Week 4- phonology

Question 1

Define phonetics

Answer 1

the study of speech sounds

Question 2

Define phonology

Answer 2

the study of how speech sounds are organized

Question 3

What are minimal pairs?

Answer 3

Minimal pairs provide evidence of the phonemic contrasts in a language • When one feature changes, the meaning changes • They show the differences that matter.

Question 4

Give some examples of minimal pairs

Answer 4

‘dog’ and ‘log’
/d/ to /l/ or /t/, etc, the meaning changes
→ ‘dog’ and ‘log’ are minimal pairs →/d/ and /l/ are contrastive in English →/d/ and /l/ are phonemes of English
Bog/Cog

Question 5

Define phoneme

Answer 5

consonants and vowels in a language

A phoneme is the smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language.

Question 6

Define allophone

Answer 6

ways that these consonants and vowels are realised within the language (context dependent)
phonetic variants of a phoneme. shoe vs she - mouth position

Question 7

What can allophonic variation can occur due to?

Answer 7

Speaker differences (British vs. American vs. Geordie vs. French-accented English) 
Speaker contexts (fast vs. slow, formal vs. informal, within-group vs. out-group) 
Position of phoneme within a word (onset, medial, next to vowel, within cluster)

Question 8

What is free variation?

Answer 8

Free variation is an alternative pronunciation of a word (or of a phoneme in a word) that doesn’t affect the word’s meaning. e.g. scone, economics

Question 9

What is an endangered language?

Answer 9

A language at risk of dying. Defined as a language that children will no longer learn within a century

Question 10

Why is it important to revitalize dying languages?

Answer 10

Maintains cultural heritage: poetry, folk tales, songs
Language is part of a person/community/culture’s identity
Connection to ancestors and history

Question 11

Discuss language revitalization in Cherokee

Answer 11

Severely endangered (UNESCO, 2010)
11,000 speakers
Spoken in North/South Carolina, Tennessee & Georgia
Not spoken by many tribe members under age 40
No longer learned by children at home
2000: language revitalization programme began. Fluent speakers began to teach teachers how to teach Cherokee in schools to children
Immersion programme in schools ◦ Development of teaching materials, teacher training
‘Reward programme’ for using Cherokee in public
Focus on arts and cultural heritage ◦ Artists such as Supaman – school workshops
Recent programme – still a long way to go!

Question 12

Discuss Welsh language revitalization

Answer 12

Vulnerable (UNESCO, 2010)
750,000 speakers in Wales and Patagonia
Was majority language in Wales, minority language by early 1900s
1960s: at risk of endangerment, political activism from Plaid Cymru & Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg (Welsh Language Party) led to its revival

Question 13

What is the Welsh language act?

Answer 13

1988: all young people to learn Welsh as 2nd language
1993: Welsh and English legally equal in business and administration
2011: Welsh given official status in Wales, promotion and facilitation of Welsh across Wales
Reversal of decline: ◦ in 1991, 18.5% of Welsh people could speak Welsh ◦ in 2001, 20.8% of Welsh people could speak Welsh
Increase in Welsh-medium schools across Wales; 2/3 in Cardiff opened in last 20 years, numbers up 2.5% in Wales since 2000

Question 14

mutual exclusivity

Answer 14

allophones conditioned to specific phonological environment

Question 15

affricate

Answer 15

combination of brief stop and fricative (e.g. tʃ)

Question 16

nasal consonant

Answer 16

consonant with full closure in the vocal tract; air released through nasal cavity; velum lowered