Phonology Flashcards
Phonology
Brach of linguistics that studies the sound system of one particular languge.
Only a limited amount of sounds are used in every language out of all possible human sounds.
Studies the so called “sound inventory” of specific language and investigates the function and organisation of these sounds.
Studies which sounds are used in certain language and how to combine them.
Branches of Phonology
Segmental phonology (focuses on singular “segments” and function of a sound).
Suprasegmental phonology (concerned with those features of pronounciation that extend over several segments)
Segmental phonology: Segments
When we split our utterances in individual sounds.
Focuses not on physical properties of sounds but on the function of these speech sounds
Segmental phonology: Phonemes
Smallest meaning distinguishing unit, set of all speech sound in narrow transcription (differnet from phone = because phones are the exact kind of pronounciation of a speech sound; when phones are compared to each other, they are allophones of each other)
Segmental phonology: Minimal Pairs
If you take 2 words that can only be distinguished by 1 phoneme (speech sound, dipthongs count as one speech sound) they are called “Minimal pairs”.
The different speech sounds that are in opposition are called “distinctive”.
Segmental phonology: Phonosemantics
Sound symbolism says that there may be a non-arbitrary connection between sound and meaning.
Segmental phonology: Phonosemantics:
Maluma-takete/Bobo-tiki effect
When people hear an <i> they think of something tiny, but when people hear or <a> they think of something big. This is called like this due to a famous experiment.</a></i>
Segmental phonology: Clear vs. Dark /l/
Two possibilities to produce an /l/: “clear” (light)/”dark”.
They are allophones (different phonetic realisation/phonetic variants) of each other and do not distinguish meaning, just pronounciation => phones of a phoneme (=> regarded as same sound in IPA).
Segmental phonology: Complementary Distribution
The distribution of 2 phones is determined by the place in a word they can occur in, as the surrounding sounds (phonetic environment) influence which one the speaker produces.
Distinguishing Clear vs. Dark /ɫ/
Clear (light) /l/: Occurs before vowels and /j/. Does NOT occur before consonants or silence (f.e. clear, fly, …).
C[unvoiced]V, V_V, #
Dark /ɫ/: Occurs before consonants and silence. Does NOT occur before vowels or /j/ (f.e. fault, elves, …).
_C, _#
In some interesting cases, a switch can happen between the phones f.e. crwal -> crawling, tell -> telling
Segmental phonology: Free Variation
Not all allophones are in complementary distribution. Some have free variation (f.e. stop phonemes) like /p/,/t/, /k/ at the end of words!
Distinguishing Stop Phonemes (/p/,/t/,/k/)
The phonemes (/p/,/t/,/k/) have 3 phones:
[p] _#
[th] _#
[k┐] _#
In RP /p/ is realized:
As [ph] in word-initial position before vowels
As [p] between two vowels, or between [s] and a vowel
As [ph], [p] or [p┐] in word-final position
Word initially [p] and [ph] are in complementary distribution
Distinguishing the phones of /r/
The phoneme (/r/) has 2 phones (physical realisations of a sound): [°ɹ] is a voiceless alveolar central approximant (f.e. trip,..) (after voiceless consonants; C [-voice]_ V) [ɹ] is a voiced alveolar central approximant (f.e. rope) (elsewhere: word-intitially, between 2 vowels, following voiced consonants; #_, V_V, C [+voice]_ V)
Reasoning for assuming phones belong to the same phoneme?
The similarity in sound (only one feature different),
fluent speakers view them as 1 sound,
don’t distinguish meaning
(however, it’s still important to capture the phonetic difference)
Suprasegmental phonology
Deals with:
Combination of Segments into syllables
Phonological properties of longer stretches of speech (prosody, prosidic features (stress, rhythm, tone, inontation))
