Universität Tübingen Seminar für Sprachwissenschaft

Phonetics k Phonology Phonology

(Hall, Kapitel 3.3)

Christian Ebert [email protected] 1 Phonological Processes

phonological rules can be classified according to the type of transformation they describe

often these rules are motivated by phonetic considerations to facilitate articulation (i.e. to make the speaker's life easier)

we will look at the following phonological processes :

● assimilation & dissimilation

● epenthesis & elision

● metathesis 2 Phonological Processes assimilation

assimilations are processes where sounds are made more similar

that means that a segment adapts at least one aspect of a neighboring segment

this makes articulation easier, since the sounds become phonetically more similar

assimilations are the most frequent type of phonological processes

3 Phonological Processes assimilation

an assimilation is characterized by four parameters:

(1) affected sounds (targets) which sounds are assimilated?

(2) triggering sounds (triggers) which sounds cause the assimilation?

(3) phonetic feature which feature(s) is/are changed on the target?

(4) direction in which direction does the assimilation occur? 4 Phonological Processes assimilation

(4) direction

regressive assimilation the process is directed backwards, i.e. from right to left i.e. the target preceeds the trigger progressive assimilation the process is directed forwards, i.e. from left to right i.e. the target follows the trigger

5 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

example: assimilation in Plains Cree (cf. last session) /p t k/ > [b d g] / V __ V

voiceless plosives become voiced between vowels

(1) targets: voiceless plosives

(2) triggers: vowels

(3) feature: voicing

(4) direction: (undecidable, could be both) 6 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples in the Bantu language Luganda there is a prefix meaning „I“ (the speaker) with four (nasal) allomorphs [m], [n], [J] and [N] [mbala] „I count“ [Jagala] „I like“ [mpa] „I give“ [JJumja] „I have a conversation“ [ndaga] „I show“ [Jcoppa] „I become indigent“ [ntema] „I cut“ [Nkola] „I work“ [nsika] „I draw“ [Ngula] „I buy“ [nneJa] „I reprehend“ given the underlying nasal /n/ one observes the following: before labial sounds ([b p]) > [m] before palatal sounds ([ J c]) > [J]

before velar sounds ([k g]) > [N] 7 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

hence the four parameters of the assimilations: (1) target: /n/ (2) trigger: consonants (3) feature: place of articulation (ð place assimilation) (4) direction: regressive

place of articulation place of articulation /n+pa/ /n+Jumja/ â â [mpa] „I give“ [JJumja] „I have a conversation“ 8 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

in Hungarian there is a suffix meaning „over“ with two allomorphes [r2:l] and [ro:l]:

[te:rke:pr2:l] „map“ [lA:Jro:l] „girl“ [f2:ldr2:l] „country“ [u:rro:l] „gentleman“ [yr2:l] „business“ [fogro:l] „tooth“ [si:nr2:l] „colour“

[r2:l] contains the front vowel [2:] and occurs only after roots with front vowel (left column: [e: 2: y i:])

[ro:l] contains the back vowel [o:] and occurs only after roots with back vowel (right column: [A: u: o]) 9 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

again, this is an instance of an assimilation

the vowel of the suffix is assimilated to the vowels of the root w.r.t. horizontal tongue position (front vs. back)

(1) target: vowel of suffix

(2) trigger: vowel of root

(3) feature: horizontal tongue position

(4) direction: progressive

10 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

note that in this example the target is not adjacent to the trigger and hence a case of distant assimilation as opposed to contact assimilation

furthermore it is an instance of vowel harmony

vowel harmony is an distant assimilatory process that assimilates all vowels of a domain (e.g. the word) wrt. at least one property

other languages with vowel harmony are e.g. Finnish and Turkish

example: allomorphes [lar] and [ler] of the plural suffix in Turkish:

