Sounds in the mind and hands
Linguistics lecture #4
November 7, 2006
1
Overview
•
•
•
•
•
Interfaces again
The atoms of phonology
Phonological rules and constraints
Phonological structure
Sign language phonology
2
Physical world
semantics
Mental representations
MIND
Propositions
Syntax
LANGUAGE
Phonology
phonology
Physical world
3
Phonology and the world
• Phonology is a mental interface with
physics, but it is not itself physics
• For example, which of these two words
have the “same main vowel”?
天
ㄊ－ㄢ
貪
ㄊㄢ
貼
ㄊ－ㄝ
• Mentally, these are more similar
• But physically these are more similar
4
Phonemes
• Phonemes (音素) are in your head
• They are turned into phonetic forms by the
rules of your grammar
/th/ /i/ /a/ /n/
[thin]
5
Phonemes as atoms
• Phonemes are like the “atoms” of
phonology, but unlike words, they are
meaningless
－
ㄨ
ㄩ
ㄚ
ㄋ
ㄌ
6
Uniquely human?
• The atom + rule structure in syntax is expected,
since it’s crucial to express meaning
• The atom + rule structure of phonology is
perhaps a more surprising discovery
• Unlike other animal communication systems,
human language has two levels of patterning:
duality of patterning
- patterning of both meaningful and meaningless units
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Formal rules in phonology
• Phonology shows patterns that do not seem
to be directly related to physics
sign [ai]
resign [ai]
signal [Ig]
resignation [Ig]
Rule: Change /Ig/ to [ai] before word-final /n/
8
Rule interactions
• Another clue that phonology isn’t just
physics: rules interact in complex ways
• Mandarin Tone 3 rule: 3  2 before 3
買馬
老虎
• Tone 0 rule: Tone  0 at end of word
(optional)
媽媽
謝謝
• But what if both can apply…?
9
Rule ordering?
點點
Input form
/3 3/
Tone 3 rule
姐姐
Input form
/3 3/
Tone 0 rule
23
Tone 0 rule
30
Tone 3 rule
(can’t apply)
[2 0]
[3 0]
10
Formal constraints in phonology
• Some patterns cannot be described with
rules of the form A  B
• Instead, they require constraints
ㄠ
－ 
ㄨ 
ㄡ


ㄞ
?

ㄟ


iau
iou
uai
uei
*uau
*uou
*iei
?iai
Constraint: *V1 V2 V1 (V1 = same vowel)
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Constraint interactions
• Constraints can conflict with each other
• V1V2 constraint:
ie (ㄧㄝ) *io (ㄧㄛ) *ue (ㄨㄝ) uo (ㄨㄛ)
• V2V3 constraint:
ei (ㄟ)
*eu
*oi
ou (ㄡ)
• What happens in words with V1V2V3, where
both constraints can apply…?
12
Constraint ranking
• Question: Which constraint is ranked
higher in Mandarin grammar?
• Answer: The V2V3 constraint.
iou, uei: V2V3 obeyed, but V1V2 is violated
*ieu, *uoi: if V1V2 is obeyed (but it’s really not)
• Ranking:
V2V3 » V1V2
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Phonological structure
• The ranking of these constraints relates to
the structure of Mandarin syllables (音節):
Syllable
th
i
a
n
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Phonological structure
• There are also larger phonological
structures that link to syntactic structure:
N
V
NP
2
3
3
2
3
老
李
買
好
酒
2
3
2
2
3
N
V
N
15
Sign languages:
duality of patterning
• Signs also have atoms, such as handshapes
• Examples from Taiwan Sign Language:
ZERO
FIVE
SIX
16
Sign languages:
duality of patterning
• The same handshapes appear in other signs
with totally unrelated meanings
CUT CLASS
HAVE
FAST
17
Different sign languages,
different grammars
• Taiwan Sign Language (TSL) has
handshapes that are not used in American
Sign Language (ASL)
18
A phonemic handshape in ASL
• ASL uses the following handshape for “B”,
which is also in the sign meaning BLUE:
19
Rule-generated “B” in TSL
• But the “B” handshape is not basic in TSL.
Instead, it is always derived by a rule:
Close thumb only if touching body (otherwise )
NONSENSE
PLEASE
DOOR
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Phonology and functionalism
• Phonological grammar (competence) is
formal
• But phonology is also affected by language
use (performance), especially physics
• “Difficult” forms are avoided:
- Difficult sounds like // sound are rare across the
world’s languages, and so are difficult handshapes
• Rules often “simplify” forms:
- For example, /sIgn/ ends a complex way, but [sain]
doesn’t. This makes the /Ig/  [ai] rule “natural”.21
Phonology and functionalism
• Phonological forms may even relate directly
to meaning
- For example, the shapes of signs often “make
sense” (e.g. DOOR in TSL)
- Sometimes this is so for spoken language too:
snore, sneeze, snot, sniff….
22
Summary
• Phonology involves formal “atoms”
(phonemes)
• Phonological grammar also involves rules
and constraints
• Phonological atoms are arranged in
structures like syllables
• Even sign languages have phonology
• Phonology is also influenced by physics
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