Week 2 Flashcards
In what way is a human natural language not uniform?
Within one language, there is a lot of variation in the lexicon, sound production, morpho-syntax, etc.
Speakers of a speech community may use a different dialect which sets them apart from other speakers of the speech community who speak a different dialect.
Dialect
A variety of a language spoken by a group of people that is characterised by systematic differences in vocabulary and grammar (phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics) from other varieties in the same language.
What are examples of dialectal variation?
United Kingdom
1. East Anglia: I walk
2. Southwest + North: I walks
USA
1. AAVE: I walk
Human language =
A lexicon and a grammar.
What are examples of language variation?
Variation in sound production between speakers:
- Physical: size and length of the vocal cords (women-men, children-adults-elderly).
-
Individual:
• Idiolect (particular words, rising intonation)
• Situational (informal-formal)
• Emotional (excited-uninterested) - Social: peer groups, social class, prestige.
-
Regional:
• Bristol accent (rhotic)
• Brummie (Birmingham (non-r)
• Different accents in London
• Vowels in SAE, SSBE, AusEN.
An example of pronunciation variation is /i:/.
Varieties in Scotland and East Anglia
Scotland:
1. Highland Scottish
2. Lowland Scottish
3. Glaswegian
East Anglia:
1. Cambridgeshire
2. Essex
3. Norfolk
4. Suffolk
In rhotic varieties of English, where does [ɹ] occur?
In non-rhotic varieties of English, where does [ɹ] occur?
In rhotic varieties, it occurs both preceding and following vowels: red, bread, barren, far.
In non-rhotic varieties, it occurs only before vowels and has been lost in other contexts.
• bark [ba:k]
• far [fa:]
• far out [faɹ ‘aʊt] = linking r
Are most American English dialects rhotic or not? If yes, what are the rules here?
What about Southern varieties of British English?
Most dialects of American English are indeed rhotic.
Vowels preceding [ɹ] are typically rhotacised. In central vowels, this may affect the entire vowel, as in sure [ʃɚ], butter [‘bʌɾɚ].
Australian English and New Zealand English are non-rhotic. The historical loss of [ɹ] has led to the creation of centring diphthongs.
near [nɪə]
square [skwɛə]
cure [kjʊə]
Centring diphthongs
The historical loss of [ɹ] has led to the creation of centring diphthongs.
near [nɪə]
square [skwɛə]
cure [kjʊə]
What is the difference between a Standard American English newscaster and a British English one?
In the SAE newscaster (West-US), /ɔ:/ (caught) has completely merged with /ɑ:/ (cot).
The British English newscaster has:
• caught /ɔ:/
• cot /ɒ/
• cart /ɑ:/
What does it mean to have different vowel systems? And what is an example of this?
It means that there are “different phonologies”.
Standard Southern British English distinguishes between:
• /æ/ and /ɑ:/
• /ʊ/ and /u:/
• /ɒ/ and /ɔ/
Standard Scottish English (SSE) does not distinguish between these.
SSBE has some vowel contrasts which SSE lacks.
How do the vowels differ between SSBE (RP) and SSE (regional variation)? What happened to the SSE vowels?
SSBE SSE
TRAP æ æ
PALM ɑ: æ
GOOSE u: u:
FOOT ʊ u:
LOT ɒ ɔ:
THOUGHT ɔ: ɔ:
The SSE vowels merged together in pairs from SSBE.
• /æ/ and /ɑ:/ → /æ/
• /u:/ and /ʊ/ → /u:/
• /ɒ/ and /ɔ:/ → /ɔ:/
Check: w2, slide 18.
What is an example of same vowel contrast?
SSBE and General American English both distinguish between /æ/ and /ɑ:/. The two dialects therefore have the same vowel contrasts.
However, they have different distributions.
What is different between SSBE and GA in terms of the basic vowel pronunciations?
The ‘bath’ vowel; SSBE /ɑ:/ - GA /æ/.
What are examples of variation within the language?
- Phonemes: contrastive distribution; can make a difference in meaning.
- Allophones: complementary distribution; no distinction in meaning, but in the position of the word where sound A occurs, B cannot be used (e.g. English “l” variants).
What are the different allophones of l’s in English and what are examples? In which distribution are these l’s found?
Clear: [l] = lead, lure, relax, blue
Occurs at the beginning of a syllable.
Dark: [ɬ] = feel, felt, milk, mildew
Occurs at the end of a syllable.
Devoiced: [l ̥] = please, clue, acclaim
Occurs after voiceless stops.
Substituting one allophone for another doesn’t give a different word; at worst, it gives a funny pronunciation of the same word.
The allophones of /l/ are in complementary distribution.
Allophones of /i:/
English /i:/ can appear as:
• [iə] before ‘dark l’
• [i:] elsewhere
How do you distinguish between orthography, phonemic transcription, phonetic transcription?
