Phonology Questions Flashcards
What are the three levels at which phonology takes place?
Segments are the most basic level - consist of individual speech sounds. Segments are grouped into Syllables - usually consist of a vowel and its associated consonants. Features are the smallest level - correspond to acoustic or articulatory categories of information.
What does it mean to say that two sounds contrast with each other?
Two sounds that contrast with each other can be distinguished between words to create different meanings. Minimal pairs are used to find contrasting sounds.
What is the difference between phonemes and their allophones?
Phonemes represent the knowledge stored in the speakers mins, the contrastive units of the language and the underlying representation. Allophones represent the sounds the way the vocal tract produce them, the predictable variants, and their surface representation.
How are sounds in complimentary distribution similar and dissimilar?
Sounds in complimentary distribution are different phonetically but are the same phonologically (do not contrast and are mutually exclusive)
What’s the difference between phonemic and phonetic transcription?
In phonemic transcription, only the underlying representation is shown, before rules and predictable variants are applied. Phonetic transcription gives as much detail as possible to represent the surface representation.
How are phonetic representations derived?
By allowing rules to apply to underlying representation.
Why are rules formulated as generally as possible?
Because the sound changes represented in a distribution usually affect froups of sounds that share a common property rather than individual sounds.
What are the basic features that we are concerned with and what do they mean?
[+/-voice] - voiced or voiceless
[+/-continuant] - continuing air flow or stops
[+/-nasal] - nasal or oral
