is the main branch of linguistics that deals with the study of the
sound system of languages. It focuses on the organization of sounds by studying speech patterns.
Phonology is the mental representation of sound sounds as part of a symbolic cognitive system.
Phonology is concerned with the range and function of sounds in a specific language unlike
phonetic that deals with sounds in general. Phonology deals with the competence of a speaker that
how much a speaker knows about knowledge of the sound system of a language.
encompasses different aspects like phonetic relationship that relates
and contrasts words and other linguistic units, organization of sounds by studying speech
patterns and distribution and patterning related to speech sounds. Phonology also answers the
questions like – why there is a difference in the plurals of hat and bag; the plural of hat (hats)
ends with the /s/ sound, whereas the plural of bag (bags) ends with the /z/ sound.
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Segmental Phonology
Supra-segmental Phonology
deals with sound segments of language as vowels and
consonants and how they make up a syllable. Segmental phonology is not interested in the production
or the perception of speech sounds, but it deals with the function of speech sounds and possible
combinations of speech sounds within the sound system.
A segment in phonology is any discrete unit that can be identified separately and
independently, either auditorily or physically. Segments in phonology refer to phones and phonemes. It
studies that how phonemes are made with vowel and consonants and how they perform function in a
language.
Basically,
encompasses vowels and consonants to
explore phonological studies. It deals with the functions of vowels in different words and how letters are
formed in a pattern to make a specific sound. The words made and maid are too close in pronunciation
however they have different letters. So, segmental phonology is based on the segmentation of language
into individual speech sounds.
Supra means ‘above’ or ‘beyond’ and segments are sounds (phonemes).
is also known as prosody. It is concerned with those features of
pronunciation that cannot be segmented because they extend over more than one segment, or
phonemes. Supra-segmental phonology deals with attributes (like tone, rhythm, stress, etc.) of
pronunciation which cannot be segmented. Supra-segmental phonology refers to vocal effects such as
stress, tone, intonation, etc. Main supra-segmental features include stress, pitch, tone, intonation or
juncture.
Supra-segmental features are meaningful when they are applied above segmental level. Its
features are superimposed on the syllables. Stress or accent is the relative emphasis given to a certain
syllable in a word, or to a certain word in a phrase or to a certain sentence in a speech. Variations in
stress in English are used to distinguish between a noun and a verb e.g. word insult can be used as a
verb and noun and its distinction is subject of supra segmental phonology. Supra-segmental features
have been explored extensively in the recent era and many theories have been constituted related to the
application and description of these features.
Phonological process in which
a sound becomes weaker
Flapping is a phonological process of weakening whereby the voiceless alveolar stop
consonant phoneme /t/ is pronounced as a voiced alveolar flap [ɾ], like in the word kitty. This
usually happens before a stressed vowel and before and unstressed vowel where the sound is
pronounced with articulation resembling a flap.
Phonological process in which
speech sounds disappear from
words
Vowels can be deleted to make one-syllable words that are easier to pronounce in a
fast manner. Police becomes “plice”, and friendship is said as “frienship”.
Phonological process in which a sound changes to
resemble a nearby sound and can occur both forward
and backward, within a word or between words
The prefix in- where sometimes it appears as in– and others as im-. In front of bilabial
words, like put or between, in– is pronounced with an m, “imput” or “im between.”
Phonological process in which two close sounds,
similar consonants or vowels, change to become less
alike
Manner dissimilation in which a stop becomes a fricative when followed by another
stop. The word sixth is pronounced sikst where /sθ/ becomes /st/.
Phonological process in which a sound is added to a word
Voiceless stop insertion where, between a nasal
consonant and a voiceless fricative, a voiceless stop with the
same place of articulation as the nasal consonant is inserted. In
English, many add a /p/ to hamster and say “hampster”.
Phonological process in which sounds switch places in the
phonemic structure of a word
To make words easier to pronounce and
understand, letters are switched. Two historical examples
include Old English (brid and aks) becoming Modern
English (bird and ask).
Phonological process in which a sound is made
stronger
Aspiration is where voiceless stops
become aspirated when they occur at the
beginning of a stressed syllable. Top is said with
an h.
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Diachronic Phonology
Synchronous Phonology
Generative Phonology
Phonology and Phonetics
It studies the functional and structural changes and substitutions of the phonic elements of a
language throughout history.
It is responsible for investigating the phonological system of a language at a given time.
It has the function of representing the phonemic of the morphemes of the language, and proposing a
set of rules that identify the phonetic form of a language.
Phonetics and phonology are two related sciences, the first deals with the study of sounds in speech,
and the second studies sounds at the level of language.
