LIN 3201

Phonemics, or
Why Phonetic is so hard…
You do not hear physical sound directly.
If you did, phonetics would be easy.
Instead, you perceive all speech sounds through the sound system of your native language(s) and the languages you have studied.

You perceive speech sounds through
structure.
When you deal with sound outside of the structure you are used to, it can become confusing and difficult to even perceive a sound.

When you hear human speech sounds, these sounds automatically “trigger” perceptual units in your brain/mind.
These units are abstractions and are used to organize and structure the
“sounds” of your native language.

The phoneme is the basic unit of organization of sounds in language.
The phoneme is an abstract, structural and perceptual unit of speech.

To put another way, when someone utters a physical speech sound to you, that speech sound triggers a phoneme in your mind – you do not “hear” the phonetic distinctions directly.
Instead, the sound triggers a perceptual unit and you perceive the sound as that unit.

When native speakers (without formal linguistics training) say they “hear no difference” between two sounds, it is probably because in their language those two sounds trigger the same perceptual unit.
Those two sounds belong to the same phoneme.

You will generally not “hear” a difference between two sounds that belong to the same phoneme.
You will generally “hear” a difference between two sounds who belong to different phonemes.

Phonemes are used to build words and contrast “sound unit” from
“sound unit.”

Classic English Phoneme Example

Key Vocabulary in Phonemics
 Phoneme – abstract structural and perceptual unit / /
 Phone – phonetic speech sound, unanalyzed according to phonemic status
[ ]
 Allophone – after analyzing data , the phonetic speech sound that belongs to, and thus triggers, a phoneme
[ ] under / /

Key Vocabulary in Phonemics
Writing phonemes and the allophones that realize them:
/ / phoneme (choose one allophone as symbol)
[ ] Allophone 1
[ ] Allophone 2 etc.
Generally, when there is more than one allophone, each will occur in its own environment – if that is the case, list environment, too

Analyzing Data to Determine
Phonemes
You analyze phonetic data to determine phonemic status.
Phonemic status means how native speakers perceive these sounds, and thus, how these sounds are organized in this language.
 Do native speakers “hear” a difference and use them contrastively? (allophones of different phonemes – these sounds belong to different phonemes)
 Do native speakers not “hear” a difference and thus do not use them contrastively? (allophones of the same phoneme – these sounds belong to the same phoneme)

So remember, 2 languages might make use of the same sounds [e] and
[i], but organize and perceive those sounds differently.
Language
A: /e/ /i/
[e] [i] language
B: /i/
[e]
[i]
A: 2 sounds belong to different phonemes, native speakers perceive them as different and they can be used to build differences in words, [e] and [i] belong to different phonemes, /e/ and /i/, respectively
B: 2 sounds belong to the same phoneme, native speakers do
NOT perceive them as different, they may not be used to build differences in words, [e] and [i] belong to the same phoneme, /i/

Perceptional Aspect of Phonemes

Physical Realization Aspect of Phonemes

Phonemes build the structure of language and are part of the whole phonological structure of a language.
Humans have propensity for symmetry in language.
There is a linguistic tendency to make use of some phonetic possibilities to make contrasts and to use them consistently.
Structural Aspect of Phonemes

Analyzing Data to Determine
Phonemes

Data Pattern #1 – Minimal Pairs
Based on definition: Phomemes are contrastive.
When you have two or more sounds, found in identical environments, (transcribed identically except for one sound) that mean different things.
[
Example: b i j ] ‘bee’ [ p h i j ] ‘pea’/‘pee’
The sounds [b] and [p h ] contrast in minimal pairs and thus belong to separate phonemes.
[ s u w ] ‘sue’ [ z u w ] ‘zoo’
The sounds [s] and [z] contrast in minimal pairs and thus belong to separate phonemes.

Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution
Based on definition: Phomemes are realized by allophones.
This pattern is when you have two or more sounds, phonetically similar in some way, that are found in completely unique and distinct environments; sound A never occurs in the environment of sounds B and C, and vice versa. It appears that these “alternations” are triggered by specific sound environments.
AKA: Spiderman/Peter Parker; Superman/Clark
Kent phenomenon

Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution, cont.
Some General Enviornments
1. Word boundaries
 word initial #_____
 word final ______#
& Notations:
2. Before certain sounds; before sound classes
 ___i, ____s, ____ N, ___ palatals, ___C, ___V
3. After certain sounds; after sound classes
 i ___, s ____, N ____, palatals ___, C___, V___
4. Between certain sounds; sound classes
 i____i, s____s, N___N, pal.___pal., C__C, V__V

Data Pattern #2 –
Complementary Distribution, cont.
Example: Spanish elsewhere
[ d e  o] ‘finger’
[ d on d e] ‘where’
[na  a] ‘nothing’
[pi  e] ‘3p sing. asks’
[pwe  e] ‘3p sing. can’
[pa r e d ] ‘wall’
[d] occurs in:
#___e
#___o n___e e___#
[

] e___o a___a i___e e__e
V___V
[r]= flap (symbol won’t show)
Also, [d] = dental
Note that phones are phonetically similar
 Both dental (dental vs. interdental)
 Both voiced
The phones [d] and [  ] are found in complementary distribution and thus belong to the same phoneme.
[d] and [  ] are allophones of the same phoneme /d/.
/d/
[

] V_V
[d] elsewhere

Data Pattern #3 –
Analogous Environments
Based on definition: Phomemes are contrastive.
This pattern is when you find two sounds in nearly the same environments, but do not have data for a minimal pair. The appearance of these two sounds does not seem to be conditioned by any specific phonetic environments, because they both occur in analogous environments.

Data Pattern #3 –
Analagous Environments, cont.
 Example:
Environment of [s]
#___a i___a
#____a i_____a i_____a
Environment of
These phones are found in analogous environments and thus belong to different phonemes. These sounds are allophones of different phonemes.

Data Pattern #4 –
Free Variation
Based on definition: Phomemes are realized by allophones
This pattern is when you find two sounds in the same environments, and there does not seem to be a change in meaning. In other words, it appears that the phones can interchange with one another with no effect in meaning.
This is usually a result of phonetic distinction that you perceive that is not contrastive in this language.

Data Pattern #4 –
Free Variation, cont.
Example: English
Both of these phones are found in identical environments, and yet, unlike the analogous environments examples, alternation of these phones does NOT create differences in meaning.
Thus, both the [p] and the [p] (unreleased) are allophones of, and thus belong to, the same phoneme.

To summarize…
To show you have allophones of the same phoneme:
To show you have allophones of different phonemes:
1.
Complementary Distribution
 phones occur in unique, separate, individual environments
 environment of sounds conditions allophone
1.
Minimal Pairs –
 sounds occur in exactly the same environments – in an
IDENTICAL set AND changes meaning of words
2.
Free Variation
 Phones occur in the exact same environments or nearidentical environments but don’t change meaning
 Seem to be used interchangeably , or substitute for one another ,
2.
Analogous Environments
 Phones occur in overlapping environments , and in nearidentical environments, but word meanings are different
Phonemes are contrastive.
Phonemes are realized as allophones .