The sound patterns of language.
What is phonology?
Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
The phonological system of a language includes
* an inventory of sounds and their features, and
* rules which specify how sounds interact with each other.
Phonology is just one of several aspects of language. It is related to other aspects such
as phonetics, morphology, syntax, and pragmatics.
Here is an illustration that shows the place of phonology in an interacting hierarchy of
levels in linguistics: phonetics –phonology-morphology-syntax-semantics-pragmatics
pragmatics
semantics
syntax
morphology
phonology
phonetics
Comparison: Phonology and phonetics
Phonetics …
Phonology …
Is the basis for phonological
analysis.
Is the basis for further work in morphology,
syntax, discourse, and orthography design.
Analyzes the production of all
human speech sounds, regardless
of language.
Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular
language by


determining which phonetic sounds are
significant, and
explaining how these sounds are
interpreted by the native speaker.
Models of phonology
Different models of phonology contribute to our knowledge of phonological
representations and processes:
* In classical phonemics, phonemes and their possible combinations are central.
* In standard generative phonology, distinctive features are central. A stream of
speech is portrayed as linear sequence of discrete sound-segments. Each segment is
composed of simultaneously occurring features
* In non-linear models of phonology, a stream of speech is represented as
multidimensional, not simply as a linear sequence of sound segments. These nonlinear models grew out of generative phonology:
o
autosegmental phonology metrical phonology lexical phonology
What is a phoneme?
A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language.
Phonologists have differing views of the phoneme. Following are the two major views
considered here:
* In the American structuralist tradition, a phoneme is defined according to its
allophones and environments.
* In the generative tradition, a phoneme is defined as a set of distinctive features.
Comparison
Here is a chart that compares phones and phonemes:
A phone is …
A phoneme is …
One of many possible sounds in the A contrastive unit in the sound
languages of the world.
system of a particular language.
The smallest identifiable unit found A minimal unit that serves to
in a stream of speech.
distinguish between meanings of
words.
Pronounced in a defined way.
Pronounced in one or more ways,
depending on the number of
allophones.
Represented between brackets by
convention.
Represented between slashes by
convention.
Example:
[b], [j], [o]
Example:
/b/, /j/, /o/
What is an allophone?
An allophone is a phonetic variant of a phoneme in a particular language.
English /n/ and its allophones:


[n̪] - dental by assimilation before a dental fricative, e.g. tenth, month
[n:] - lengthened before a voiced obstruent in the same syllable such as [d], [z], or [ʤ],
e.g. tend, tens, plunge


[n] - normal quality elsewhere, e.g. net, ten, tent
NOTE: [ŋ] not relevant here because this sound exists as a distinctive phoneme in the English
sound system, e.g. in sin vs. sing, ban vs. bang)
What is a phone?
A phone is an unanalyzed sound of a language. It is the smallest identifiable unit
found in a stream of speech that is able to be transcribed with an IPA symbol.
What is a minimal pair?
A minimal pair is a pair of words that vary by only a single sound, usually meaning
sounds that may confuse English learners, like the /f/ and /v/ in fan and van, or the /e/
and /ɪ/ in desk and disk
https://www.englishclub.com/pronunciation/minimal-pairs.htm
Examples (English): Minimal pair


