Module 4 Flashcards
Phonology
-The field of linguistics devoted to the description and analysis of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language
~We usually don’t use sounds in isolation- we combine them with other sounds to make meaningful signals like words and phrases (remember duality)
Phonotactics
- are the constraints on the permissible combinations and patterns of sounds in a language
~We, as speakers, know and adhere to the phonotactics of out language(s), although most people don’t think about it very much
~Consider the set of English words
*Big, pig, rig, fig, dig, wig
~Consider the set of made up words
*Lig, hig, tig, fsig, rnip, kpig
**Which of these words is most likely to be an English word?
-Unnatural in English
~fsig, rnig, kpig
-In English certain words (or syllables) aren’t allowed to start with those particular combinations of consonants
Phoneme
-A single sound can be used to dinstinguish word meanings in a language
-They don’t mean anything by themselves, but they contrast to change meaning in words
~Switching phonemes changes the meaning of a word
~/f/ vs. /v/
*Fat vs. Vat
**/f/ and /v/ are separate phonemes
-Are abstract units or sounds types that we have stored in our minds
~Mental representations of sounds that change the meaning of words
~Denoted by slash marks/ /
-Examples /t/
~WE know /t/ is a phoneme in English because it contrasts with other sounds to chnage the meaning of words
*Tar and Par
*sTar and sPar
*waiTer and waiLer
*nuT and nuB
~Although speakers of English think of each bolded t above as belonging to the phoneme /t/, the sound is actually articulated differently in each of the words
~When asked, most English speakers will say that ‘tar,’ ‘star,’ waiter,’ and ‘nut’ all include the same sound: “t”
~Although speakers of English think of the /t/ in each word as the same sound, the sound is actually articulated differently in each word
~/t/ is
*Produced as a regular [t] in star
*Produced as [th], with more aspiration (air expulsion) at the beginning of a word, as in tar
*Becomes a voiced trap [r] between vowels, as in waiter
*Becomes a glottal stop [ʔ] at the end of a word or syllable, as in nut
*/t/ is a phoneme
-Every language has its own set of phonemes and allophones
~Not every language has the same sounds, not every language has the same sound combinations (phonotactis), and not every language has the same contrasts (phonemes)
[th] and [t] are allophones of /t/ in English, but they may be separate phonemes in another language
**Adding aspiration to a /t/ may chnage the meaning of a word in some languages
**But not in English
-Phonemes occur in the same phonetic environment and contrast in meaning (contrastive)
~It’s more obvious that they are in the same environments when they occur in minimal pairs
-In English
~Dog [dag] ve bog [bag] (only one sound is different)
~[d] and [b] occur in the same phonetic environment: #_a
~’dog’ and ‘bog’ mean two different things
~[d] and [b] are separate phonemes
Phones
-Are the different versions of each sound type which we produce and hear in actual speech
~The actual phonetic articulation of the sound
~Denoted by IPA brackets []
*[t], [th], [r], and [ʔ] are phones
-Described in terms of articulatory features
~[p]= [-voice, +bolabial, +stop]
~[k]= [-voice, +velar, +stop]
*sounds which share features are members of a natural class of phones
Allophones
- When one phoneme is pronounced multipl different ways (had multiple different phones)
~[t], [r], [th], [ʔ] are all allophones of the phoneme /t/
*These are all differnt ways of pronouncing /t/ in English
-Exist primarliy due to phonological processes: change in sounds due to the nature of surrounding sounds
~Usually we talk quickly and spontaneously, rather than carfully articulating each sound in a word or phase
~In spontaneous speech, we move our articulators from one sound to that next without stopping
~We plan ahead- we think of what sounds we re going to say before we say them
-Phonological processes creata allophones: phonemes are pronounced differnt ways depending on the phonetic environment
~Certain allophones of a phoneme are produced when surrounded by certain types of sound
~/t/ to [r] between two vowels
-Allophones of a phoneme occurs in different phonetic environments and change pronunciation only (complementary)
~They are different ways of pronouncing a phoneme depending on what sounds surround it
Distinguishing Allophones and phonemes
- Substituting one phoneme for another will change the meaning of a word
~The sound contrast in meaning
~The sounds are in contrastive distribution
-Substituting allphones will only canhe the pronunciation
~The sounds are in complementary distribution
-To see if two sounds contrast in meaning or not, we can test pairs and stes of words
-Allophones only chnage the pronunciation of words, rather than changing the meaning