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Phonetics
Phonology
Phoneme
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Allophone
Distinctive (or relevant) Features
Supra-segmental Elements
The phonetic is the study of physical sounds human speech It
is the branch of linguistics that studies the production and
perception of sounds of a specific language , with respect to its
physical manifestations . Their main branches are
experimental phonetics, articulatory phonetics, phonetics and
phonetics acoustics.
The phonology is a subfield of linguistics. While phonetics studies
the acoustic and physiological nature of sounds or allophones,
phonology describes the way in that sounds work (in a language or in
general language) on an abstract level or mental.
Phoneme is the smallest unit of language. We can define it as each of
sounds that within a language have distinctive value; that is, it has the
capacity to distinguish between two words one Actually, phonemes are
not true sounds. Sounds are material realities (who studies phonetics).
The phonemes are ABSTRACTIONS, that is they are the image Mental
ideal that every speaker has of the fundamental sounds of their language.
They are called minimum to those words that mean different things but
only differ from each other in a sound. For example, “house” and “rate”.
In phonetics, each of the phones or sounds that in a given language are called allophone
recognize as variants of a certain phoneme, without variations between them have distinctive value.
Each allophone corresponds to a certain acoustic form (it they pronounce slightly differently), but in the
rules of the language they are considered as having the same value. Normally, these variations of the
same phoneme are produced by the action of surrounding sounds. A typical example of allophone in
Spanish is the one that exists among the two pronunciations of / d / in the word “given.” If you look to
pronounce naturally this word, the second “d” sounds a little softer, the air does not blow out, but little
too little (frication is its technical name). In this way, we distinguish an occlusive allophone [d] of the
fricative allophone [δ], but both are the same phoneme / d /.
–
–
–
–
–
The
The
The
The
The
/
/
/
/
/
n
n
n
n
n
Another clear case of allophone is the different embodiments of / n / in the following cases:
/ of “cream” is pronounced with the tongue in the alveoli.
/ “before” is pronounced with the tongue at the base of the teeth.
/ “dance” is pronounced with the tongue between the teeth.
/ “wide” is pronounced with the tongue on the palate.
/ of “anca” is pronounced with the tongue in the veil of the palate.
We have said that phonemes are the minimum units of the language, and this is true in the sense
that they cannot break down into smaller units that are recognizable by ear. But, with electroacoustic
techniques, as the spectrogram, you can check that in the production of each sound involved different factors
and it Produces in different phases. Each of those factors and phases provide their own characteristics that
allow us to differentiate a phoneme of another.
Distinctive feature is, therefore, each of the characteristics minimums that allow us to differentiate
one phoneme from another.
Every Phoneme is defined by a beam of distinctive features, for example:
– / p /: consonant, occlusive, bilabial, deaf
– / b /: consonant, occlusive, bilabial, sonic
The linguistic message, as we said when defining the linguistic sign, is linear. That is, their elements
(phonemes) are produced one by one, as links in a chain. However, there are certain elements that overlap the
linear segments (phonemes, words, sentences …) and that contribute to the correct interpretation of message.
We call, then, supra-segmental elements to those sound characteristics that are superimpose the linear
segments of the sounds and contribute to the correct expression and interpretation of the message The list of
supra-segmental elements could be very wide, but we will focus on the three fundamentals, because they have
the greatest influence on meaning: accent, pauses and intonation.
It is known as phonology to linguistic science that studies the sound of the voice.
Specifically, it is a science that deals with phonemes in relation to their function in a
language. The phoneme is the smallest unit of sound in the phonological system of a language.
Sounds that serve a differentiating function are considered phonemes. Phonemes are
represented between two slashes: //. In Spanish there are 24 phonemes: 5 vowels and 19
consonants.
There are two criteria for vowel phonemes: the place of articulation and the mode of
articulation. Due to the place of articulation, vowel phonemes are classified into previous vowels “/ i
/, / e /”, central “/ a /” and later “/ o /, / u /”. By way of articulation, vowel phonemes are
classified into closed vowels “/ i /, / u /”, middle “/ e /, / o /” and open / a / “.the word phonology
is of Greek origin “phonos ” which means “sound”; “Logos” that expresses “study”, and the suffix “ ia” that is synonymous with “quality or action”.
Consonant phonemes are classified taking into account the action of the soft palate (oral
and nasal), the action of the vocal cords (voiced and deaf), the mode of articulation (stops, fricatives,
affricates), and the place of articulation ( bilabial, labiodental, dental, interdental, alveolar, palatal
and velar).
The phoneme, sound model, is represented in writing by letters. There is no exact
correspondence between phonemes and letters, since different letters can represent a minimum
phoneme. Due to these mismatches, the number of phonemes and the number of letters is very
similar but not identical. Phonology and its branches.