rip
lip
The phones [r] and [l] contrast in identical environments and are considered to be
separate phonemes. The phonemes /r/ and /l/ serve to distinguish the word rip from
the word lip.
Examples (English): Distinctive features
/p/ /i/
How do we find out which sounds are phonemes (separate
sounds) and which are allophones (variations of the same sound)?
A simple way to find out whether two sounds are phonemes or allophones is to
make minimal pairs. Minimal pairs are words that are identical except for one sound. For
example:
pit [pit]
Now replace [p] with [b]:
bit [bit]
A whole new word results: pit and bit are two different words. Therefore, in English [p] and
[b] are contrastive and are separate phonemes because a whole new word results. Using
the technique of minimal pairs, we can find out which sound substitutions cause differences
in meaning.
Do these words have different meanings, or are they variations of a word:
sue - zoo
pay - bay
belief - believe toy - boy
These are minimal pairs - two words that are identical in every way except for one sound.
And that one sound creates a whole new word. Here are four golden rules for minimal
pairs:
1.
2.
3.
4.
they must have the same number of sounds
they must be identical in every sound except for one
the sound that is different must be in the same position in each word
the words must have different meanings
These sentences have four words that are identical except for one sound
(minimal pairs):
I have a crick in my neck.
It's probably from sticking your neck in the creek.
I'd expect that from a crook!
I hope you croak.
crick, creek, crook, croak. These words are identical except for one sound. Changing the
sound results in completely new words. That means that [i], [i:], [u], and [o:] are
phonemes, separate sounds because they create new words.
http://emedia.leeward.hawaii.edu/hurley/Ling102web/mod3_speaking/3mod3.9_phon
emes.htm
Compare: Morpheme-morph-allomorph and phoneme-phone-allophone
The relationship between a morpheme and its morphs and allomorphs is parallel
to the relationship between a phoneme and its phones and allophones.
A morpheme is manifested as one or more morphs (surface forms) in different
environments. These morphs are called allomorphs.
A phoneme is manifested as one or more phones (phonetic sounds) in different
environments. These phones are called allophones.
Syllables
syllable (noun): a unit of pronunciation that has one vowel sound, and may or may not
be surrounded by consonants. A syllable can form a whole word or part of a word. For
example, there is one syllable in cat, two syllables in monkey and three syllables
in elephant.( interesting- 4/ unexceptional-5 …)
We have seen how each spoken language has a set of consonant and vowel categories
that are used by its speakers and hearers to distinguish the words of the language. The
consonants and vowels in turn are combined into larger units, syllables.
Syllables are distinguished from one another in terms of the consonants and vowels
that they consist of. But syllables can also be distinguished from one another in other
ways, and some of these ways are very commonly used contrastively, that is, to
distinguish words from each other. We will look at some of these "suprasegmental"
features of language in this section. Languages also differ in terms of how consonants
and vowels can be combined into syllables, the "phonotactics" of the language, and
we will also look at this property of languages in this section.
Phonotactics (patterning of phonemes)
As we have seen, each spoken language has an "alphabet" of form categories —
consonant and vowel phonemes — which are combined to form the syllables that
make up words. But languages differ not only in the particular vowel and consonant
phonemes they have. They also differ with respect to how the vowels and consonants
may be combined to form syllables.
Let's start with simple English syllables consisting of a consonant followed by
a vowel; I'll abbreviate this as "CV". First, can any consonant appear in the
"C" position? Taking the vowel as the constant /o/, certainly all of the following
are possible syllables in English: /po/, /bo/, /mo/, /vo/, /to/, /co/, /∫o/, /ko/, /lo/,
/ro/, /wo/, /ho/. But what about /ηo/? A complete search of the English lexicon
reveals that there are no English words that have syllables beginning with the
phoneme /η/. Although other nasal consonants (/m/ and /n/) and other velar
consonants (/k/ and /g/) can appear at the beginnings of syllables, English
seems to constrain syllables to not begin with the phoneme /η/.
What about the vowels in a CV syllable? Let's be more specific and assume
that the syllable is stressed and comes at the end of an English word.
Keeping the consonant as the constant /b/, all of the following seem possible:
/bi/, /be/, /bu/, /bo/, /b⊃/, /bay/, /baw/, /b⊃y/. (For speakers who do not make
the distinction between /⊃/ and /α/, /bα/ would also be possible.) But what
about the following: /bI/, /bε/,: /bI/, /bε/, /bæ/, /bU/, /b^/, /bα/ (for speakers who
distinguish /α/ and /⊃/)? None of these syllables seems possible. Again there
is apparently a sort of prohibition on the kinds of phonemes that can appear in
English syllables. In this case, the most efficient way to state the prohibition is
to say that English forbids lax vowels, other than /⊃/, from appearing at the
ends of syllables (at least stressed syllables at the end of words). Note that
/⊃/ presents a problem for the generalization; this is one of the ways in which
this vowel does not quite fit into the lax/tense, short/long distinction.
Thus English has constraints on the structure of syllables. Such constraints
are referred to as phonotactics. It's beyond our goals to go into English
phonotactics in detail, but let's investigate a bit further what the bounds are on
English syllables.
What about syllables with more than one consonant at the beginning? In
general, clusters of consonants not separated by vowels are more difficult for
speakers to produce than consonants that are separated by vowels. This is
because the articulators must move from one consonant position to another
without opening up in between (because the opening would be realized as a
vowel). And the difficulty of particular combinations varies considerably. Thus
we should expect more constraints on what is possible in clusters than for
single consonants. An examination of the English lexicon reveals that the
following consonant clusters can appear at the beginnings of General
American English syllables (my accent) if we count the semivowels /w/ and /y/
as consonants.
22. /tw/, /dw/, /kw/, /gw/
23. /by/, /py/, /my/, /fy/, /vy/, /ky/, /hy/
24. /pl/, /bl/, /fl/, /kl/, /gl/, /sl/, /∫l/
25. /pr/, /br/, /fr/, /θr/, /tr/, /dr/, /kr/, /gr/
26. /sp/, /st/, /sk/, /sm/, /sn/, /∫p/
27. /spl/, /spr/, /str/, /skl/, /skr/
We can see some patterns in what is possible. /s/ seems to be special. If we
leave it out, we see that all of the clusters end in a sonorant consonant, /w/,
/y/, /l/, or /r/.
Clusters of three consonants must consist of /s/ followed by a voiceless stop
followed by either /l/ or /r/. In fact, for this and other reasons, /l/ and /r/ are often
treated as forming a category in their own right.
Co-articulation
Coarticulation in phonetics refers to two different phenomena:
* the assimilation of the place of articulation of one speech sound to that of an
adjacent speech sound. For example, while the sound /n/ of English normally has an
alveolar place of articulation, in the word tenth it is pronounced with a dental place of
articulation because the following sound, /θ/, is dental.
* Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a vowel, a consonant, or a
whole syllable) in a word or phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to
pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for euphonic effect.
Assimilation (linguistics)
Assimilation is a regular and frequent sound change process by which a phoneme
changes to match an adjacent phoneme in a word. A common example of assimilation
is vowels being 'nasalized' before nasal consonants as it is difficult to change the
shape of the mouth sufficiently quickly.
If the phoneme changes to match the preceding phoneme, it is progressive
assimilation (also left-to-right, perseveratory, or preservative assimilation). If the
phoneme changes to match the following phoneme, it is regressive assimilation (also
right-to-left or anticipatory assimilation). If there is a mutual influence between the
two phonemes, it is reciprocal assimilation. In the latter case the two phonemes can
fuse completely and give a birth to a different one. This is called a coalescence.
The notion was identified by Sanskrit Grammarians as Sandhi or fusion.
Assimilation may result in the neighbouring segments becoming identical, yielding a
geminate consonant; this is complete assimilation. In other cases, only some features
of phonemes assimilate, e.g. voicing or place of articulation; this is partial
assimilation.
Tonal languages may exhibit various degrees of tone assimilation, while sign
languages also exhibit assimilation when the characteristics of neighbouring
phonemes may be mixed.
English
Complete assimilation:



