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Phonology: The Sound Patterns of Language

By Richard Binkney, Ph.D.

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Phonology is the study of speech sounds

Phoneme – the basic unit of soundSemantics – the study of the meaning of languageMorpheme – smallest unit of sound to carry meaning

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Phrenological map of the human brain

Notice that the area for Language (35) is one of the smallest.

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Speech sounds can be classified as either consonants or vowels

• Consonants – the air does not flow freely• Vowels – air flows freely to create different sounds

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Put your fingers in front of your throat:

• Say the letters “V” & “F”• What is the difference?

• Now, try these letter combinations: B/P D/T G/K Z/S Discuss findings.

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The Pronunciation of Morphemes

Pronounce the plural forms of:Child – Ox – Mouse – Criterion – SheepThe old spelling rule to add s or es is misleading.

These are special plurals that have to be memorized early in the use of English.

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The old English rule of adding s or es to make a plural word is often misleading. There is no rule to predict

how all plural words are formed in English.

Allomorph is the technical term describing the plural variance. The words may vary in shape or pronunciation, but not meaning. For example, s has 3 allomorphs: the -s sound in hats

the -z sound in dogs

the <<z sound in boxes

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Phonemes are not physical sounds. They are abstract mental representations of the phonological units of a language.

The process of substituting one soundfor another word to see if it makesa difference is a good way to identifythe phonemes of a language. Thesewords differ only in their vowel:beat [bit] [i] boot [but] [u]bait [bet] [e] boat [bot] [o]bite [bajt] [aj] bot [bat] [a]Can you think of any others?

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Minimal Pairs…

are two words with different meanings that are identical except for one sound segment that occurs in the same place in each word. Say the following word pairs and determine in which sound segment the difference occurs:

cab/cap rot/lot had/bad pin/bin zeal/seal

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• The following Minimal Pairs showthat English /p/ and /b/ contrastin initial, medial , & final positions.

Initial Medial Finalpit/bit rapid/rabid cap/cab

Find similar sets of minimal pairs forthe following consonant pairs: /k/ - /g/ /l/ - /r/ /s/ - /z/

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Morphophonemic Rules

determine the phonetic formof the plural morpheme andother morphemes. Like plurals,some irregular past tenses conform to no particular rule and must be learned individually.For example: go / went sing / sang

hit / hit run / ran

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A Phoneme the basic form of a soundEach phoneme has associated with it one or moresounds, called Allophones, which represent the

actual sound corresponding to the phoneme.For example, notice the differences as you pronounce:

Aspiration allophone [p] in pitWithout aspiration allophone

[p] in spit

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Punctuation Marks : phonemes use / / marks – allophones/phones use [ ] marks

Phonemically the words bead and bean are transcribed as /bid/ and /bin/Phonetically the words aretranscribed to be pronouncedas [bid] and [bin]

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Complimentary DistributionIs the relationship between two phonemetically similar

segments. The sound is modified by the environment. Which variant occurs is determined by the immediate preceeding letter.

For example: the letter l has a complimentary distribution in the words glue and blue . What other

variants do you find in these words?sat vatmill willrack rock

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- Distinctive Features of Phonemes –Phonetics provides the means to describe the phones

(sounds) of language, showing how they are produced and how they vary.

Phonology tells us how various sounds form patterns to create phonemes and their allophones.

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Phoneme Feature Values

Voicing and/or Voicelessness is the presence of a single feature. This single feature may have two values: + = voicing or -- = voicelessness.

Nasality presence or absence is

designated as + or -- also.Determine the values of:

feel / veal cap / cab m / b

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VoicingWhen verbs add -ed to become past tense this ending becomes voiced if the preceding sound isvoiced as in “planned” or voiceless if the preceding sound is voiceless as in “jumped.”Since /t/ is not voiced and vowels are voiced, a /t/ between vowelsoften becomes voiced so that “latter” and “writer” are pronounced like “ladder” and “rider.”

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Aspiration/p/ /t/ and /k/ form the natural class of

voiceless stops. In English, voiceless

stops are aspirated if they are followed

by a stressed vowel and not preceded

by /s/.

