Phonology

1. Phonology LI 2023 Nathalie F. Martin

2. What do you know about Phonology? • What is the difference between the words /rip/ and /lip/? • How would you divide this word into syllables? • /fənɒlədʒi/ • How do you pronounce the word “tsunami”? • Are these words acceptable in English? • Sbirdnar • Birdnar

3. Introduction: Phonology • No human language exploits all phonetic possibilities • Every language makes its own particular selection from the range of all possible speech sounds

4. English Phonemes Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

5. Korean Phonemes Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

6. IntroductionPhonological Representation Phonology/fənɒlədʒi/ : • The components of grammar that determines the selection of speech sounds and that governs both the sound patterns and the systematic phonetic variation found in language.

7. IntroductionPhonological Representation • The task of phonologists: • To discoverand describe the systematic phonetic patterns found in individual languages • To discover the general principles that underlie the patterning of sounds across human languages.

8. IntroductionPhonological Representation • Three major phonological units: • Features • Segments • Syllable

9. IntroductionPhonological Representation Wd σσ s è g m F n t - syllabic + sonorant … Word level Syllable level Segment level Feature level [ ]

10. IntroductionPhonological Representation • Segment: • Individual speech sounds • Feature: • Features correspond to articulatory or acoustic categories such as [voice] or [strident] • Smallest building block of phonological structure • Syllable: • A syllabic element – usually a vowel- and any preceding or following segments that are associated with it

11. Segments in ContrastContrast • All speakers knows which segments contrast and which ones don’t … • Segments are said to contrast when: • Their presence alone may distinguish forms with different meaning from each other • Ex: sip [sɪp] and zip [zɪp] • Ex: hit [hɪt], hat [hæt] & hot [hɒt]

12. Segments in ContrastMinimal Pairs • The first step in the analysis of the phonology of language is to establish which sounds in that language are in contrast with each other • In order to establish contrast, it is necessary to examine the distribution of sounds in words and to compare word meanings. • This can be accomplished through the minimal pair test

13. Segments in ContrastMinimal Pairs • Minimal pair: Consists of two forms with distinct meaning that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each form. • Example: • sip [sɪp] and zip [zɪp] • Therefore the segments [s] and [z] contrast

14. Segments in ContrastMinimal Pairs – English Consonant • Example:

15. Segments in ContrastMinimal Pairs – Definitions • Environment: • The phonetic context in which a sound occurs. • Near minimal pairs: • Pairs of words that have segments in nearly identical environments (ex: assure & azure)

16. Segments in ContrastMinimal Pairs – Definitions • Phoneme: • Segments that contrast with each other in a particular language are said to belong to separate phonemes of that language • Contrastive phonological units • Not to be confused with Phones

17. Segments in ContrastVowel Contrast in English

18. Segments in ContrastVowel Contrast in English

19. Segments in ContrastLanguage-Specific Contrasts • Important: • - Two sounds can be phonetically distinct without necessarily being phonologically distinct or contrastive. • - Sounds that are contrastive in one language may not necessarily be contrastive in another.

20. Segments in ContrastLanguage-Specific Contrasts • Example: • In English [ɛ] & [æ] are contrastive (ex: Ben & ban) • In Turkish (ex: the word “I” can be said [bɛn] & [bæn])

21. Segments in ContrastPractice & Homework • Find minimal pairs to show contrast between all English consonants (15 phonemes) • Exceptions which are hard to find: • [ŋ] [h] • [ʔ] [ʒ]

22. Complementary distribution Before we talk about phonemes and allophones

23. Phonetically Conditioned Variation Introduction • Phonetic variation is systematic • Occurs most often in phonetically similar segments • Conditioned by the phonetic context or environment in which the segments are found

24. REVIEWCommon ArticulatoryProcesses • Assimilation - Voicing assimilation • Devoicing: • Example of Please [pliz] • [p] (voiceless) + [l] (voiced) = devoiced [l] • Voicing: • Example of[af] (off or over) in Dutch • Afbellen (to cancel): [f] (voiceless) + [b] (voiced) = [vb] (both voiced)

25. Phonetically Conditioned Variation Introduction - Variation • Variation occurs because segments are affected and altered by phonetic characteristics of neighboring elements or by the larger phonological context in which they occur • Speakers and listeners of any language tend to factor out this type of variation in order to focus on contrast that affect meaning

26. Phonetically Conditioned VariationComplementary Distribution • In English, all Ls are not identical • Different sounds: [l̥̥] (voiceless l)& [l] (voiced l) • Yet they do not contrast • There are no minimal pairs in which the phonetic difference [l̥̥] & [l] functions to indicate difference.

