronounced with and initial /i/ in many dialects of Hindi as well as in other languages. For example, 21/2 /sku:l/ [isku:l] ‘school’ /sma:rək/ [isma:rək] ‘memorial’ /stri:/ [istri:] ‘woman’ Insertion in the middle of words is called Epenthesis. More precisely, epenthesis of vowels is called Anaptyxis, and epenthesis of consonants is called Excrescence. Examples of both are given below: Anaptyxis in borrowed words in Punjabi Borrowed words in Punjabi that have initial consonant clusters undergo /a/- Anaptyxis, e. g. 21/3 /sku:l/ [səku:l] ‘school’ /sma:rak/ [səma:rak] ‘memorial’ /praka:sh/ [pərka:sh] ‘light’ Insertion at the end of words is called Paragoge. /u/- insertion in Tamil is an example of paragoge. 4 An example of excrescence is found in Gondi: /son + u:s/ → /sondu:s/ ‘to lose’. 21.4.2 Deletion or Elision Deletion takes place when a segment is elided in a given context. For example, in Hindi, a schwa is deleted when it is occurs in an unstressed open syllable and flanked by syllables, of t which the preceding syllable is stressed, e.g. 21/4 /təbəla:/ [ˈtəbla:] ‘a percussion instrument’ /məŋɡəla:/ [ˈməŋɡla:] ‘(a name)’ /titəli:/ [ˈtitli:] ‘butterfly’ Depending on the position in the word where a segment is deleted, there are three types of Deletion. When a segment is deleted word-initially, we have aphesis oraphaeresis. This process is commonly found in historical change. For example- amend >mend, acute>cute, and alone>lone. When a segment is deleted word-medially, we have syncope. Schwa deletion in Hindi is an instance of syncope. When a segment is deleted word-finally, we have apocope. For example, in the present-day Hindi, the word-final schwa (kept in Sanskrit) is deleted: 21/5 /ra:ma/ [ra:m] ‘(a name)’ /kamala/ [kamal] ‘lotus’ /na:ma/ [na:m] ‘name, noun’ There are many example of apocope in British English. Two of them are Final /ɡ/-Deletion and Medial /r/- Deletion. Thus, in words ending in /ŋɡ/, the final /ɡ/ is elided: /sɪŋɡ/ > [sɪŋ], /brɪŋɡ/ > [brɪŋ], etc. And /r/ at the end of words is deleted, e.g. /fa:r/ [fa:] ‘far’, /rɪvər/ [rɪvə] ‘river’, etc. 5 The /r/-Deletion rule in English also takes place when /r/ is followed by a consonant, as in bird, turning. What type of deletion is the /r/-Deletion rule in this context? 21. 4.3 Syllabication Syllabication is the process whereby a consonant comes to occupy the position of the nucleus of a syllable. This typically happens when a vowel is deleted between a sonorant consonant another consonant. The sonorant consonant then becomes syllabic. A syllabic consonant is transcribed with a subsript [ ̩] below the consonant, as for example, in Chokri: 21/6 /məbo4/ [m̩ bo4] ‘kiss’ /mədi4/ [m̩ di4] > [n̩di4] ‘to loose’ English has /m̩ n̩ l̩/ and /r̩/ (in American English) as syllabic consonants in words such as button, bottom, bottle and butter, pronounced as /bɐtn̩/, /bɔtm̩ /, /bɔtll̩/ and /bɑtr̩/, respectively. In second language varieties like those of Indian English, there are no syllabic consonants. The syllabic consonants are pronounced as non-syllabic consonants with a following vowel /ə/, as in Hindi English /bəʈən/, /bɔ:ʈəm/, /bɔ:ʈəl/ and /bəʈər/. 21.4.4 Desyllabication Desyllabication takes place when a vowel or a syllabic consonant becomes non- syllabic. In many languages, that do not permit a sequence of two vowels, one of the vowels becomes non-syllabic (and transcibed with a subscript [ ̯ ] or changes to a semi-vowel, among other possible processes. Thus, in Bhili (Kulkarni 1976: 44), a stem-final /i/ changes to /j/ when followed by /a:/, e.g. kaʈhi + a/ [kaThja/ ‘sticks’, /ʈopi + a/ [ʈopja] ‘caps’. In Ao, an/i/ changes to [j] after an /a/, e.g /pá + i/ [páj/ ‘3PER-M-S-NOM’, i.e ‘he’/lá + i/ [láj] ‘3PER-F-S-NOM’ , i.e. ‘she’. Examples of a syllabic consonant becoming non-syllabic in related words are commonly found in English, as in [krɪpling] ‘crippling’ (< /krɪpl/̩ ‘cripple’), /smɐɡling/ ‘smuggling’ (</smɐɡl,/̩ ‘smuggle’). The process applies optionally in these words in many varieties of English, which means both the pronunciations, with syllabic as well as non-syllabic sonorants, are found to exist. 6 21.4.5 Coalescence Coalescence takes place when two segments are fused to give rise to a third segment. In a lot of languages, vowel coalescence takes place as a result of a prohibition against the occurrence of a sequence of vowels, as one of the options (deletion of one of the vowels or insertion of an approximant or glottal stop, being other options). In these situations, the phenomenon is commonly known as Vowel Sandhi, as in Sanskrit, for example, /ə +i/ > /e:/ , /a: +i/ > /e:/, /a: +i:/ > /e:/, /ə +u/ > /o:/, /a: +u/ > /o:/, /a: +u:/ > /o:/. E.g. /rəma: +i:sh/ > /rame:sh/ ‘lord of Rama’, /məha: + utsəʋ/ /məho:tsəʋ/ ‘ a great celebration’. In Paite, before any consonant except glottal stop /ʔ/ diphthongs /ua/ and /ia/ change to single vowels /o/ and /e/, respectively. This is an example of phonetic coalescence. 21/7 Paite vowel coalescence Stem Derived Form /ɡuā/ ‘bamboo’ /pʰěl/ ‘(to) untie’ /ɡó pʰěl/ ‘catapult’ /vuâ/‘(to) beat’ /kə̄p/ ‘(to) cry’ /vōkə̄p/ ‘(to) beat to cry’ /kiâ/ ‘(to) fall’ /sūk/ ‘steep’ /kēsūk/ ‘(to) fall downwards’ /biâ/ ‘(to) worship’ /t̪â:/ ‘non – future’ /bét̪â:/ ‘has worshipped’ A well-known example of the process of consonantal coalescence is found Indonesian (Halle & Clements 1983: 125) 21/8 Indosian consonant coalscence /məŋ-pilih/ →məmilih ‘to choose’ /məŋ-tulis/ →mənulis ‘to write’ /məŋ-kasih/ →məŋasih ‘to give’ Coalescence also takes place between tones in tonal languages. For example, in Hausa (Leben 2009) , when a word ends in a falling tone and the following word begins with a rising tone, although the first vowel is deleted, a new tone emerges, as if to preserve the tones of the independent words.
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