This makes sense because aspiration

is a puff of air. This puff would occur

after a stop. It would occur into a

stressed syllable. If the consonant

were voiced or if some of the air had

leaked out because of a preceding

/s/, the aspiration would be less

pronounced.

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Palatization

When a word that ends with a /t/ is followed by a

–ual, -ial, or -ion ending, the palatal vowel <y-> changes

the /t/ sound into a /č/ sound. Examples include: addict addiction act actual or

action part partial predict prediction

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Places of articulation (passive & active):1. Exo-labial, 2. Endo-labial, 3. Dental, 4. Alveolar, 5. Post-alveolar, 6. Pre-palatal, 7. Palatal, 8. Velar, 9. Uvular, 10. Pharyngeal, 11. Glottal, 12. Epiglottal, 13. Radical, 14. Postero-dorsal, 15. Antero-dorsal, 16. Laminal, 17. Apical, 18. Sub-apical

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Active Articulators

Bilabial is one of the 5 activearticulators.

Put your lips together and saythe letters – B P M

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Active Articulates

Labiodental is anotherexample of an activearticulate.

Put your lip to your teeth:Now say - F V

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Active Articulates

The third example of an active articulate is Interdental

Place your tongue on the

back of your incisors

Say the letter N

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Nasality is a nondistinctive feature for English vowels. There is no way to predict that the difference between the words meat and beat. You

simply learn the words.

• On the other hand, the nasality feature value of the vowels in bean, mean, comb, and sing is predictable because they occur before nasal consonants. When a feature value is predictable by rule for a sound, the feature is nondistinctive or redundant or predictable (the three terms are equivalent). Thus, nasality is a redundant feature in English vowels, but a nonredundant feature for English consonants.

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Feature Values : NasalityNasality occurs with a lowering of the soft palate or velum

so that air escapes both through the nose and the mouth.

The presence or absence of nasality is designated as [ +nasal ] or [ -nasal ] Determine nasality for:

/m/ /p/ mother patrol

parrot milk Can you think of any others?

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Aspiration of voiceless stops illustrates the asymmetry of the phonological systems of

different languages.Both aspirated and unaspirated voiceless stops

occur in English and Thai, but they function differently. Aspiration in English is not a distinctive feature because its presence or absence is predictable. In Thai, it is not predictable.

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What is the difference between distinctive and phonemic?

* The phonetic representation ofutterances shows what speakers know about the pronunciation of sounds.

*The phonemic representation of utterances shows what speakers know about the patterning of sounds.

*The words pot/pat spot/spat have identical phonemes (e.g., /p/ )

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In English, vowel length and consonant length are nonphonemic.

Prolonging a sound inEnglish will not producea different word. In otherlanguages, long and shortvowels that are identical except for length are phonemic.In such languages, length is a nonpredictable distinctive feature.

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Natural classes of sounds are those groups of sounds described by a small number of

distinctive features.One example is where the [-- voiced], [--

continuant], which describes /p/, t/, /k/.Any individual member of a natural class would

require more features in its description than the class itself, so /p/ is not only [ -- voiced ], [--continuant] but also [ + labial].

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The Rules of Phonology

• The relationship between the phonemic representations of

words and the phonetic representations that reflect the pronunciation of these words is

rule-governed. Although the specific rules of

phonology differ from language to language, the kinds of rules, what they do, and the natural classes they refer to are the same throughout the world.

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Assimilation Rules rules make two or more neighboring segments more similar by making the segments share

some feature.

The vowel nasalization rule in English is an assimilation rule, because it involves taking the [+nasal] feature on the segment following the vowel and adding it to the vowel, making the value of [nasal] identical for the two segments. Say the following words and discuss your findings:

bone/bow bean/bee line/lie hand/hat

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Dissimulation Rules

• Dissimulation rules make sounds less• Similar. Sometimes it is easier to

articulate dissimilar sounds:

• Say the “tongue twister:”• The sixth sheik’s sixth sheep is sick.• Now say,• The fifth sheik’s fourth sheep is sick.• Which is easier for you to say? Why?

