English Phonology The Sound System of American English

Key Terms Phoneme - a unit of sound significant in a specific language (E.g., /s/ is a phoneme in English while the German ch sound /x/ is not) Grapheme - The symbols (letters) used in a writing system such as our alphabet Digraph - A single sound represented by two letters (e.g., th, sh, ea) Phonetic Alphabet - a collection of symbols used for writing words phonetically

More Terms Allophone - a variant of a phoneme; often not noticed by native speakers (e.g, spin, pin) Minimal Pair - Two words that are pronounced the same except for one sound (e.g., Sue, zoo) Voiced Sound - A sound produced with the vocal folds (cords) vibrating (e.g. voiced /z/ as opposed to voiceless /s/) Diphthong - “a double vowel sound” - two vowels appearing together as the nucleus of a syllable

The Vocal Tract

The Vocal Folds (or Cords)

The Consonants of English

The Vowels of English

Phonetic Transcription Horseshoes [hors‡uz] Matches [mæc‡\z] Bookend [b¨k´nd] Is [ˆz] Pain medicine [pen m´d\sˆn] Thorns[†ornz] Breathe[bri∂]

Allomorphs Based on Phonology The plural morpheme – –[s] after a voiceless consonant –[z] after a voiced consonant –[\z] after a sibilant (s, z, sh [s‡], [z‡], ch [ c‡ ], or j [ j ]) The past tense morpheme –[d] after a voiced sound, –[t] after a voiceless sound –[ \d ] after a [t] or [d] ‡

Allomorphs Based on Phonology The negative prefix /in-/n –[m] before a labial (e.g., impossible, immovable, imbalance) –[ ˜ ] before a velar (e.g., incorrect, ingratitude) –[r] before /r/ (e.g., irreversible) –[l] before /l/ (e.g., illogical) Other examples of assimilation –Conduct, compel, colleague, corrode –Synergy, symmetry, syllogism –Admit, abbreviate, account, annul, appeal, arrive, assign, attend, alleviate –Submit, succeed, sufficient, suggest, support, surreptitious

Vowel Deletion Delete the last vowel of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel Works with some roots and suffixes: Not if prefix is only one syllable: re + act; bi + ennial

E/O Deletion Delete the e or o of a morpheme ending in er or or of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel

S Deletion Delete an s after the prefix ex- Delete the n of the prefix an- before a consonant: Examples: a + theist, a + pathy, a + symmetry, a + trophy But not: an + emic, an + archy, an + orexic, an + hydrous N Deletion

Vowel Alternations /a/ changes to /e/ in other than first syllable –E.,g, ann-ual/bi-enn-ial; apt/in-ept; damn-ation/con-demn /e/ changes to /i/ in other than first syllable –E.g., reg-ular; incor-rig-ible; spec- ulate/con-spic-uous