-Allophones do not occur in minimal pairs
~Consider the English word “water”
*Try to pronounce it both of the following ways, paying close attention to the bolded sound
**[waTeɹ] - with the voiceless alveolar stop [t]
**[wareɹ]- with the voiced alveolar tap [r]
-So, in addition to looking for minimal pairs, we can look at the phonetic environment surrounding a sound to determine if the sound is a phoneme or an allophone
Minimal pairs
-When two words are identical in form except ONE sounds, and the words have different meanings
~/pat/ and /bat/ are minial pairs
~[pæʔ] and [bæʔ]
*The contrasting sounds in minimal pair are phonemes
**/p/ and /b/ are distinct phonemes -in English
**They change the meaning of the word
Minimal sets
- When multiple words can be distinguished this way the word comprise
-/feat/, /fit/, /fate/, /foot/, /fought/, and /fat/
-[fiʔ], [fIʔ], [feIʔ], [fʊʔ], [faʔ], and [fæʔ]
~/i/, /I/, /eI/, /ʊ/, /a/, /æ/ are separate phonemes
Coarticulation
-When we make one sound at the smae time or almost at the same time as the next sound
~Happens whenever we speak whole words or sentences
-Leads to varitey of phonological processes
Assimilation
-When two sounds segments occur in sequence, and some articulatory features (such as voicing, place or manner of articulation for consonants sounds) of one sound is taken or “copied” by the others
~Since we plan ahead when we talk, the first sound typically assimilate to the following sounds
-Example
~SAE phoneme voiceless alveolar stop /t/ becomes voiced alveolar tap [r] between vowels
In words like ‘water’ [wareɹ] or ;’butter’ [bʌreɹ]
Vowels are voiced, and it’s easier to keep voicing, rather than start voicing, stop voicing, start voicing again
**So the /t/ becomes voiced as well
**Only a slight tep is needed to separate the vowels (rather than a full stop)
**[t] changes to [r] between vowels
**It assimilates in terms of voicing
-Assimilation occurs because it’s quicker and easier for our articulators
~Assimilation processes can occur within a single word or across words in a phrase or sentence
~In English
*“I have to go”- the [v] in “have” typically turns into its voiceless counterpart [f] in rapid speech
*Because it precedes a voiceless sound [t]
*We get [hæftu] instead of [hævtu]
-One specific type of assimilation is nasalization
Nasalization
-A vowel becomes nasalized (air flows through the nose rather than the mouth) when it precedes a nasal consonant
-In English, all vowels beomce nasal when they occur immediately before a nasal consonants
~pin- [pɪ̃n]
~hand- [hæ̃nd]
*Oral 9non-nasal) and nasal vowels are allophones in English
**Producing the vowel orally vs. nasally does not change the meaning of a word
*In other languages, like French, nasal and oral (non-nasal) vowels are separate phonemes
-Consider the following French words (the symbol ~ abouve the IPA symbol indicates that the sound is nasalized)
*[bo]- “beau”-“handsome”
[bõ]- “bon”-“good”
**These words consitute a minimal pair
**[o] and [õ] are separate phonemes in French
Elison
-When we do not pronounce a sound that is technically considered part of a word
~A sound gets “deleted”
-Example
~Word-final-t/d deletion in english
~When the sound /t/ or /d/ occur between consonants, /t/ and /d/ are often deleted
~”kicked the ball”, “aspects”
~[kIktðəbal], [æspɛkts] - carfefully pronounced
~[kIkðəbal], [æspɛks] - in rapin speech
Reduction
-Occurs when a vowel becomes more centralized and shorter in duration ~Vowel turns to a schwa [ə] ~Common in unstressed syllables ~"I want to go" *[aIwãnʔtʰugoʊ] *[aIwãnəgoʊ]
Phonetic environment
-Includes sounds, word boundaries, and syllable boundaries
-To describe the phonetic environment of a sound
~For the English word “dog” [dag]
*The sound [d] is in the environment of: at the beginning of the word (denoted with #), before [a]
**#a
*The sound [a] is in the environment of : after [d] and before [g]
**d_g
*The sound [g] is in the environment of :after [a] and the end of the word (denoted with #)
**a#
-Phoneme /t/ English
~tar [tʰaɹ] #a (at the beginning of a word
~star [staɹ] s_a (after a consonant)
~waiter [weIrəɹ] eI_a (between vowels)
~nut [nʌʔ] ʌ# (at the end of a word)
Natural Classes
- What do the followinf sets of sounds have in common?
~ [m], [b], [w] (Voiced, bilabial)
~[z], [v], [ʒ] ( voiced, fricative)
-Phonological processes are typically associated with natural classes of sounds rather than individual sounds
~All members of a natural class may trigger of be affected by a certain phonological process
-Natural classes can be very broad: the natural class of ‘vowels’ or ‘consonants’
~remember vowels nasalization in English: vowels become nasalized before nasal consonants
*‘Vowels’ and a natural class
*‘Nasal consonants’ are a natural class
-Natural classes can also be very specific: the natural class of ‘voiced alveolar consonants’ or ‘rounded back vowels’
