Phonetics vs Phonology

Question 1

Phonetics

Answer 1

study of the sounds (phones) of language or of a language
Articulatory (production)
Acoustic (properties)
Auditory (perception)

Question 2

Phonology

Answer 2

study of how sounds are organized in a given language
rules governing where sounds occur
mental representation of sounds and sound properties

Question 3

Phonology 2 broader categories

Answer 3

Segmentals: what happens with individual sounds
Suprasegmentals: patterns above the level of individual sounds: syllable structure, stress, tone, intonation

Question 4

Transcriptions

Answer 4

Broad and narrow transcriptions
Broad: /phonemic/
includes only the phonemes or the ‘underlying representation’ of the language
inherently makes a theoretical claim
Narrow: [phonetic]
includes all allophonic features whether or not they are necessary in distinguishing different words in a language

Question 5

Broad vs. narrow transcriptions

Answer 5

‘potato’
Narrow transcription: 
[phətheIɾoʊ]
Broad transcription: 
/pəteto/

Question 6

In second language learning, what kinds of ‘errors’ are phonetic? what kinds are phonemic?

Answer 6

Phonetic: physical programming of a speaker based on their L1
Phonemic: mental programming of a speaker based on their L1

Which is easier to change?
phonemic

Question 7

What counts as a meaningful sound in a language?

Answer 7

If a sound contrasts with another sound to make a new word, it is meaningful.

Example: change the first letter in ‘fox’ to a ’b’. Is there a new word?
Yes! Box!

Question 8

Minimal Pair

Answer 8

2 words that differ in only 1 sound
‘fox’ and ‘box’ [fɑks] and [bɑks]
’tap’ and ‘tack’ [tæp] and [tæk]
‘ether’ and ‘either’ [iθər] and [iðər]

Question 9

Phoneme vs. allophone

Answer 9

Phoneme:
A sound that is meaningfully different (minimal pair is the way to prove this)
“a label for a set of sounds that all count as basically the same” (Zsiga, 2013: 204)

Allophones: two or more sounds that are produced differently based on their environment but don’t create a meaning different (no minimal pairs)
Phonetic variations of the same (general) sound

Question 10

What is a phoneme exactly?

Answer 10

“a label for a set of sounds that all count as basically the same” (Zsiga, 2013: 204)

Example: English: phoneme /t/ (note we could call it anything /Q/ or /@/ or /+/)
/t/ can be produced as:
[th]: word initial ‘top’
[t]: following ‘s’ ‘stop’
[t̚]: word final ‘stat’
[ɾ]: intervocalically, where first syllable is stressed

Question 11

Then an allophone is…

Answer 11

one of those ‘sounds’ that is the realization of the phoneme in a particular environment
phonetic realization of a given phoneme

Example: English: phoneme /t/ has multiple allophones:
[th]: word initial ‘top’
[t]: following ‘s’ ‘stop’
[t̚]: word final ‘stat’
[ɾ]: intervocalically, where first syllable is stressed

Question 12

Allophones of 1 phoneme

Answer 12

Allophone: Phonetic variations of the same underlying sound
Native speakers think of these as the same but produce them differently

Phoneme /t/ has many allophones:
Word initial: [th ɑl] ‘tall’
Word final: [bæt ̚] ’bat’
After [s]: [stek] ‘steak’
Before another consonant: [gɛʔ sʌm] ‘get some’ or [bʌʔn] ‘button’
Between vowels when the first is stressed: [raɪɾər] ’writer’
Before a dental sound: [et̪θ] ‘eighth’

Question 13

Phonology Terminology

Answer 13

Positional variation vs. Contrast
Non-contrastive vs. Contrastive distribution
Complementary vs overlapping distribution
Allophonic vs. Phonemic
Predictable vs. Unpredictable
No minimal pairs vs. Near (Minimal Pairs)

Question 14

Other kinds of phones/phonemes

Answer 14

ASL
handshapes, location, movement, palm orientation, moves, holds are all phones of ASL (http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/phonemes.htm)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2Yk48uvhtY

Silbo
https://youtu.be/C0CIRCjoICA