Phonology
Organization and interaction of sounds
in a language sound system
Phonology
• Up to this point we have studied the
individual speech sounds of English
• Now we will learn some basic ways that
the sounds of English interact
systematically
• This will help us comprehend the concept
of a sound system
Phonology
• Each language has its own sound system:
the specific processes that occur as
sounds interact during speech
Phonemes
• Compare the following words
bit – pit
tool – toll
bag – bang
What do we notice about each pair?
*Minimal pairs
Definition: Words that differ in one sound
only
• The fact of different meanings of the words
proves that the sounds are recognized
psychologically as ‘different sounds’
I.e., they are distinct from each other
Minimal pairs
• It is the existence of minimal pairs that
demonstrates phonemes.
*Phoneme defined
• a sound that native speakers recognize as
a distinct language sound and which
makes a difference in meaning
(the sound has a distinct value in the
speech system)
Phonemes
• Thus, a phoneme is not the mere fact of a
speech sound, but something recognized
psychologically
Phonology
• In actual speech, pronunciation of speech
sounds may vary from speaker to speaker,
word to word, time to time
• This variation is systematic and
conventional
*Variation in phonemes
Six variants of phoneme /t/
• too
[thu]
aspirated
Variants of /t/
• stew
unaspirated (plain)
Variants of /t/
• lot
[lat‫]ך‬
unreleased
Variants of /t/
• butter
flap /ſ/ (see p. 46 for
symbol)
Variants of /t/
• button [‘bə?ən]
glottal stop
Variants of /t/
• hunter [hənər]
t-sound deleted
Variants of /t/
•
•
•
•
•
•
tea
stay
pot
better
batman
winter
aspirated
unaspirated (plain)
unreleased
flap
glottal stop
deleted
Variation in phonemes
• These different pronunciations do not
make a difference in meaning (i.e., they
have the same value, /t/)
• These different pronunciations are all
recognized by native speakers as /t/
• The variation is conventional — the same
among speakers in a community
*Allophone
• One of the different pronunciations of a
speech sound that is still recognized as
having the same value (value of the
phoneme), and thus makes no difference
in meaning
I.e., all the above sound like /t/ to us
• Each variant constitutes an allophone
Phonemes
• The concept of a phoneme is language
specific
Phonemes
In English both
•
aspirated th too [thu] and
•
unaspirated t stew [stu]
still are felt as /t/ (variants of English /t/)
i.e., [t] and [th] are allophones of /t/)
Phonemes
But Chinese distinguishes aspirated and
unaspirated sounds,
套 thao ‘set’
道 tao ‘the religion’
/th/ and /t/ are distinct:
They are different phonemes in Chinese
Observations of variation
• Observations like these result in
*descriptive rules about a language
• Here rule means dynamic principle
*Derived rules
The following rules can be derived for the
allophones of English /t/
1. At beginning of syllable, Voiceless
stops are aspirated — too; pie; can
[*Aspiration rule]
Rules for allophones of English /t/
2. *After /s/, Voiceless stops are plain —
• spy, stay, ski
Rules for allophones of English /t/
3. *At the end of syllables and words,
Voiceless stops are often unreleased in
rapid speech —
•
bought; hit; what
Rules for allophones of English /t/
• 4. *Before nasal sounds /t/ may become
glottal stop —
button; waitin’; huntin’
Rules for allophones of English /t/
• 5. (American Eng.) *Between vowels
(after stressed syllable)
Voiceless alveolar stops become voiced
flaps —
butter, better, water
Rules for allophones of English /t/
• 6. *After a nasal sound, /t/, may be
deleted — hunter [hənØr], winter [wInØr]
(but also sandwich, grandma for some)
Some allophones in Japanese
• Japanese /t/ has the following allophones
of /t/ in syllables:
ta, te, to, tsu, chi
Rules?
Some allophones in Japanese
• Before /a/, /e/, and /o/, /t/ is [th]
• Before /u/, /t/ is [ts]
• Before /i/, /t/ is [t∫]
This allophonic variation occurs in all words
*SYSTEMATIC VARIATION
• These observations —
SYSTEMATIC VARIATIONS —
can be called Phonological processes
or Phonological rules
More phonological processes
*Assimilation – Sometimes variation
caused by influence of sounds that come
after it in speech string—
• San Bernardino – Sa[m]Bernardino/n/ labialized by influence of following /b/;
• tenth/n/ dentalized by following interdental
More Assimilation
• Or on sounds that precede it:
barn-
/n/ retroflex
twelfth_night-
/n/ dentalized
Assimilation
• *Defined: The process of a sound
changing in some way to be more like
sounds that precede or follow it
Assimilation in Korean
• Korean /hap/
but [hamnida], —
the /p/ is nasalized before /n/
Phonological processes
• *Palatalization: Because of the influence
or a neighboring sound, the place of
articulation shifts to the palate
• Did you eat →
• What are you doing →
• “I need your vote” →
Palatalization in Japanese
• (Jp.) teyuuka ‘anyway’ →
t∫uuka
•
( Recall, in Japanese /t/ before /i/ → t∫)
Phonological processes
• *Devoicing
please
true
cream
• The aspiration of the voiceless stop
causes devoicing of the following /r/ or /l/
Phonological processes
• *Stop insertion
sen~se
once
hamster
angst
[voiceless stop] inserted between nasal
sound and /s/ at same point of articulation
Phonological processes
*Metathesis
inversion of consonants:
• ask ~ aks
• cavalry ~ calvary
• comfortable ~ [kəmftərbl]
Phonological processes
• *Plural Voicing/Devoicing
Beds – [-z]
Watches – [-əz]
Hats – [-s]
English Rules?
*Plural Devoicing
• Rules –
Beds – [-z]
after voiced final sound
Watches – [-əz]
after sibilants
Hats – [-s]
all the rest, i.e., voiceless
sounds
Phonological processes
• Each language has its own phonological
processes
Phonological processes
• In English – shoes – [∫u-z] plural
• Where in Spanish – los amigos – [-s]
Phonological processes
• Phonological processes are systematic
They operate throughout the vocabulary
and speech stream, according to
principles (rules) which can be induced
Phonological processes
• The processes are conditioned by the
features of sounds surrounding the sound
in question E.g.
• /t/ followed by /i/ → palatalization
• /n/ followed by /b/ → labialization
• Form of Pl (-s) agrees determined by last
sound of word stem: shoes, judges, hats
Phonology
•
*These examples of allophones,
– the systematic variation they show and
– the phonological processes (or rules)
derived from them show that:
1. Speech sounds in a language interact
systematically
2. Their interaction is based on observable
principles
Phonology
This interaction is the subject of the study of
phonology