Phonetics and Phonology
[fonЄtiks and fonƆlogi]
Weeks 2-4
[wiks tu to for]
Phonology vs. Phonetics?
 “It is not unreasonable [...] to say that phonology deals with
the systems and structures of speech, while phonetics
focuses more narrowly on articulation and acoustics. But
the boundary should not be sharply drawn [...]” (Clark,Yallop,
and Fletcher 1997:4)
http://books.google.com/books?id=dX5P5mxtYYIC&printsec=frontcover&dq=phonology+pho
netics&ei=wx2eS8W-PIiKyQTL7YjyDA&client=firefox-a&cd=3#v=onepage&q=&f=true
 A Descriptive (not prescriptive) science
 Speakers are concerned with speaking/(and meaning), the
linguist is concerned with how it is said.
 Concerned with the details, the structure, the rules.
[fonɛtɪk sɪmbɔls]
 [pʌteto]
 ɛkstrə
Phonetics
Places of articulation
Places of articulation (2.2.4)
 Bilabial- bringing lips together






[p] [b] [m]
Labiodental-lower lip and teeth
[f] [v]
Interdental- tip of tongue through teeth
[θ] [ð]
Alveolar- tongue at/near the alveolar ridge [t] [s] [n]
Palatal- further back of mouth on hard palate [dʒ] [j] [ ʃ ]
Velar – soft part of roof of mouth behind hard palate/velar
[k] [g] [ŋ]
Glottal- produced at the larnyx [h]
Manner of Articulation (2.2.5)
 Voiced & Voiceless consonants
 Rounded & lax vowels /meet/ vs /boot/ [i] vs [u]
 Fricatives (2.2.5)/(2.4.3) [f] [v] [s]
 Affricates (2.2.5) [ t ʃ ], [d ʒ]
 Stops [b] [t] [k]
 Liquids [l] [r]
 Nasals [n] [m] [ŋ]
Describing phonemes
 Voiced bilabial stop
 [b]
 Voiceless labidental fricative
 [f]
 Voiced labiodental fricative [v]
 Mid front lax vowel
 Low back rounded vowel
- [kɛnsʌl
ɪz
nɔrməli
leit
fɔr
klɑ
s
]
Transcription
- /Kencil is normally late for class/
- Transcribe your name
- [tʃranskraib jɔr neim]
- Our proposal is due today
- [ɔwʌr prʌpozal Iz tʌde]
- And the methodology is due next week.
- [and ðI mЄθɔdɔlʌdʒi Iz dʒu nЄkst wik]
Diacritics
Length [:] [skwiz] [i] [i:]
/right/ -[rait] or [rai:t]
Aspiration [h]
Nasalised [
Stress [`]
/father/
~]
 G - [dʒi]
 X- [
ks
Є
]
 /prime minister/ -[praimI n Istʌ]
 /carry/
 /ask/ -[aks] “axe”
Phonology
[fonƆləgi]
[fonƆləgi]
 Is the study of the distribution of sounds in a
language and the interactions between those
different sounds.
 What are the predictable and unpredictable?
 What are the characteristics of the environment that affect
the change in sounds?
Allophones
 Variants of a phoneme.
 Non-contrastive (no change in meaning; English)
 Contrastive (changes the meaning; Hindi)
 Same or different environment
 Changes meaning (or not)
 “fruit”
[pʰəl]
 “moment”
[pəl]
Minimal Pairs
 Words that differ because of one sound which
causes different meaning.
 “pin” & “tin” [pIn] & [tIn]
Phonological Rules
X
[n]
Y/C____D
[m]/_____ labial consonant
Assimilation
 Sound becomes more like the neighbouring ones.
 Resembles the environment.
 Alevolar Stop Assimilation –(consonants)
 “Sit down”
 Vowel harmony (Vowels)
 Eg., /cats/ vs. /dogs/
 Any difference in plural marker? Why?
Dissimilation
Insertion (p., 113)
 Sit down “sit dunk”
 [sɪdɔŋk]
 “Melon”
[mɛlion]
 H-Insertion
 “ʰegg”
 [ʰ]
[ʰɛg]
[ʰaus]
Deletion (p., 114)
 H-Deletion
 “home”- [om]
 “Nintendo”
[ɪntɛndo]
Metathesis
 A Change in the order of sounds
 [aks]
 [krai] ?
Next week
 Eg., /cats/ vs. /dogs/
 Any difference in plural marker? Why?
oH/W
 Allomorphs (diff sounds indicate diff meaning)
 Morphophonemic rules
 Feature Matrix
 Read chapter and work on exercises.
What is an allophone?
 Definition An allophone is a phonetic variant of a





phoneme in a particular language.
Examples (English) [p] and [pH] are allophones of the
phoneme /p/.
[t] and [tH] are allophones of the phoneme /t/.
Examples (Spanish) [b] and [B] are allophones of the
phoneme /b/.
[d] and [D] are allophones of the phoneme /d/.
http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms
/WhatIsAnAllophone.htm
Comparison of morpheme-morph-allomorph and phonemephone-allophone
 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.
 http://www.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms
/ComparisonOfMorphemeMorphAllom.htm
Formal Notation of Phonological Rules
 Basic Format
 A  B / C __ D
 This means “A becomes B in the environment between
C and D”
 Eg) /CAD/  /CBD/
 C & D are conditioning sounds
 Example (vowel nasalization)
 Vowels become nasalized before a nasal sound
 [+syllabic]  [+nasal] / _____ [+nasal]
Cont’d
 Distinctive features are normally used
 But other conventional diacritics are allowed
 Boundaries:
 # (word), + (morpheme), $ (syllable)
 ___# (word final), #___ (word initial),
 $___ (syllable initial)
 Segments:
 C(consonant), V(vowel), G(glide), N(nasal),
L(lateral)