Phonology is the term used for the study of the speech sounds used in a particular language. Phonology studies the following: Segments; Suprasegmentals Syllables; Phonological processes and rules.

Branches of phonology Synchronic (descriptive) phonology, also known as phonemics, is that study of the sounds and sound patterns of a language at a particular point in time. Diachronic phonology, also referred to as historical phonology, is the study of the development of the sounds and sound patterns of a language over a period of time.

Types of phonology Segmental phonology deals with speech sounds without considering any prosodic features such as tone, length, stress and intonation. Suprasegmental phonology deals with prosodic features that is tone, length, stress and intonation.

Concepts in phonology Segment and suprasegment The term 'segment' refers to any speech sound, excluding all prosodic features (Intonation, stress and rhythm). The term 'suprasegment' is the equivalent of the term prosodic feature. Prosodic features are superimposed on the segmental units of speech.

Phoneme and allophone Phoneme: Any of the distinct units of sound in a specified language that distinguish one word from another, for example p, b, d, and t in the English words pad, pat, bad, and bat.

Allophone Any of the various phonetic realizations of a phoneme in a language, which do not contribute to distinctions of meaning. For example, in English an aspirated p (as in pin) and unaspirated p (as in spin) are allophones of /p/.

Distinctiveness According to Crystal ( 1991 : 1 09) the "term distinctiveness is used in linguistics for any feature of speech (or writing), which enables a contrast to be made between phonological, grammatical or semantic units".

A phoneme can be said to be distinctive if its replacement in a word can change the meaning of a word. sin/tin pan/ban map/mat

Read from your book from complementary distribution until page 103 Read from your book from complementary distribution until page 103. Our next class

Let us consider Noun/adjective Verb 'insult in'sult 'object obj'ect 'frequent fre'quent 'present pre'sent 'rebel re'bel

Complementary distribution Two or more similar entities are said to be in complementary distribution if they are mutually exclusive, that is if they never occur in the same environment. In English, [p] and [ph] are allophones of the same phoneme. They are in complementary distribution with each other.

A minimal pair is a pair of words that vary by only a single sound, usually meaning sounds that may confuse English learners, like the /f/ and /v/ in fan and van, or the /e/ and /ɪ/ in desk and disk

Minimal pairs with vowel sounds Minimal Pairs /ɪ/ and /i:/ sit seat Minimal Pairs /e/ and /ɪ/ desk disk Minimal Pairs /e/ and /eɪ/ wet wait Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /ʌ/ bat but Minimal Pairs /əʊ/ and /ɔ:/ so saw Minimal Pairs /ɒ/ and /əʊ/ not note Minimal Pairs /æ/ and /e/ bad bed Minimal Pairs /ɑ:/ and /ɜ:/ fast first

Consonant Sounds Minimal Pairs /b/ and /v/ berry very Minimal Pairs /b/ and /p/ buy pie Minimal Pairs /n/ and /ŋ/ thin thing Minimal Pairs /l/ and /r/ alive arrive Minimal Pairs /ʧ/ and /t/ catch cat Minimal Pairs /s/ and /ʃ/ sea she Minimal Pairs /f/ and /v/ fan van Minimal Pairs /f/ and /h/ fat hat

Consonant Sounds Minimal Pairs /f/ and /θ/ free three Minimal Pairs /s/ and /θ/ sink think Minimal Pairs /ð/ and /z/ with whizz Minimal Pairs /ʤ/ and /z/ page pays Minimal Pairs /d/ and /ʤ/ bad badge

Initial Consonant Sounds Minimal Pairs initial /f/ and /p/ fast past Minimal Pairs initial /k/ and /g/ came game Minimal Pairs initial /t/ and /d/ two do

Final Consonant Sounds Minimal Pairs final /k/ and /g/ back bag Minimal Pairs final /m/ and /n/ am an Minimal Pairs final /t/ and /d/ hat had

Phonemic analysis A phonemic analysis is a representation of an inventory of all the phonemes, including segmental and suprasegmental phonemes of a language together with: The realisation rules of these phonemes; Statements about their distribution; and A morphophonological analysis, phonological variations when we morphemes.

a) Phoneme inventory A phoneme inventory is a list of the phonemes that occur in the language being examined.

b) Realisation rules for allophones (or allophonic rules) These are rules stating in what context (s) each allophone of a phoneme occurs, for example as was discussed above in English the phoneme /p/ is phonetically realised as [ph] in word initial position and as /p/ in all other environments.

c. Statements about distribution or phonotactic description This is an account of how sounds combine in a given language, especially an account of syllable structure. Two or more languages with similar or even identical phoneme inventories may have different rules governing the distribution of phonemes in morphemes, words or syllables. A phonotactic description tells us, among other things, which sound sequences are permissible in that language and which ones are not.