The word assimilation itself (from Latin ad + simile)
illegible (in + legible)
suppose (sub + pose)
Partial assimilation:



voicing: the pronunciation of absurd as apsurd or abzurd
devoicing: bats (bat + the plural morpheme s, which is underlyingly /z/)
place of articulation: impossible (in + possible), incomplete (in which n
represents the velar nasal)
Elision
Elision is the omission of one or more sounds (such as a
vowel, a consonant, or a whole syllable) in a word or
phrase, producing a result that is easier for the speaker to
pronounce. Sometimes, sounds may be elided for
euphonic effect.
Elision is normally unintentional, but it may be
deliberate. The result may be impressionistically
described as "slurred" or "muted."
An example of deliberate elision occurs in Latin poetry
as a stylistic device. Under certain circumstances, such as
one word ending in a vowel and the following word
beginning in a vowel, the words may be elided together.
Elision was a common device in the works of Catullus.
For example, the opening line of Catullus 3 is: "Lugete,
O Veneres Cupidinesque", but would be read as "Lugeto
Veneres Cupidinesque".
The elided form of a word or phrase may become a
standard alternative for the full form, if used often
enough. In English, this is called a contraction, such as
can't from cannot. Contraction differs from elision in that
contractions are set forms that have morphologized, but
elisions are not.
A synonym for elision is syncope. This term is most
often associated with the elision of vowels between
consonants (e.g., Latin tabula → Spanish tabla). Another
form of elision is aphesis, which means elision at the
beginning of a word (generally of an unstressed vowel).
The opposite of elision is epenthesis, whereby sounds are
inserted into a word to ease pronunciation
You and me
He must be
We asked him[wiastam]
Friendship [frenship]
Aspects [aspeks]
Every [evri]
Interest [intrist]
Cabinet [kabnet]
Suppose [spowz]
http://www.slideshare.net/vanyendao/chapter-8-aspect-of-connected-speech
There can be vowel elision and consonant rlision.
Example: vowel: tonight /tnait/
Consonant: eight tins /eitins/