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EpenthesisEpenthesis is the addition of oneor more sounds to a word.

Excrescense occurs if the soundadded is a consonant.

Anaptyxis occurs if the sound added is a vowel.

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ExcrescenseAn example of Excrescense – addition of anextra vowel to a word

Hamp – ster Hamster

Can you think of otherexamples of Excrescense?

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Anaptyxis

An example of Anaptysix – addition ofAn extra vowel to a word

Pic – a – nic basket

Can you think of other examples?

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Epenthesis can also occur as a Poetic Device where the meter of a piece of literature requires extra syllables.

For example: In “The Umbrella Man” movie/song the word adds a 4th syllable: um – buh – rel – a

Can you think of others?

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Metathesis RulesPhonological rules may also reorder sequences of phonemes, as inask/aks nuclear/nucularanimal/aminalspaghetti/puskettiCan you add any others toThis list?Dog lovers have metathesized the Shetland

Sheepdog into a sheltie.

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The more we look at languages, the more we realize that what appears at first to be irregular and unpredictable

phonetic forms are actually rule-governed.

We learn, or construct, these rules when we are acquiring the language as children. The rules form an important part of the sound pattern that we acquire from birth.

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PhonologicalRules

The function of thephonological rulesin a grammar is toprovide the phonetic information necessary for the

pronunciation of utterances. Input Phonemic representation of words

Phonological Rules Outputt Phonetic representation of words

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From One to Many – From Many to OneRarely is a single phoneme realizedas one and only one phone. Consider the vowels in the following pairs of words: A - compete B - competition medicinal medicine solid solidityIn column A, all underlined vowels are stressed with a

variety of vowel phones; in column B, the underlined vowels are pronounced as schwa.

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The Flap RuleFlap is a rapid movement of the tongue tip from a

retracted vertical position to a horizontal position, during which the tongue brushes the alveolar ridge.

When /t/ or /d/ occurs between a stressed and an unstressed vowel, they both become a “flap.”

The following words sound similar: auntie/Annie metal/medal

planter/planner coating/coding futile/feudal waiter/wader

latter/ladder matter/madder Can you name any others?

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Neutralization Neutralization is a merger of a contrast in certain

contexts or specified environmentSome examples of neutralizationBefore /g/ are: bag egg Greg keg leg peg

Can you name any others?

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Slips of the Tongue

Unintentional speech errors show phonological rules in action. We all make speech errors, and they tell us something about language and its use. Consider:

Intended Utterance Actual Utterancegone to seed god to seenstick in the mud smuck in the tidspeech pronunciation preach seduction

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Word Stress

In many languages, including English, one or more of the syllables in every content word is stressed.

(the words to, the, of, a are functional/support words). A

stressed syllable, marked by an accute accent (‘) is more prominent in the following examples:

Pervert noun as in My neighbor is a pervert.Pervert verb as in Don’t pervert the idea. Can you

think of other examples?

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Stress can be shown by placing a 1 over the primary stressed syllable, a 2 over the syllable with secondary stress, and leaving unstressed vowels unmarked. Place the appropriate stress marks on these words?

fundamental introductory secondary

Stress is the property of the syllable rather than a segment. To produce a stressed syllable, you may change the pitch, make the syllable louder, or make it longer. We often use all three of these phonetic means to stress a syllable.

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In English we place primary stress on the adjectival part of a compound noun.

But, we place stress on the noun whenthe words are a noun phrase consisting of an adjective followed by a noun. Considerwhere you would place the primary stress: Compound Noun Adjective + Noun tightrope tight rope

redcoat red coat hotdog hot dog White House white house

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Pitch and IntonationPitch plays an important role in tone & intonation.Say: John is going home.

What’s in the tea, honey?Falling pitch at the end indicates a statement.Pitch rising at the end may indicate a question.

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Phonolactic Constraints are language specific combinations of phonemes.