27. Phonetically Conditioned VariationComplementary Distribution • Blue [blu] • Gleam [glim] • Slip [slɪp] • Flog [flɒg] • Leaf [lif] • Plow [pl̥aʊ] • Clap [kl̥æp] • Clear [kl̥ɪər] • Play [pl̥eɪ] [l]

28. Phonetically Conditioned VariationComplementary Distribution • Examine the distribution of the two Ls • All of the voiceless [l̥̥] occurs after the class of voiceless stops • Voiced [l] never occurs after voiceless stops • Predictable property of phonology in English

29. Phonetically Conditioned VariationComplementary Distribution • Therefore: • Since no voiced [l] ever occurs in the same phonetic environment as a voiceless [l̥] (and vice versa), we say that that the two variants of L are in complementary distribution

30. Phonemes and allophones The sounds your mind doesn’t Notice/hear In English

31. Phonetically Conditioned VariationPhonemes and allophones • Allophones: • When segments are phonetically distinct, but not phonologically the same they are considered allophones (predictable variants) of one phoneme (contrastive phonological unit).

32. Phonetically Conditioned VariationPhonemes and allophones • Phonetic representation: • Consists of predictable variants or allophones • Phonemic (or phonological) representation: • Consists of the phonemes to which the allophones belong. Phonemic representation (phoneme) /l/ Phonetic representation (allophones) [l̥̥] [l] Symbols for allophones are enclosed in square bracket [] Symbols for phonemes are placed between slashes //

33. Phonetically Conditioned VariationPhonemes and allophones • Phonemes: • Are mental representations: the way in which sounds are stored in the mind. • Are in your head • Allophones: • Are not part of what you remember when you store a word in your mind • Come out of your mouth

34. Phonetically Conditioned VariationPhonemes and allophones • An important part of phonological analysis thus deals with discovering inventoriesof the phonemes of language and accounting for allophonic variation.

35. English Phonemes Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

36. Korean Phonemes Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

37. Korean Allophones (in English) Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

38. Allophone example • English allophones for /p/ • [pʰ] - pair [pʰɛr] • [p] - spare [spɛr] • [p̚] - tap [tæp̚] • Korean phonemes /p/ and /pʰ/ • 팔 [pʰal] and 발 [pal] are different words • English speakers will speak ‘nonsense’ in Korean Chris Black - Applied Linguistics – Tutoring English as a Second Language (ESL)

39. Classes and generalization

40. Phonetically Conditioned VariationFree Variation • Free variation: • Various forms that do not change the meaning since they are phonetically similar. • They are therefore allophones of a phoneme • Ex: [stɒp!], [stɒp̚] & [stɒpʔ] • [p!], [p̚] & [pʔ] are different allophones of the phoneme /p/ Notice that the narrow transcription of these words and the different allophones are in square brackets and that the phoneme is in between slashes. Forceful articulation (Feature rep. only used in the book) Coarticulation with glottal stop Extended closure

41. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation • Everyday speech usually varies systematically according to phonetic classes

42. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation • Brew [bru] • Green [grin] • Drip [drɪp] • Frog [rɒg] • Shrimp [ʃrɪmp] • Prow [pr̥aʊ] • Trip [r̥ɪp] • Creep [kr̥ip] • Pray [pr̥eɪ] /r/

43. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation In English, liquids have voiceless allophones after voiceless stops and voiced allophones elsewhere. General Statement

44. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation • Beauty [bjuti] • Dwayne [dweɪn] • Gwen [gwɛn] • View [vju] • Swim [swɪm] • Thwack [θwæk] • Putrid [pj̥utrɪd] • Twin [tw̥ɪn] • Quick [kw̥ɪk] • Cute [kj̥ut] /j//w/

45. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation In English, liquids and glides have voiceless allophones after voiceless stops, and voiced allophones elsewhere. General Statement

46. Phonetically Conditioned VariationClasses & Systematic Variation • One of the major goals of phonological description is the discovery of such broad patters of variation, and the formulation of the most general statements possible to describe them.

47. Phonetically Conditioned Variation Canadian Raising English mid vowels and glides Language-specific patterns

48. Phonetically Conditioned VariationCanadian Rising • Eyes [aɪz] • Lies [laɪz] • Tried [tr̥aɪd] • Tribe [tr̥aɪb] • House [haʊz] • Loud [laʊd] • Cow [kaʊ] • Ice [ʌɪs] • Lice [l ʌɪs] • Trite [tr̥ʌɪt] • Tripe [tr̥ʌɪp] • House [hʌʊs] /aɪ//aʊ/

49. Phonetically Conditioned VariationCanadian Rising • Canadian rising is another example of allophonic variation in English [aj] before the class of voiced consonants or in word final position [ʌ j] before the class of voiceless consonants

50. Phonetically Conditioned VariationCanadian Rising • [aj] before the class of voiced consonants or in word final position • [ʌ j] before the class of voiceless consonants