The latter being a statement of sequential constraints The latter being a statement of sequential constraints. It also tells us the types of syllable structure that are permissible in the language being examined.

d) Phonological rules There are two types of phonological rules. These are allophonic rules and morphophonemic or morphophonological rules.

Allophonic rules state in which context each allophone of a phoneme occurs. For example in English the phoneme [p] has two allophones, the aspirated [ph] and the unaspirated [p] as has been discussed in the previous sections the occurrence of these is dependent on the context.

Morphophonemic (or morphophonological) rules account for phonological variations which occur when certain morphemes, that is smallest grammatical units, combine to form words. The term morphophonemic is an apt term to describe the sound changes that are referred to because it indicates that not only the phonemes change but also the morphemes in which they occur are affected. –ed variations in past tense

Supra = Segment something you add or put on something. Consonants & Vowels A term used in phonetics and linguistics to refer to any separate unit that can be identified, either physically or auditorially in the stream of speech.

Suprasegmental Features Those features that speakers superimpose on certain syllables. They include the following: 1 – Stress 2 – Intonation 3 – Pitch\ tone 4 – Rhythm 5 – Gemination 6 – Juncture

Stress Word Meaning property of syllables Unstressed Stressed

Extra loudness More Prominent Forcefulness Stress Stress : It is the emphasis that you put on a word or a part of a word when you say, so that it sounds slightly louder. According to the dictionary © K. T. Khader © K. T. Khader

Stress : Is a term that we apply to words in isolation which have more than one syllable. It refers to the property that certain syllables carry which makes them stand out from the rest of the word. It seems certain that stressed syllables are made of more effort than unstressed ones; the muscles in the lungs seem to expel air more aggressively than for the unstressed ones.

The Prominence of these syllables can be shown in the following: Loudness A component of prominence length Longer words will be heard as prominent High pitch High-pitched syllable will be heard as stressed syllables. Vowel quality Differs in quality: \ bənɑːnə\ (ɑ: is a different vowel.) © K. T. Khader

Any of these four factors can occur alone or in combination to produce the prominence that marks a stressed syllable from an unstressed one. © K. T. Khader

Stress : Is the amount of effort or energy expended in producing a syllable. For the hearer, stress is manifested as perceptual prominence, or strength. A stressed syllable seems more prominent or stronger than the other syllables in its environment. © K. T. Khader

We judge the stress from two perspectives: Speaker’s perspective on stress = Amount of effort expended. Hearer’s perspectives on stress = Degrees of perceptual prominence. © K. T. Khader

The Features of Stress = Nature Fundamental Frequency Pitch Fundamental Frequency Duration(length) Intensity (Loudness) These are associated with prominence. For English, stressed syllable (vocalic-nucleus) tends to have a greater degree of length, loudness and pitch associated with it. © K. T. Khader

The nature of stress is simply enough, everyone would agree that stress is on the first syllable of words like: ˈPalace, ˈFather, ˈTopic and ˈCamera. On the second syllable: aˈbout, Canˈal, seˈvere, sinˈcere, reˈceive, poˈlice, reˈlation, poˈtato and aˈpartment. | əˈbaʊt | kəˈnæl | sɪˈvɪə | sɪnˈsɪə | rɪˈsiːv | pəˈliːs | rɪˈleɪʃn̩ | pəˈteɪtəʊ ənd əˈpɑːtmənt © K. T. Khader

In transcription, we mark stress by placing a small vertical line \ˈ\ just before the syllable it is related to.

The location of the stress: It is not difficult to assign in long words: In disyllabic words (words with two syllables), it is usually on the first syllables as in the following words: ˈFather, ˈActress, ˈ Worker, ˈchampion. If the disyllabic word begins with the sound \ə\, the main stress falls on the second syllable. E.g., ago, about, alive, amount. © K. T. Khader

Stress has a grammatical function: Parts of speech Nouns Verbs Stress on the first syllable = Noun. Stress on the second syllable = Verb. © K. T. Khader © K. T. Khader

Verb Noun ˈDigest To Diˈgest ˈEssay To Eˈssay ˈConduct To Conˈduct ˈDesert To Diˈgest To Eˈssay To Conˈduct To Deˈsert © K. T. Khader