In Japanese, the /st/ consonant cluster is not allowed – while it exists in English

In English, the sounds /kn/ and /gn/ are not permitted at the beginning of a new word – however, they do exist in both German and Dutch

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Lexical Gaps

Advertisers often use possible butnonoccurring words for newproducts –Xerox Bic Kodak SpamOther words like creck and cruckare nonsense words found in the

lexicon – often called Lexical GapsCan you name some others?

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Why Do Phonological Rules Exist?• Because languages have general principles that

constrain possible sequences of sounds.• The rules specify minimal modifications of the• underlying forms that bring them in line with• the surface constraints.• Thus, we find different variants of a particular• underlying form depending on the phonological• context. • One example is the English past-tense rule.• Can you think of any others?

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Optimality TheoryThis proposal holds that a universal set of ranked constraints with higher ranked constraints taking preference over lower ranked ones, exists with the entire system governing the phonological rules.

One example is the plural rule. Can you name any others?

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Phonological Analysis: Discovering Phonemes

Phonology shows that sounds canbe grouped into units/phonemesExample: There is only one /p/phoneme in English – but thatphoneme has 2 sound variationsor allophones: /p/ aspirated as in pot /p/ unaspirated as in soup

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The phonological rules in a language show that the phonemic shape of words or phrases is not identical with their phonetic form.

The phonemes are not the actual phonetic sounds, but are abstract mental constructs that are realized as sound by the operation of rules described in this chapter. No one is taught these rules, yet everyone

knows them subconsciously.

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Fun Facts About Phonology• By first grade most children understand about

10,000 words. (Anglin, 1993,as cited in Siegler, & Akibali, 2005).

• By fifth grade children understand about 40,000 words. ( Anglin, 1993, as cited in Siegler, & Alibali, 2005).

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Parents and adults tend to shape word meaning in children before they shape grammar.

(Baron, 1992; Brown, Cazden, & Bellus, 1969, as cited in Shaffer, et.al, 2002).

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Both infants who are deaf and infants who can hear babble.

The babbling of deaf infants matches the rhythms of sign language and is similar in pattern to the babbling of hearing babies.

(Petitto, Holowka, Sergio,Levy,& Ostry, 2004).

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Deaf children who are not exposed to formal sign language (ASL) develop home sign, which has structures that are similar to the American Sign Language

(Goldin-Meadow,Mylander,&Butcher,1995,as cited in Siegler,&Alibal,2005).

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Final Thoughts from Ogden Nash

The one-l lama,He’s a priest.The two-l llama,He’s a beast.And I will betA silk pajamaThere isn’t any Three-l lllama. (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams, p. 290)

In response to this poem one wit remarked, “A three alarmer is a really big fire.”

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Phonology Sample Exercise Questions:Consider the following data from the Native Americanlanguage – Ojibwa:

anoki:i: she works nitanok:i: I work a:k:osi she is sick nita:k:osi I am

sick ma:ca she leaves nima:ca: I leave wi:sini she eats kiwi:sini you eat

What forms do the morphemes “I” and “You” take; that is, what are the allomorphes?

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Sample Exercise #2: In African Maninka, the suffix –li has more than onepronunciation. It is similarto the derivational suffix -ing (cook + ing = cooking). Look at these Maninka words: bugo “hit” bugoli “hitting” dila “repair” dilali “repairing” dumu “eat” dumuni “eating” gwen “chase” gwenni “chasing”What are the 2 forms of the “ing” ending in Maninka?

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ReferencesAll text materials and quotes from -- Fromkin, Victoria, Rodman,

Robert, and Hyams, Nina. An Introduction to Language, 8th ed. Boston: Thomson-Wadsworth, 2007.

Google.Com (pictures and images)

“Language Development – Fun Facts”Accessed 09/10/2009 http://languageDevelopment/tripod.com/id17.html

Nilsen, Don L. F. Accessed 09/10/2009

http://www.ssc.uwo.ca/anthropology/faculteider/027/7PhonolUSEdition.pdf (slides 17 – 19)

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• With Appreciation To –Google ImagesDr. Sheila W. Binkney