English 415
Sections 50 & 250

 

Phonology

n  The idea of feature systems that we have been talking about in relation to phonetics also lends itself quite handily to the description of natural classes of sounds.

n  Phonetic natural classes are groups of sounds in a language which share some articulatory or auditory feature.

Phonology

n  In order for a group of sounds to be a natural class, it must include all of the sounds that share a particular feature or group of features, and not include sounds that don’t.

Phonology

n  We have already talked about several natural classes of sounds, such as stops, fricatives, nasals, affricates, etc.

n  To talk fully about phonetic natural classes, however, we need to clarify a few other features.

Phonology

n   Some sound classes are based on articulation or production:

n   Looking at the chart that we developed for consonants, you will notice that the two categories labio-dental and bilabial both involve the lips.

n   In many situations, it is advantageous to group them together and use the term labial.

Phonology

n  In English, these sounds are [m, b, p, f, v, w]     

n  In English, the sound [w] doesn’t occur after any of these sounds.

n  We can use the term labial to simplify the description: [w] doesn’t occur after labial sounds.

Phonology

n   Other natural classes are based on sound quality, or auditory properties.

n   One example of a natural class based on auditory properties is Sibilants.

n   Take a look at the pronunciation of the plural suffix in English, which we will label   -s

n   This suffix is pronounced in three different ways, depending on the last sound in the noun to which it is added.

Phonology

n   If the noun ends with a voiced sound the phonetic form is [z].

n   If the noun ends in a voiceless sound the phonetic form is [s].

n   However, after such words as rich, bush, kiss, garages, rouge, and maze, (in other words, [tS, S, s, d Z, Z, z]) the form is [«z].

Phonology

n   This group of sounds all differ in respect to voicing, place, and manner of articulation.

n   However, they do have an auditory property in common: a high pitched hissing sound.

n   These sounds, therefore, form a natural class called sibilants.

Phonology

n  So using this natural class, we can state a generalization:

n  + plural      à    [«z] / after a sibilant

n  This rule states that the sound occurs in a general context, rather than having to specify for each individual context. 

Phonology

n   Other classes include:

n   Obstruents, which are sounds produced with an ‘obstruction’ of air flow, namely stops, fricatives, affricates.

n   Sonorants, which are consonants produced with a relatively open passage for the air flow, including nasals, approximants and others (or nasals, liquids, glides, and others).

Phonology

n  Such distinctions will be useful later when it comes time to state phonological rules.

n  We’ll look at the form of phonological rules in a minute.

Distinctive Features

n   In every language, certain sounds are considered to be the “same” sound, even though they may be phonetically distinct.

n   For example, native speakers consider the [l] in lay to be the same sound as that in play, even though the former is voiced and the latter voiceless.

Distinctive Features

n   Liquids and glides in English are ordinarily voiced, but when they follow a voiceless obstruent in speech, they are pronounced as voiceless consonants.

n   proof   [pruf]     sleep

                  °              °            

n   quick       [kwIk]

                       °                                    

Distinctive Features

n  Native speakers overlook the fact that the [p] in pat and spat are phonetically different and just consider them both to be /p/.

n  Hindi speakers, however, can’t ignore the difference.

Distinctive Features

n   Take the following data, for example:

n   [kH«l]       ‘wicked person’                    [k«l]      ‘yesterday’

n   [kapi]       ‘copy’                                  [kapHi]   ‘ample’ 

n   [pH«l]       ‘fruit’                                     [p«l]     ‘moment’                 [b«l]        ‘strength’

Distinctive Features

n   In general, speakers will attend to phonetic differences between two (or more) sounds only when the choice between the sounds can change the meaning of a word, - that is, can cause a distinction in meaning.

n   Such sounds are said to be distinctive with respect to one another.

Distinctive Features

n   So, how do we determine when two sounds are distinctive?

n   One way to determine whether two sounds are distinctive is to identify a minimal pair - a pair of words that differ only by a single sound in the same position - and which have different meanings - but which are otherwise identical.

