Phonological Processes and Phonotactics Flashcards
Phonological Processes
Assimilation Coalescence Dissimilation Lenition Fortition Epenthesis Deletion Lengthening Shortening Metathesis
Lenition/Debuccalization
Lenition: sound becomes weaker
Stops => Fricatives
Fricatives => Approximants
Vowel reduction
Extreme lenition: sounds become glottal [ʔ] or [h]
Fortition
Sounds become stronger
Setswana fricatives become affricates following nasals (known as post-nasal hardening)
[supa] ‘point at’
[n-tsupa] ‘point at me’
[ʃapa] ‘hit’
[ɲ-tʃapa] ‘hit me’
Epenthesis
Insertion
Typically vowels or glides
break up unsanctioned consonant clusters (i.e. phonotactic constraints)
Can also be consonant insertions
Deletion
Tagalog vowel deletion
bukas + in => [buks-in] ‘open’
kapit = in => [kapt-in] ‘embrace’
banig = in => [baŋg-in] ‘mat’
Write a rule for vowel deletion in Tagalog
Lengthening and Shortening
Vowel lengthening in Komi
[kɨl-i] ‘I heard’ [kɨ:-ni] ‘to hear’
[sulal-i] ‘I stood’ [sula:-ni] ‘to stand’
Known as ‘compensatory lengthening’ where vowel is lengthened to compensate for deleted segment (here [l])
Note: there are 2 processes here: 1st: [l] deletion, 2nd: vowel lengthening
Vowel shortening in Yowlumne
[xat-en] [xat- al] [xat-mi] [xat-ka] ‘eat’
[la:n-en] [la:n-al] [lan-mi] [lan-ka] ‘hear’
Metathesis
‘changing places’ of two segments
Metathesis in some varieties of English
[æsk] => [æks]
[ɪntrodus] => [ɪntərdus]
Phonotactics
Constraints on sequences and positions of sounds- always language specific
What consonant clusters are allowed in a language? (What sounds are allowed to ‘touch’?)
Within a syllable (compare: pneumonia vs. apnea)
What sounds are allowed to start a word (initial position)?
What sounds are allowed to end a word (final position)?
Phonotactics: English
Consonant clusters: Obvious based on word initial/word final position English allows 3 consonants together ‘spring’ [sprɪŋ] ‘string’ [strɪŋ] ‘splash’ [splæʃ] ‘scream’ [skrim] ‘squeeze’ [skwiz]
First sounds is always?
Second sound is always?
Third sound is always?
Word Final CCC
Word final: CCC ‘sprints’ [sprɪnts] ‘bumps’ [bʌmps] ’helped’ [hɛlpt] ‘crisps’ [krɪsps] ‘next’ [nɛkst]
Word final: CCCC
‘prompts’ [prɑmpts]
‘glimpsed’ [glɪmpst]
‘texts’ [tɛksts]
Phonotactics and language borrowing
Borrowings often undergo change for 3 reasons:
Phonetic constraints: Mandarin: [kotçi]=> [godʒi]
Phonemic constraints: Mandarin: [kotçi]=> [godʒi]
Phonotactic constraints: English [beIsbɑl]=> Japanese [besubaru]
Resolving phonotactic constraints with borrowings
English [beIsbɑl]=> Japanese [besubaru] Greek [pnimonija] => English [nəmonə] Swahili [mbwa] ‘dog’ 2 options: Delete [m]: English =>[bwa] Insert (aka Epenthesis) a vowel: English => [məbwa] or [əmbwa]
Long-distance assimilation
Involves non-adjacent segments aka ‘harmony’ Shona tone assimilation [téng] ‘buy’ [ku-téng-á] ‘to buy’ [ku-téng-és-á] ‘to sell’ [ku-téng-és-ér-á] ‘to sell to’ [ku-téng-és-ér-án-á] ‘to sell to each other’
Coalescence
2 segments merge into 1
aka ‘fusion’
Xhosa Vowel coalescence:
[wa + inkosi] => [wenkosi] ‘of the chiefs’
Low vowel + high (unrounded) vowel = mid (unrounded) front vowel
Chontal voicing dissimilation [kan-ɬaʔ] ‘say it’ [mi:-ɬaʔ] ‘tell him’ [panx-la] ’sit down‘ [fuʃ-laʔ] ’blow it’
Ancient Greek manner dissimilation
[stal-θik-e] ‘he was sent’
[fer-θik-e] ‘he was carried‘
Two sounds becoming less alike
