English Phonology
The Sound System of American English
Key Terms
• Phoneme - a unit of sound significant in a
specific language (E.g., /s/ is a phoneme in
English while the German ch sound /x/ is not)
• Grapheme - The symbols (letters) used in a
writing system such as our alphabet
• Digraph - A single sound represented by two
letters (e.g., th, sh, ea)
• Phonetic Alphabet - a collection of symbols used
for writing words phonetically
More Terms
• Allophone - a variant of a phoneme; often not
noticed by native speakers (e.g, spin, pin)
• Minimal Pair - Two words that are pronounced the
same except for one sound (e.g., Sue, zoo)
• Voiced Sound - A sound produced with the vocal
folds (cords) vibrating (e.g. voiced /z/ as opposed
to voiceless /s/)
• Diphthong - “a double vowel sound” - two vowels
appearing together as the nucleus of a syllable
The Vocal
Tract
The Vocal Folds (or Cords)
QuickTime™ and a
YUV4 20 code c d eco mpres sor
are nee ded to s ee this picture.
The Consonants of English
The Vowels of English
Phonetic Transcription
Horseshoes
[hors‡uz]
Matches
[mæc‡\z]
Bookend
[b¨k´nd]
Is
[ˆz]
Pain medicine
[pen m´d\sˆn]
Thorns
[†ornz]
Breathe
[bri∂]
Allomorphs Based on Phonology
• The plural morpheme –
– [s] after a voiceless consonant
– [z] after a voiced consonant
– [\z] after a sibilant (s, z, sh [s‡], [z‡], ch [c‡], or j
[j])
‡
• The past tense morpheme
– [d] after a voiced sound,
– [t] after a voiceless sound
– [\d] after a [t] or [d]
Allomorphs Based on Phonology
• The negative prefix /in-/n
–
–
–
–
[m] before a labial (e.g., impossible, immovable, imbalance)
[˜] before a velar (e.g., incorrect, ingratitude)
[r] before /r/ (e.g., irreversible)
[l] before /l/ (e.g., illogical)
• Other examples of assimilation
– Conduct, compel, colleague, corrode
– Synergy, symmetry, syllogism
– Admit, abbreviate, account, annul, appeal, arrive, assign,
attend, alleviate
– Submit, succeed, sufficient, suggest, support, surreptitious
Vowel Deletion
Delete the last vowel of a morpheme if the
following morpheme begins with a vowel
Anti- ‘against, opposite’
Apo- ‘away, from, off’
Cata- ‘back, down, away’
Dia- ‘through, between’
Meta- ‘beyond, after’
Anti + pathy
Apo + logy
Cata + log
Dia + meter
Meta + morphic
Ant + agonize
Ap + androus
Cat + egory
Di + uretic
Met + onymy
Works with some roots and suffixes:
auto- ‘self
miso- ‘hate’
-ate adjective suffix
auto + graph
miso + gyny
cre + ate
aut + ism
mis + anthrope
cre + at + ion
Not if prefix is only one syllable: re + act; bi + ennial
E/O Deletion
Delete the e or o of a morpheme ending in er or or of a
morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel
Mater ‘mother’
Member
Meter
Act
Enter
Mater + nal
Dis + member
Dia + meter
Act + or
Matr + ilineal
Membr + ane
Metr + ic
Actr + ess
Entr + ance
S Deletion
Delete an s after the prefix ex-
Spir
Ser
Secu
Sist
In + spire
In + sert
Con + secu + tive
Re + sist
Ex + pire
Ex + ert
Ex + ecu tive
Ex + ist
N Deletion
Delete the n of the prefix an- before a consonant:
Examples: a + theist, a + pathy, a + symmetry, a + trophy
But not: an + emic, an + archy, an + orexic, an + hydrous
Vowel Alternations
• /a/ changes to /e/ in other than first syllable
– E.,g, ann-ual/bi-enn-ial; apt/in-ept;
damn-ation/con-demn
• /e/ changes to /i/ in other than first syllable
– E.g., reg-ular; incor-rig-ible; speculate/con-spic-uous