Advanced Phonetics and Phonology

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Lecture (3)

PHONEMIC ANALYSIS

Phonology

a field of linguistics which studies the distribution of soundsin a language as well as the interaction between thosedifferent sounds.

studies the organization of speech sounds in a particularlanguage.

Phonology

tackles the following questions:

1. What are the sounds in a language ?

2. Which sounds affect the meaning of words?

3. What sounds in a language are predictable?

4. What is the phonetic context that predict the occurrence ofthese sounds?

Phonology

it involves the study of the mental organization of alanguage’s sound system.

Units of organization:

1. Biggest: syllables, metrical feet, words

2. Middle: segments (phonemes and allophones)

3. Smallest: features

Segmental Phonology

There are hundreds of possible speech sounds Each language only uses a few of these. What is of interest to phonologists is which sounds contrast. Sounds contrast when their presence alone distinguishes forms

with different meanings

Phoneme and Allophone

A phoneme: a class of speech sounds that are identified by anative speaker as the same sound; e.g. /t/; it’s unpredictable

A phoneme is an abstract representation & can’t bepronounced (not a speech sound)

An allophone: the actual phonetic segment produced by aspeaker & has been classified as belonging to some phoneme;e.g. [th]; it’s predictable

Or, an allophone: the various ways that a phoneme ispronounced; e.g. [ʔ], [ɾ]

Phoneme and Allophone

The phonological system of a language has two levels: 1- the more concrete level which involves the physical reality

of phonetics segments, the allophones represented by [ ](greater number).

2- The abstract (underlying) level which involves phonemesrepresented by / / (small inventory).

In English, /p/ has 3 allophones ([p], [ph], [p̚ ])

Similar to natural sciences (H2O is realized as ice, water, &water vapour)

Distribution of Speech Sounds

The distribution of a phone: the set of phonetic environmentsin which it occurs.

Contrastive Sounds: if two sounds are separate phonemes, theyare contrastive

(interchanging the two, change the meaning of a word)

Non-contrastive Sounds: if two phones are allophones of thesame phoneme, they are non-contrastive

(interchanging the phones, doesn’t change the meaning of aword)

Real-life analogy of complementary distribution

Two people or one person?

Has Lois ever seen Superman and Clark Kent in the same environment?

Emergency

Superman is always found in the environment of an emergency.

No Emergency

Clark Kent is seen in the environment when there is no emergency.

Distinctive and Non-distinctive Sounds

Distinctive (contrastive) Sounds: make a difference in meaning; e.g. /p/ & /b/ in pin, bin.

Non-distinctive (non-contrastive) Sounds: Does Not make a difference in meaning; e.g. /p/ in pin & spin.

Example: /t/ in : • top [thɒp]• stop [stɒp]• little [liɾl]• kitten [kiʔn]• hunter [hʌnr]

Distinctive and Non-distinctive Sounds

Distinctive and Non-distinctive Sounds

Crucial concept 1: Phoneme

When two sounds contrast they are part of different phonemes. /p/ and /b/ are different phonemes

Phonemes are abstract mental units that represent sounds. Be careful! Phonemes are not sounds themselves, they are

mental units representing sounds!!!

Crucial Concept 2: Allophones

Phonetic forms that don’t contrast (don’t make a difference in meaning) are called allophones [t] and [th] are allophones of the phoneme /t/

Allophones are the various pronunciations of a phoneme.

Phonemes & Allophones

Phonemes are written between / / brackets Allophones are written between [ ] brackets

/t/ phonemic (abstract/mental) category

[t] [th] allophonic (phonetic) realizationsin your mind

what you actually say

Language Specificity

In English, [t] and [ɾ] are allophones of the same phoneme (/t/), meaning that a word doesn’t change its meaning if you substitute one sound for the other.

Language Specificity

But in Spanish, [t] and [ɾ] are not allophones of a single phoneme; each is an allophone of a separate phoneme.

For example:

Similar argument involves the sounds [d] and [ð]. In English, both make separate phonemes, but in Spanish they are allophones.

Language Specificity

The status as a phoneme is a language specific matter

Phonological Rules

Two levels of representation: 1- underlying (phonemic, mental) 2- surface (phonetic)

Why do we need rules? link the two levels show when a particular allophone should show up on the

surface

Phonological Rules

PHONEMIC LEVEL(underlying form)

RULES

PHONETIC LEVEL(surface form)

Phonological Rules

state that some item becomes some other item in some specific environment

The common way of expressing rules:

A B/ X____ Y

(A) becomes (B) in the environment of (/) being preceded by X and followed by Y

____ represents the position of the item affected by the rule

Choosing the Underlying Form

How do we decide on the representation at the phonemic level?