<peel> orthography (spelling)
/pi:l/ phonemic transcription (broad)
[phiəł] phonetic transcription (narrow)
</peel>
Phonological derivation (rule ordering)
English /i:/ can appear as:
• [iə] before ‘dark l’
• [i:] elsewhere
Phonological form: /pi:l/
Rule: /p/ → pʰ, beginning of stressed syl.
Rule 1: /l/ → /ł/ end of a syllable
Rule 2: /i:/ → iə before ł
Phonetic realisation: [pʰiəł]
What are some morphological alternations in prefixes (e.g. [in])?
in + possible → i[mp]ossible
in + tolerant → i[nt]ollerant
in + complete → i[ŋk]omplete
One underlying form (/ɪn/), alternations accounted for by ‘rules’ (nasal place assimilation).
How do /m/ and /ɪn/ change in anticipation of a following sound?
/m/ → [m]
Some cats
Some pots
Some dogs
Some animals
Some sense
/ɪn/ splits into different ways:
1. [ɪm] - [p, b] impossible
2. [ɪŋ] - [k, g] incomplete
3. [ɪn] happens elsewhere; evident, indifferent, insensitive.
How can speakers of English interpret [m] in two different ways? And how can they do that?
- As the realisation of /m/ (e.g. [m] in ‘some people’).
- As the realisation of /n/ (e.g. [m] in ‘input’, ‘imperfect’).
How?
→ knowledge of phonemes (mental representations)
→ knowledge of rules
• A → B / C —— D
/n/ → [m] / —— /p/
What is regressive place assimilation, and what is an example of that?
A consonant sound that normally has one place of articulation (like labial, velar, alveolar) will shift its place to match a consonant that comes after it. This can make a word easier to pronounce.
(1) When saying “input,” many speakers naturally change the [n] sound, which is alveolar (tongue against alveolar ridge), to a [m] sound, which is bilabial, to match the following bilabial [p]. So, “input” may be pronounced as [ɪmpʊt].
(2) The pronunciation of “incomplete” as [ɪŋkəmˈpliːt] with [ŋ] (velar nasal sound) instead of [n] is an example of regressive place assimilation.
What other nasals can be target of place assimilation?
Only /n/, other nasals cannot be target of place assimilation.
How can a stop become nasalised, so a velar nasal stop?
When the property place of articulation spreads from the velar stop to the preceding nasal, making it a velar nasal stop.
In [ɪŋk], the place of ‘ŋ’ and ‘k’ are [dorsal].
Default rule
A default rule films in “neutral” or “unmarked” characteristics of sounds where the phonological system has no strong preference.
/ɪn/ = place alveolar (default/standard)
VPM of [ʍ]
Voiceless labial-velar fricative, appears in SSE.
Is [ʍ] an allophone in SSE?
No, it’s not a variant pronunciation of [w]. The SSE forms show that [w] occurs in exactly the same context as [ʍ], which implies that they are in contrastive distribution. Both are phonemes in SSE.
World like Wales (initial /w/) and whales (initial /ʍ/) are therefore minimal pairs in SSE.
Homophones
In GA and RP, Wales and whales are pronounced the same. GA and RP have /w/ in the context where SSE contrasts /w/ with /ʍ/.
What is systematic variation? How can this arise?
“In GA and RP, Wales and whales are pronounced the same. GA and RP have /w/ in the context where SSE contrasts /w/ with /ʍ/.”
This is a case of systematic variation; GA and RP have “one phoneme less” than SSE.
How did this variation arise? We know that OE had a contrast between /w/ and /ʍ/ (<hw>). This contrast was kept in some English varieties, like SSE. Other varieties underwent **phonemic merger**.</hw>
See w2, workgroup slide 3.
What is a phonemic merger, and how does it relate to the pronunciation of Wales and whales in different varieties of English?
A phonemic merger occurs when two distinct phonemes in a language collapse into a single phoneme, eliminating the contrast.
In GA and RP, Wales and whales are homophones, both pronounced with /w/. This reflects a phonemic merger where the historical contrast between /w/ and /ʍ/ (once spelled as <hw> in Old English) was lost. In contrast, some varieties, like SSE, retain /ʍ/, preserving the distinction. As a result, GA and RP have "one phoneme less" than SSE in this context.</hw>
What is an example of distributional variation
GA and SSE have [r] while RP hasn’t, which is a case of distributional variation. These varieties are rhotic because /r/ is realised regardless of its position in the syllable. RP is non-rhotic; /r/ is realised in onsets only.
In the RP forms where /r/ is missing, we find a long vowel instead. This suggests that the lengthened vowel ‘makes up’ for the missing /r/.
Compensatory lengthening
In the RP forms where /r/ is missing, we find a long vowel instead. This suggests that the lengthened vowel ‘makes up’ for the missing /r/.
This process is called compensatory lengthening with the help of timing positions; the timing position of the ‘lost’ /r/ is associated with the vowel, making it long.
