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 /