Distinctive Features

n  Some examples from English are:

n  tot            vs.     hot             

n  tap vs.     top

n  tap vs.     tab

n  Let’s take a second to go back and look again at the examples from Hindi.

Distinctive Features

n   [kH«l]       ‘wicked person’                    [k«l]      ‘yesterday’

n   [kapi]       ‘copy’                                  [kapHi]   ‘ample’ 

n  [pH«l]       ‘fruit’                                    [p«l]      ‘moment’                 [b«l]        ‘strength’      ‘strength’

Distinctive Features

n  What must be considered minimal pairs in Hindi?

n  What sounds do Hindi speakers consider distinctive?

Distinctive Features

n   Before we proceed any further, we need to discuss some definitions:

n   The first definition we need to consider is that of a Phone, which is simply an individual speech sound.

n   The second definition to consider is that of a Phoneme, which is a class of speech sounds which are identified by a speaker as the same sound.

Distinctive Features

n  The members of these classes are called Allophones.

n  Thus, an allophone is a phone that has been classified as belonging to some class (phoneme).

Distinctive Features

n  In English, p in pat and spat are allophones of the same phoneme in English.

n  In Hindi, these sounds are allophones of different phonemes.

Distinctive Features

n   Symbols representing phonemes are written with slash marks instead of brackets.

n   So, in English, we would have one phoneme labeled /p/, with allophones labeled  [p]  and   [pH]

n   But in Hindi, we would have two separate phonemes, labeled either /p/ or /pH/

Distinctive Features

n   By giving a description like this, linguists are attempting to show that the phonological system of a language has two levels.

n   The more concrete level involves the physical reality of phonetic segments (which is what phonetics looks at).

n   Phonemes are more on the psychological level; they are more abstract.

Distinctive Features

n   Allophones are physical units of linguistic structure.

n   Phonemes are psychological units of linguistic structure.

n   Linguists sometimes describe phonemes as the form in which we store sounds in memory, which may be a more efficient way to store phonemes.

Distinctive Features

n  Phonemes are not directly observable; allophones are.

n  Because of this, we can give another definition of the term Phonology: the set of rules that describe the changes in the underlying sounds when they occur in speech.

Distinctive Features

n  Writing systems also reflect this reality. In English, we don’t make the orthographic distinction between [p] and [pH]. In Hindi, they do.

n  In general, alphabetic writing systems tend to be phonemic rather than phonetic.

Distinctive Features

n   To find out which sounds are thought of by a native speaker as the same sound, and which sounds are distinctive to one another, it is important to look at where these sounds occur in a language.

n   In other words, linguists try to discover what the phonemes of a language are by examining the distribution of that language’s phones.

Distinctive Features

n   The Distribution of a phone is ‘the set of phonetic environments in which it occurs.’

n   We can also describe the distribution of one phone relative to that of another.

n   Two speech sounds in a language will either be in overlapping distribution or complementary distribution with respect to one another.

Distinctive Features

n   Overlapping distribution occurs when the sets of phonetic environments in which the sounds occur are partially or completely identical.

n   For example, consider [p] and [b]:

n   ‘bait’                 [bet]            ‘date’ [det]

n   ‘lobe’                [lob]            ‘load’ [lod]

n   ‘knobs’             [nabz]          ‘nods’[nadz]

n   ‘bleat’               [blit]                      *[dlit]

Distinctive Features

n   The distribution of these two sounds is not identical, because [b] can occur word-initially before [l], but [d] cannot.

n   Nevertheless, their sets of possible phonetic environments overlap, and so we say that [b] and [d] are in overlapping distribution in English.

Distinctive Features

n   Most sounds that are in overlapping distribution are contrastive with respect to one another, which is another way of saying they are distinctive sounds.

n   Consider [b] and [d] above: they form minimal pairs.

n   Since the difference between [b] and [d] can result in contrastive meaning, we say that [b] and [d] are in contrastive distribution.

