Chapter 3 - Phonology Flashcards
Describe what are diacritics
since not all dialects pronounce some sounds the same way (ex: [o] can be more or less rounded), linguists tried to add symbols to represent the different ways of making sounds depending on the dialects (ex: a + sign under [ae] to indicate that it’s further forward)
What did machine analysis of speech brought into the field of phonology? What was the downside?
allowed to accurately analyze sounds (more than with human perception since we know it is biased)
○ However, that made people realize how many sounds there are (ex: we could say [baet] 10 times and say the [ae] differently every time)
○ However, there is not difference in the way of pronouncing a sound more front or back that had mattered in terms of conveying meaning (ex: no matter how we say [baet], it still means “bat”)
Define the difference between criterial and incidental elements using the analogy of a wedding
- There are some elements of the ceremony that are criterial for the marriage to be considered as one, like there needs to be 2 weds and 1 master of ceremony/official
- There are some elements which are incidental (will not change the status of “marriage” of the event), like the number of attendees or the weight of the groom or the sex of the weds.
- In every culture, the criterial events defining a wedding are not the same
How do we call criterial sounds (sounds that convey a difference in meaning) in a grammar?
Phonemic differences,
AKA contrastive differences
How do we call incidental sounds (do not convey a difference in meaning) in a grammar?
Phonetic differences,
AKA non-contrastive
Define phonemes
The set of sounds of a given grammar which are criterial for meaning is referred to as the phonemes of that grammar
• These are the elements that we use to store the elements that make up a word
• In English, /p/ is a phoneme, and /b/ is another
If we want to determine the difference between 2 sounds for a speaker, which technique do we use?
Substitution technique: by changing one or + sounds it changes the meaning of a word
What does it mean if the substitution of one sound changes the meaning of a word?
- If the substitution of only one sound is required to change the meaning, those sounds are called “minimal pairs”
- If just one sound was substituted, we have created a minimal difference
Ex: change b with p in “bat” makes “pat”
What does it mean if the substitution of one sound does not change the meaning of a word?
• If a minimal difference does not change the meaning, it is not a minimal pair, and the sounds in question are not phonemes, the difference is non-phonemic
How is called the change in just one sound in a word?
A minimal difference
Determine the 2 conditions for minimal pairs
Minimal pairs need to
1. Differ in just one substituted segment 2. Differ in meaning
Considering rule 1: nasalize vowels that appear before nasal stops, explain why there are no minimal pairs involving nasal vowels in English. How is this phenomenon called?
Ex: rule 1 - since [ɛ̃] (tilda = indicates that a vowel is nasalized) will occur only where [ɛ] does not (before nasals), then they will never appear together. Nasal vowels and oral vowels are not the same thing, and so an oral vowel cannot appear before a nasal
• They are in complementary distribution
• They never appear in the same environment as the other
Define a complementary distribution
• Complementary distribution: one speech sound occurs only in context X and another speech sound only appears outside of context X
Why do we say that our brain applies rules like a machine?
- Now imagine that we have ‘moon’ stored as /mun/. To derive the actual pronounced form of this word, the grammar applies its phonological rules to the phonemic form /mun/ which is the input to the grammar.
- /mun/ =⇒ (via Rule 1) [mũn] =⇒ (via Rule 2) [mwũn]
What is called this process: /mun/ =⇒ (via Rule 1) [mũn] =⇒ (via Rule 2) [mwũn]
A phonological derivation
Describe the phonological component of the grammar
2 levels of abstract mental representations with a computational system that “converts” one type of representation into another
What are the 2 levels of the phonological component?
Most abstract level: the phoneme (AKA underlying representation UR)
• Information is stored only at the phonemic/underlying level - /mun/
Less abstract level: the phonetic level (AKA the surface representation SR) - [mwũn]
Define allophones
he various subtle ways of making phonemes in the surface representation according to rules (for ex [ɛ̃] and [ɛ] according to rule 1) are called the allophones of that phoneme
• The realization of a phoneme (a segment in the UR) in the SR is called an allophone of that phoneme
Changing /mun/ into [mwũn], [mwũn] is an allophone
Ø Allophones are generated by phonological rules
Explain why our mind is a mental machine and not a physical one
The future cannot cause the present for physical things, EXCEPT in a mind
• Ex: I can remove my foot so the horse doesn’t step on it, but the water molecules cant do that
• A mind takes action in anticipation of the future
• The machine of our brain is not a physical machine, but a mental one
What is an aspiration?
• Burst of air exhaled when saying [p]: called aspiration
What is the phonological derivation of a word?
Phonological derivation of a word: dissecting the effects of the rules on a given word until it produces the correct output
Explain the 3 cases in which a phonological rule can apply
• A phonological rule will apply to either
A) before X (where X = some segment or class of segments)
B) after X
C) between X and Y (where X and Y are segments or natural classes of segments)
What is the immediate environment of a sound?
• This immediate environment can be the segment before the one undergoing change, the one after, or both
What are the 2 things we need to figure out in a phonemicization problem?
• We need to know:
A. What the change is
B. In what context the change takes place
What is th phonetic form of a word?
[gurep]
What is the phonemic form of a word?
/gure/o/
What symbol is used to explain that a sound is at the beginning or the end of a word when solving phonemicization problems?
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