In relation to the above, minimal pairs are those words that mean different things but only
differ in one sound. For example: the phoneme is what allows us to distinguish the words “step and
case”, just by exchanging the phoneme / p / for the phoneme / k /.
The word phonology is of Greek origin “phonos ” which means “sound”; “Logos” that
expresses “study”, and the suffix “ -ia” that is synonymous with “quality or action”.
●
Morphology
is
the
branch
of
linguistics (and one of the major
components
of
grammar)
that
studies word structures, especially
can
regarding morphemes, which are
●
the smallest units of language. They
occur alone. For example: Bad,
can be base words or components
girl, boy, eat, swim, buy, drink,
that form words, such as affixes.
dog, cat, etc.
Morphemes are the minimal units
of words that have a meaning and
cannot be subdivided further.
must
occur
with
another
morpheme. For example: “ly”
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Affixes are often the
bound morpheme. This group
includes
prefixes,
suffixes,
infixes, and circumfixes.
It is bound because
although it has meaning, it
1) pre- (pretest)
2) dis- (discontent)
3) in- (intolerable)
cannot stand alone. It must be
4) un- (unable)
attached to another morpheme
5) -ful (beautiful
to produce a word.
6) mis- (misinterpret)
Free Morpheme: bad
7)
Bound Morpheme: -ly
8) -ly (cheaply)
Word: badly
-en (brighten)
9) -ment (assignment)
10) re- (replay)
20
•Can stand alone
with a specific
meaning
•Nouns, verbs,
adjectives,
demonstratives,
auxiliaries,
quantifiers,
prepositions,
pronouns, and
conjunctions,
can be
considered free
morphemes
Can be combined
with each other and
can change the
meaning of a word.
For example, Teach
(Free M.) + er (Bound
M.) = Teacher
Teach (Verb)
becomes Teacher
(Noun)
Er (no meaning)
becomes teacher
(has meaning)
•Cannot stand
alone with
meaning
•Always parts of
words
•Occur attached
to free
morphemes
•Prefixes and
suffixes are
examples for
bound
morphemes
21
●
●
●
The morpheme that can stand alone as a single word (as a meaningful unit). The free
morphemes are roots that are identical to words.
Free morpheme are set of separate English word forms such as basic nouns, verbs,
adjectives, etc.
When a free morpheme is used with bound morphemes, the basic word forms are
technically known as stems or roots.
Sun (noun), dog (noun), walk (verb), and happy (adjective)
Free morpheme can stand alone and cannot be subdivided further. ‘Sun’ or ‘dog’
are ‘free morphemes because they cannot be further split up, therefore the stems that cannot
divide further are also called roots.
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are set of content words like nouns, verbs, adjectives, and
adverbs. They can be understood fully e.g. run, blue, slow, paper, small, throw, and now.
Lexical morphemes depict dictionary meaning of a word that is attributed to a specific referent.
are set of functional words like conjunctions,
prepositions, articles, pronouns, auxiliary verbs, modals and quantifiers. Some examples of
functional morphemes are and, near, when, on, because, but, it, in, that, the, and above.
Functional morphemes perform as a relationship between one lexical morpheme and another.
A functional morpheme modifies the meaning, rather than supplying the root meaning of the
word. It encodes grammatical meaning e.g., the players entered the ground. In this sentence,
‘the’ is functional morpheme, which is specifying players and ground.
23
●
Segments that cannot stand alone and occurs with another root/stem are called Bound
Morphemes. Bound morphemes are also called affixes (prefixes, suffixes and infixes) in
English. Two bound morpheme cannot occur together but it is necessary for a bound
morpheme to occur with a root/stem.
Opened: (Open + ed) = root + suffix
Reopen: (Re + open) = Prefix + root
Men: (Man + plural) = root + infix (infix makes a change inside a root word)
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Derivational morphemes change the grammatical categories of
words. For example the word ‘bake’ (verb) is a root word (free morpheme) and when we add bound
morpheme ‘er’(a suffix) with stem: it becomes baker (a noun), So the grammatical category was changed
from verb to noun.
An inflectional morpheme is a suffix that is added to a word to
assign a particular grammatical property to that word.
●
For example, listen + -ing = listening or boy + s = boys. They do not change the essential meaning or the
grammatical category of a word. Inflectional morphemes serve as grammatical markers that indicate tense,
number, possession, or comparison.
25
 https://literaryenglish.com/phonology
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-and-branches-of-phonology/
https://poreoverthepages.wordpress.co
m/2016/05/31/7-types-ofphonological-rules/
https://englopedia.com/phonologyand-its-branches/
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