Phonology
Introduction to Linguistics (Ling 101.02)
Duke University
Gareth Price
Phonetics vs. Phonology
SOUND
• physical
• objects and categories
• meaning
• Relations between objects
and categories
• Permissible sound
• Acoustic properties
• Biological bases of sounds patterns
• Meaning-marking
• Inter-changeability
• Phones
• Phonemes
Which of the following could be
classed as ‘words’ in English?
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ftrɒmp
strɒmp
ʃtrɒmp
sɪftr
sɪʃt
strɪst
sistr
siʃtr
knixt
mistreit
sɪʃtr
wɪʃtreɪ
wɪstrei
wɪftrei
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wiːʃtrei
skel
sbel
Sdeb
bisd
fəsdəd
mbeld
beld
mdelb
melbd
kzmet
Phonotactics and Phonotactic
Constraints
• In any given language, some combinations are
permissible, whereas others aren’t
• So, in English:
• fəsdəd  /sd/= permissible consonant cluster
• kzmet  /kzm/ = not permissible
• Ftrɒmp /ftr/ = not permissible
Phonotactic Constraints
• /sd/ – only permissible in word-medial position,
not word-initial or word-final position
• So:
• /fəsdəd/ but not /sdeb/ or /bisd/
• /ʃtr/  ?
• /wɪʃtreɪ/ but not /ʃtrɒmp/ or /sɪʃtr/
• (and, arguably, only permissible in compound
words, eg. ash + tray = ashtray)
Consonant Clusters in Other
Languages
• /ftr/  permissible in word-initial position in Russian
• /ʃtr/  permissible in word-initial position in German
• /kn/ permissible in German and Dutch. Not permissible
in word initial position in Modern English ... But was in
Old and Middle English hence /knixt/  ‘knight’
•  Languages change over time
•  Speech changes faster than writing
• Japanese,
• Mandarin and Hawaiian  don’t permit consonant
clusters
• So – consonants must be followed by a vowel
Syllables
• Other types of constraints:
• Syllables consist of:
Onset
[consonant or consonant cluster] (optional)
+
Rime (obligatory)
Nucleus
[[usually]vowel mono/diphthong]
(obligatory)
Coda
[consonant or consonant cluster]
(optional)
Some languages only have a vocalic (vowel)
nucleus e.g. Mandarin: pjaʊ, mən, zhæŋ
English has consonantal nuclei or syllabic
consonants, but only generally with nasal or
lateral liquid consonants [ŋ], [n], [m], [l] (so
sədn or bred n bə? ə or kæʃ n kæri:) and are
often identifiable by the lack of audible vocalic
release in the preceding stop.
Mandarin is limited in the possible consonants
that are allowed as coda ([ŋ] or [n] or [w]).
Languages can be classified then in terms of syllable
structure, so:
oʃi:moʃi:  V CV CV CV
kætækænæ  CV CV CV CV
Japanese does not permit coda and that all words must
end with a CV syllable
Walmatjari (Australian Aboriginal language):
ngapa (‘water’)[ŋa pa] CV CV
kurrupa (‘hand’) [ku ra pa] CV CV CV
ngarpu (‘father’) [ŋar pu] CVC CV
Syllable realised as either CV or CV, but all words must
end with a CV syllable.
Phonological Environment and
Phonological Conditioning
• One sound segment or two?
• Chips, cheese, judge
• In word initial position in English, we don’t
perceive affricates as stop + fricative
• However, consider:
• He cheats vs. heat-sheets
• What can each add? Vs. What can eat shad?
• Lychee vs. light-ship
• Ketchup vs. pet shop
• Urchin vs hurt shin
• Similarly, diphthongs can be tricky.
• In English, we treat them as one sound segment
and one syllable:
• haʊ, baʊ, kaʊ
• ɑɪ, hɑɪ, pɑɪ
• heɪ, meɪ, leɪ, peɪ
• However: in Komering (Southern Sumatra)
• Mait (‘corpse’) tuot (‘knee’) and kuah (‘sauce’)
• Perceived (and articulated) as two syllable words.