Distinctive Features

n  These two distinctive phones are classified as being allophones of two separate phonemes.

n  Thus, [b] is an allophone of /b/ and [d] is an allophone of /d/.

Distinctive Features

n  Some other phones that are in overlapping distribution are in free variation. As an example:

n        Leap  [lip]             leap    [lip *]

n        Soap  [sop]            soap [sop *]

n        Troop [trup]          troop [trup *]

n        Happy [haepi]                 *[haep *i]

Distinctive Features

n   These sounds are in overlapping distribution, because they share some of the same environments: they both appear at the end of words.

n   Unlike [b] and [p], however, there are no minimal pairs.

n   In other words, although they contain the same sounds but one, these words do not contrast in meaning.

Distinctive Features

n  These sounds are interchangeable in word-final position.

n  So we say that they are allophones of the same phoneme.

n  For example, [p] and [p *] are allophones of /p/

Distinctive Features

n   Complementary Distribution is just the opposite of overlapping distribution.

n   To understand this, think of the term ‘complementary.’ Two complementary parts make up a whole.

n   People in this class, for example, may be divided up into those who wear glasses and those who don’t. 

Distinctive Features

n  These two sets of people complement each other.

n  They are mutually exclusive. That is, they are non-overlapping, but together they make up the whole class.

Distinctive Features

n  As an example, consider the sounds [p] and [pH]

n        Spat   [spQt]                pat [pHQt]

n        Spool [spul]                pool [pHul]

n        Speak [spik]                peek [pHik]

Distinctive Features

n  As you can see, [p] and [pH] are not in overlapping distribution.

n  In other words, they do not occur in the same phonetic environment.

n  In fact, they are in complementary distribution.

Distinctive Features

n   First: There are no minimal pairs involving the [p] vs. [pH] contrast.

n   Second: [p] occurs after [s] but not word initially. [pH] occurs word initially, but not after [s].

n   Since these sounds appear in different phonetic environments there can be no pair of words composed of identical strings of sounds except for [p] in one and [pH] in the other.

Distinctive Features

n   Phones that are in complementary distribution are allophones of a single phoneme.

n   In this case, [p] and [pH] are allophones of the phoneme /p/.

n   The appearance of one allophone or the other is predictable when those allophones are in complementary distribution.

Distinctive Features

n   Recall that phonemes and allophones belong to different levels of structure in language.

n   Phonemes are mental entities.

n   Allophones/phones are physical events.

n   So what is the connection between the two levels?

n   The mapping between phonemic and phonetic elements is accomplished using phonological rules.

Phonological Rules

n  A speaker’s knowledge of phonological rules allows him or her to “translate” phonemes into actual sounds.

n  Knowledge of these rules forms part of a speaker’s linguistic competence.

Phonological Rules

n  The following is a representation of the process:

Phonemic form

ä

rules

ä

phonetic form

Phonological Rules

n   In other words, phonological rules apply to the phonemic form to produce the phonetic form.

n   To accept this is to accept the notion that there is something called an underlying form.

n   In the linguistic literature, this underlying form is called the Underlying Representation or UR.

Phonological Rules

n   Want some more proof? Write down what I say.

n   When listening, you reverse the phonological process.

n   You perceive the phonetic form of the utterance, send it backwards through the phonological rules of English, and obtain a phonemic form that matches a form stored in memory.

Phonological Rules

n  Here’s what I said:

 

n  But what did you write down?

Phonological Rules

n   There are several different ways that we can classify phonological rules.

n   One of the most common types of phonological rules is called Assimilation.

n   Rules involving assimilation cause a sound to become more like a neighboring sound with respect to some feature.

Phonological Rules

n   In other words, the segment affected by the rule assimilates or takes on a feature from a nearby (usually adjacent) sound.

n    Let’s first look back at the examples of I can ask, I can bake, I can go.

n    

Phonological Rules

n  Another type of assimilation is dental assimilation, as in the following examples:

n  width                           [wId5θ]

n  health                    [hεl5θ]

n   

n