[dal] [dallar] „branch(es)“ [jel] [jeller] „wind(s)“ [kol] [kollar] „arm(s)“ [g2l] [g2ller] „lake(s)“ 11 Phonological Processes assimilation - examples

the language Toba Batak shows total assimilation /maJan##baoa##an/ [maJabbaoaan] „each man eats“ /lean##lali/ [leallali] „give to a dog“ /boao##an##peddek/ [boaoappeddek] „each man is small“ in total assimilation, all phonetic features are adopted (as opposed to partial assimilation where only some features are changed in Toba Batak, word-final /n/ is totally assimilated to the subsequent sounds (1) target: word-final /n/ (2) trigger: all (3) property: all (4) direction: regressive 12 Phonological Processes dissimilation

a dissimilation has the opposite effect wrt. to an assimilation

dissimilations are processes that make sounds more disimlar, i.e. different

a dissimilation is hearer-oriented: it makes it easier for a hearer to distinguish sounds

13 Phonological Processes dissimilation - examples

in the Bantu language Kirundi the allophones [tu] and [du] carry the numerus & tense meaning 1. person singular present tense the distribution is as follows: imperative 1. pers. sing. present [mwa] [tumwa] „shave“ [va] [tuva] „stem from“ [bona] [tubona] „see“ [soma] [dusoma] „read“ [te:ka] [dute:ka] „cook“ [seka] [duseka] „laugh“ [kubita] [dukubita] „beat“ 14 Phonological Processes dissimilation - examples

observation:

the [tu] prefix starts with a voiceless consonant [t] and occurs only before roots with inital voiced consonants ([m v b])

the [du] prefix starts with a voiced consonant [d] and occurs only before roots with inital voiceless Konsonanten ([s t k]) vor

the consonant of the prefix must thus be dissimlar to the consonant of the root wrt. voicing

this type of dissimilation of two obstruents wrt. voicing is common in Bantu languages and known as Dahl's law 15 Phonological Processes epenthesis

epentheses are processes where additional segments are inserted into a domain

Example: German

[p] Amt [ampt] Hemd [hempt] [t] Gans [gants] rennst [rEntst] [k] singst [ziNkst] fängst [fENkst] schwa epenthesis (e.g. in the Rhineland dialect): [@] fünf [fYn@f] Senf [zEn@f]

epentheses usually make articulation easier/possible since otherwise well-formedness requirements would be violated 16 Phonological Processes epenthesis - example plural formation in English illustrates a more complex interplay of an assimilation and an epenthesis in English three productive forms of plural formation occur: [Iz] [s] [z] faces [feIsIz] hats [h{ts] seeds [si:dz] phases [feIzIz] lips [lIps] labs [l{bz] dishes [dISIz] snakes [sneIks] bags [b{gz] beaches [bi:tþSIz] giraffes [dþZI£{fs] waves [weIvz] bridges [b£IdþZIz] myths [mITs] lathes [leIDz] aims [eImz] fans [f{nz] rings [£INz] hills [hI5z] 17 bees [bI:z] Phonological Processes epenthesis - example observations:

● [Iz] occurs after [s z S tþS dþZ]

● [s] occurs after [p t k f T]

● [z] occurs after [d b g v D m n N l] the generalizations are as follows: ● [Iz] occurs after sibilants ● [s] occurs after other voiceless sounds ● [z] occurs after other voiced sounds of these three allomorphs we again choose the one with widest distribution as underlying, i.e. /z/ 18 Phonological Processes epenthesis - example with underlying /z/ rules must be found that explain the following derivations

faces /feIs+z/ > [feIsIz] hats /h{t+z/ > [h{ts] bags /b{g+z/ > [b{gz]

to derive [h{ts] it is enough to have an assimilation of the following form (see also exercise 1):

/z/ > [s] / voiceless consonant __ #

(/z/ becomes voiceless after a voiceless consonant word-finally) 19 Phonological Processes epenthesis - example this rule gives us the following correct derivation: /h{t+z/ underlying representation â rule application: assimilation [h{ts] surface form but unfortunately, it also derives the following incorrect form: /feIs+z/ underlying representations â rule application: assimilation *[feIss] surface form we need yet another rule to correctly derive the form for faces 20 Phonological Processes epenthesis - example

this additional rule must insert [I] between a sibilant and [z]

the following epenthesis does this:

