Phonology, part 3

1. Phonology, part 3 October 31, 2012

2. Solving Phonology Problems • Here’s a step-by-step way to walk through the process. • Given two sounds in a language: • Determine their distribution. • For every word in which you find the sound, write down the sounds that both precede and follow it. • Q: Are the two sounds ever found in the same phonetic environment? • A: Yes • In that environment, do the two sounds form a minimal pair? • If yes  they are contrastive phonemes. • If no  they are in free variation.

3. Solving Phonology Problems • If No--the sounds are never found in the same phonetic environment--then: • The two sounds are in complementary distribution. •  The sounds are allophones of the same phoneme. 5. Determine which allophone is basic, and which allophone is restricted. • Basic allophone: found in the widest variety of phonetic environments. • Restricted allophone: found in only a specific phonetic environment. 6. Write a rule that accounts for when you get one allophone vs. the other.

4. Solving Phonology Problems • Phonological rules look like this: • /basic allophone/  [restricted allophone] / Environment • Oftentimes, the hardest part of a phonology problem can be figuring out what the phonetic environment is that conditions the phonological change!

5. Some More Data • There is an interesting rule regarding the production of /r/ in some English dialects. • Compare Canadian English with English English • CEEE “care” “park” “read” “other” “ride” “carrot” “cart” • Do you see any patterns?

6. The Rules • In English English: • /r/ appears as [r] when it precedes vowels • Examples: read, carrot • /r/ appears as when it appears at the end of a syllable or word • Examples: care, other • /r/ makes a preceding vowel long when it appears before a consonant in the same syllable • Examples: park, cart

7. Rhotic vs. Non-Rhotic • Note: English is divided up between “rhotic” dialects and “non-rhotic” dialects • rhotic: /r/ appears everywhere • non-rhotic: /r/ disappears, sometimes • Rhotic dialects: • Canadian English, General American, Irish English, Scots English… • Non-Rhotic dialects: • English English, Australian English, some areas of the American South and East Coast…

8. Really, it does • Phonologists are not just making this stuff up for fun • Interesting phenomenon: • in non-rhotic dialects, /r/ sometimes appears in places where it doesn’t appear in rhotic dialects • Ex: “I was thinking about an idear I had...” • Q: Why on earth does that happen?

9. A Conundrum • Phonological rules look like this: • /Phoneme/  [Allophone] / Environment • (=Abstract) (=Observable) • That means that, as linguists, we only see the allophones, on the (observable) surface. • Q: How can we figure out what the phonemes are? • (not to mention the rules?) • Note: babies learning language have the same problem

10. Idears, Explained • In non-rhotic dialects, • words ending in /Vr/ surface as . • Phonology notation note: • V = “vowel” • C = “consonant” • Examples: • “care” • “fear” • “wire”

11. Idears, Explained • But remember: in these dialects, • /r/ appears as [r] whenever it precedes a vowel. • So an /r/ appears as [r] at the end of words like “care”, “fear” and “wire”… • when they appear before other words which start with vowels. • Examples: • “care a lot” • “fear I had” • “wire a house”

12. Psychological Reality • When a child is learning to speak a non-rhotic dialect, “idea” looks no different from “care”, “fear” or “wire” • It normally ends with •  it gets interpreted as /ajdir/ “idear” • The /r/ will surface whenever it appears before a word that begins with a vowel: “an idear I had”. • Psychological (phonemic) representations of the same word are different between dialects: • non-rhotic: /ajdir/ • rhotic:

13. Other Evidence • Speech errors provide more evidence that things are going on inside the mind that we can’t observe directly, in physical reality. • “Slips of the tongue” • Examples: • “stick in the mud”  “smuck in the tid” • “gone to seed”  “god to seen” • Both errors exhibit metathesis. • = two sounds have switched places with each other.

14. Example Error • “stick in the mud”  “smuck in the tid” • error: phonemic and have switched places. • Phonetically: •  • Notice: in the error, the /t/ in “tid” is aspirated. • The aspiration rule has to apply after the switch. • Speech error process: • First, phonemes switch • Then, phonological rules apply…

15. Loanword Phonology • Another way to establish the “psychological reality” of phonology is to look at how sounds change in words that are “borrowed” from another language. • In these cases, the “underlying” phoneme = the original sound. • Ex: English words borrowed into Japanese • “sea food”  • “cinema”  • “Citibank”  • “zip code”  • “shepherd” 

16. Pidgins • When speakers of different languages encounter each other, they have a variety of communication options: • Use one of their native languages • Use a “lingua franca” = a common second language • Create a new language and use that • Languages created in contact situations are known as pidgins. • They tend to have a simplified grammar and lexicon. • Historically, pidgins have often developed: • in centers of trade • through slavery

17. Creoles • When pidgins are acquired by children as their native language, they become creoles. • Originally a pidgin, Hawaiian Creole emerged in a complex trade setting in the 1800s • Hawaii’s economic draw was sugar cane • Laborers were imported from China, Portugal, Korea, Japan, Russia, Puerto Rico, the Phillippines... • While the English, Americans and Japanese battled for political control. • An English-based pidgin developed as a means of communication between the different groups. • Listen to a sample • Also check out: http://www.pidginbible.org/

18. The Quick Write • Let’s check out the phonology of a small sample of Hawaiian Creole. • What’s happening to the consonants here?