Phonemes and their allophones SHARE some phonetic features

The choice is “phonetically natural” Take the form which has the widest distribution (occurs

in the largest number of environments)

Using Local Environments

For establishing that two sounds are in the samephoneme, we need to establish that they are incomplementary distribution, and therefore we need tofind the environments in which they occur.

Maasai (Nilotic, spoken in Kenya and Tanzania), and ourfocus is solely on the following set of sounds: [p, t, k, b,d, g, β, ð, ɣ].

Using Local Environments

Using Local Environments

Maasai (Nilotic, spoken in Kenya and Tanzania), and ourfocus is solely on the following set of sounds: [p, t, k, b,d, g, β, ð, ɣ].

Using Local Environments

/k/ Spirantizationk → ɣ / [+vowel] ___ [+vowel]/k/ is realized as [ɣ] between vowels. Postnasal Voicingk → g / ŋ ___/k/ is realized as [g] after [ŋ].

Using Local Environments

Using Local Environments

General rules

/p,t,k/ Spirantizationp,t,k → β,ð,ɣ / [+vowel] ___ [+vowel]/p,t,k/ is realized as [β,ð,ɣ] between vowels.

Postnasal Voicingp,t,k → b,d,g /m,n,ŋ ___/p,t,k/ is realized as [b,d,g] after [m,n,ŋ].

Using Local Environments

we can use features to write general rules that cover all threephonemes at once. The specific analysis sets up the threephonemes /p/, /t/, and /k/ and posits two generalizedphonological rules.

In-Class Exercise

Voicing in Mohawk

Voicing in Mohawk

Iroquoian family; spoken in Quebec, Ontario, New York Observation: [p t k b d g] are all sounds of Mohawk Suspicion: there are no minimal or near-minimal pairs for

voicing Question: Is stop voicing phonemic or predictable?

Mohawk phonetic data

[oli:deʔ] ‘pigeon’ [ojɑ:gɑlɑ] ‘shirt’

[zɑhset] ‘hide it!’ (sg.) [ohjotsɑh] ‘chin’

[gɑ:lis] ‘stocking’ [lɑbɑhbet] ‘catfish’

[odɑhsɑ] ‘tail’ [sdu:hɑ] ‘a little bit’

[wisk] ‘five’ [̆jiks] ‘fly’

[degeni] ‘two’ [desdɑʔn̥] ‘stand up!’ (sg.)

[ɑplɑm] ‘Abram, Abraham’ [de:zekw̥] ‘pick it up!’ (sg.)

[V:] = long vowel, [C̥] = voiceless consonant

of interest: [p t k b d g]

Stop distribution in Mohawk

# = word edge

[p] [b]

ɑ ___l ɑ ___ ɑ

h___e

[t] [d]

e___# i:___e

o___s o___ ɑ

s___u:

#___e

#___e:

s___ɑ

[k] [g]

s___# #___ ɑ:

i___s e___e

e___w ɑ:___ ɑ

Summarized contexts

[p t k] [b d g]___ C ___ V___ #

[p t k] and [b d g] are in complementary distribution in Mohawk.

Writing the phonological rule

Which rule? Mohawk has /p t k/. Voicing: Stops are voiced before vowels.

or?

Mohawk has /b d g/. Devoicing: Stops are voiceless word finally or before a

consonant.

Writing the phonological rule

Choose Voicing. Why? Voicing rule is simpler than Devoicing ruleVoicing: “...before vowels.”Devoicing: “...word finally or before a consonant.”

If Voicing, then Mohawk consonant inventory contains /p t k/. If Devoicing, then /b d g/.

But there are no languages with /b d g/ which lack /p t k/.

i.e. voiced stops voiceless stops (an implicational universal)

Mohawk consonant inventory

labial alveolar palatal velar glottal

stop p t k ʔ

affricate c̆

fricative s h

nasal n

liquid r

glide w j

Voicing applies to all of the voiceless stops in Mohawk.

Writing the rule

•In Mohawk,

Stops are voiced before vowels.

(sentence formulation)

/p t k/ [b d g] / ___ V

(‘arrow’ notation)

+ stop- voiced

+ stop+voiced /_____ + vowel

/ ði end əv lektʃə θriː /