Ø > [I] / Sibilant __ [z]

the symbol Ø stands for „nothing“

hence this rule says that the segment [I] is inserted between a sibilant and [z]

epenthesis thus always have the form

Ø > B / X __ Y 21 Phonological Processes epenthesis - example now the surface form for faces is derived correctly

/feIs+z/ underlying representation â rule application: epenthesis

feIsIz --- rule application: assimilation

[feIsIz] surface form note that the epenthesis does not apply in the derivation of [h{ts] note furthermore that the order of application of the two rules is important (see exercise) 22 Phonological Processes elision

elisions are the counterpart to epentheses, because they delete segments

like epentheses they usually facilitate articulation

in the australian language Lardil there are two case suffixes for marking the accusative: one that carries non-future tense information [in] and another that carries future tense information [u±]:

uninflected non-future future

[kentapal] [kentapal-in] [kentapal-u±] „dugong“ [ketÏar] [ketÏar-in] [ketÏar-u±] „river“ 23 Phonological Processes elision - example

if the root ends in a vowel, the initial vowel of the suffix is omitted to avoid a sequence of two vowels

uninflected non-future future [mela] [mela-n] [mela-±] „sea“ [kuNka] [kuNka-n] [kuNka-±] „ledge“

the following elision does the job by deleting a vowel if preceeded by another vowel:

V > Ø / V __

again, Ø stands proxy for „nothing“

elisions are always of the form A > Ø / X __ Y 24 Phonological Processes elision - example

further data of Lardil seem to indicate that a second elision is needed

uninflected non-future future [yalul] [yalulu-n] [yalulu-±] „flamm“ [wiwal] [wiwala-n] [wiwala-±] „bush mango“

one observes that the uninflected form does not show a word-final vowel as opposed to the inflected form of the root

a first guess might be another elision that deletes a word-final vowel (the loss of word-final sounds is also called apocope)

V > Ø / __ # 25 Phonological Processes elision - example unfortunately, this rule allows for incorrect derivations:

/#mela#/ underlying representation â rule application: apocope *[mel] the environment of the rule must be refined accordingly, such that the rule is applicable only for tri-syllabic (or even longer) words:

V > Ø / VC1VC1 __ # n the symbol C m stands proxy for a sequence of at least n & at most m consonants; C1 hence stands for „one or more consonants“ the loss of a word-internal sound is called syncope 26 Phonological Processes metathesis

a metathesis is a process that swaps segments within a domain

the language Zoque can serve to illustrate metathesis; in Zoque the possessive pronoun „his“ is realised as prefix /j /:

/j+pata/ > [pjata] „his mat“ /j+gaju/ > [gjaju] „his rooster“ /j+faha/ > [fjaha] „his belt“ /j+atsi/ > [jatsi] „his older brother“

to facilitate articulation, [j] and the inital consonant of the root swap places 27 Exercise

1. State the four characteristic parameters of the assimilation used in the derivation of the English plural formation (slide 19).

2. Apply both rules of English plural formation in the order epenthesis > assimilation to the underlying representations of dishes, snakes und aims.

Now apply both rules in the opposite order to the underlying representations from above.

Which order derives the correct results?

28 Exercise

3. Take the following data from German:

Bank [baNk] eng [EN] denken [dENk@n] Ding [dIN] Stunk [StUNk] jung [jUN]

It is often assumed, that the underlying representations end in /nk/ and /ng/, e.g. /bank/ and /Eng/ etc.

Find the rules necessary to derive the surface forms given above (you need two of them!). What processes do they instantiate?

Hint: start with the [N]. How could it be derived from the underlying /nk/ and /ng/? After having found a rule to derive it, take care of the word-final consonant. 29