Phonemes and allophones
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PHONETICS Study of the physical properties of speechsounds – how they are made – how they are heard – how they are transmitted PHONOLOGY Study of the linguistic properties of speech-sounds – the “sound system” of language – the sound systems of individual languages PHONETICS Study of the physical properties of speech-sounds Articulatory Phonetics – how they are made Auditory Phonetics – how they are heard Acoustic Phonetics – how they are transmitted PHONETICS Study of the physical properties of speechsounds – how they are made – how they are heard – how they are transmitted PHONOLOGY Study of the linguistic properties of speech-sounds – the “sound system” of language – the sound systems of individual languages PHONETICS Universal: the study of the sounds produced in human speech PHONOLOGY Local: the study of the sound system of one single language or variety of language The Talking White Male Head (Ladefoged p.2) 5 Daniel Jones, 1918, An Outline of English Phonetics Frontispiece from the 9th edition, 1972 6 7 CLOSE (HIGH) BACK OPEN (LOW) 8 Phonetic symbols are shown in square brackets: [e] Phonological symbols are shown in slashes: /e/ phones phonemes allophones phones phonemes allophones phones sounds of language Segments • How fine can you slice language? • • • • • sentence phrase word syllable letter ... ? Letters ? cat rat cat cot cat cap Letters ? cat rat cat cot cat cap Letters ? cat coat caught kVt code keyed kVd right write rite rVt Segments • How thin can you slice language? • • • • • sentence phrase word syllable phone....... letter significant difference - different word cat cat cat rat cot cap non-significant different - change impossible top lip code stop milk cold significant cat meaning cat non-predictable cat rat cot cap non-significant top lip structure code predictable stop milk cold PHONEMES ALLOPHONES cat cat cat rat cot cap top lip code stop milk cold phones are either: • phonemes significant sound differences meaning-based choice • allophones non-significant sound differences fixed choice How can we tell whether a sound is a phoneme or an allophone? Minimal pairs kæt cat kæt cat kæt cat ræt rat kot cot kæp cap Minimal pairs cat tight core nose Korea rat tide score knows career service surface kæt tait kO(r) n0uz k01ri0 k01ri0 ræt taid skO(r) n0uz k01ri0 k01rir Minimal pairs service surface show make ghost wail sew maid toast whale 1sEvis 1sErvis 1sEv0s S0u meik g0ust weil weil 1sEfis 1sErfis 1sEf0s s0u meid t0ust weil Weil Minimal contexts pressure measure fission vision 1preS0 1meG0 1fiS0n 1viG0n Allophones top pie care stop spy scare top pai ke0 ker stop spai ske0 sker Allophones top pie care stop spy scare tHop pHai kHe0 kHer stop spai ske0 sker No free choice between p and pH. Complementary distribution Compementary angles: phoneme allophone / / [ ][ ] phoneme allophone from http://www.hi.is/~peturk/KENNSLA/02/TOP/phonemes.html Usually, of course, the different ALLOPHONES of the same PHONEME are all similar to each other they form a FAMILY of sounds. But we mustn't fall into the trap of thinking that ALLOPHONIC difference is small while PHONEMIC difference is large. There is actually no real difference between these differences! We can see this by the fact that the same difference can be allophonic in one language, and phonemic in another. seat sheet massive machine basic nation She is fine as morn in May, mild, divine and clever. Like a shining summer’s day she is mine for ever. Sr. Sigurður Norland í Hindisvík Mitsubishi Subaru phoneme allophone Subaru Mitsubishi this theatre think this thought þ ð þ þessi þýðing þessi þýðing The lateral - l lip yellow mill miller milk people l http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~danhall/phonetics/sammy.html l phoneme allophone The phoneme /l/ is light before a vowel, otherwise dark The lateral - l lip yellow mill miller milk people trouble follows the blameless milkman like a wealthy lawyer trÆbl fol0uz ð0 bleimlis milkm0n laik 0 welþ^ lOj0 lay play splay clay exclaim (from week 6): Does it follow k or p in a stressed syllable? Is it followed by a vowel? clay play lay yellow mill milk
