Phonology Flashcards
What is brain lateralization?
Certain functions are located in different hemispheres of the brain.
Language is processed predominantly in:
The left hemisphere
What is Broca’s area responsible for?
The speech production
What is Wernicke’s area responsible for?
Speech comprehension
What language function could be taken care of by the right hemisphere?
Reading body language
When information is heard through the primary auditory cortex, where is it immediately sent for processing?
Wernicke’s area
When information is heard through the primary visual cortex, where is it immediately sent for processing?
The angular gyrus
How does the information that has been understood get from Wernicke’s area to where a reply will be formulated in Broca’s area?
via the arcuate fasciculus
They have some evidence that the Wernicke-Geschwind Model is a reasonably true model because of
Brain injuries
Noam Chomsky’s theory of Universal Grammar suggests that
language is innate in humans
What are phonemes?
Meaningful sounds in a specific language
6 concepts of phonological analysis
Contrastive
-Minimal Pairs
-Distinctive Features
Complementary
-Natural Classes
-Coarticulation Effects
What is co-articulation?
The process of making one sound almost at the
same time as the next sound.
Four types of Co-articulation effects:
Assimilation
Insertion
Elision
Weakening
When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspects of
one segment is taken by the other = ?
Assimilation
when a sound is inserted = ?
Insertion
not pronouncing a sound segment that would be present in the careful
pronunciation of a word in isolation = ?
Elision
Example of weakening
Full vowels become schwa in function words (can vs can’t)
Examples of Elision?
Consonant clusters (friendship -frenship, aspects-aspecs, we asked him - we astim)
Function words (is he busy - izzybizzy, take him away - takeimaway)
Examples of Assimilation
voicing and devoicing (I have vs I hafta go)
palatalization caused by palatal glide (miʧju dɪʤju )
Example of insertion?
voiceless stop inserted between nasal and fricative
(dance – t, strength – k, hamster – p)
What is a distinctive feature?
A feature that, when changed, can create a minimal pair in a given
language.
Three examples of distinctive features:
Aspiration ʰ
Nasalization ~
Vowel roundness / labialization
Is aspiration a distinctive feature in English?
No, they don’t create minimal pairs.
Is aspiration a distinctive feature in Indi?
Yes, creates minimal pairs.
T or F: Nasalization is a distinctive feature in French.
Yes, but not in English
What is the goal of phonological analysis?
to
determine if the sounds being
examined belong to the same
phoneme or to separate
phonemes.
