Phonology Organization and interaction of sounds in a language sound system

Phonology Up to this point we have studied the individual speech sounds of English Now we will learn some basic ways that the sounds of English interact systematically This will help us comprehend the concept of a sound system

Phonology Each language has its own sound system: the specific processes that occur as sounds interact during speech

Phonemes Compare the following words bit – pit tool – toll bag – bang What do we notice about each pair?

*Minimal pairs Definition: Words that differ in one sound only The fact of different meanings of the words proves that the sounds are recognized psychologically as ‘different sounds’ I.e., they are distinct from each other

Minimal pairs It is the existence of minimal pairs that demonstrates phonemes.

*Phoneme defined a sound that native speakers recognize as a distinct language sound and which makes a difference in meaning (the sound has a distinct value in the speech system)

Phonemes Thus, a phoneme is not the mere fact of a speech sound, but something recognized psychologically

Phonology In actual speech, pronunciation of speech sounds may vary from speaker to speaker, word to word, time to time This variation is systematic and conventional

*Variation in phonemes Six variants of phoneme /t/ too [t h u]aspirated

Variants of /t/ stewunaspirated (plain)

Variants of /t/ lot[lat ך ]unreleased

Variants of /t/ butterflap/ſ/ (see p. 46 for symbol)

Variants of /t/ button[‘bə ? ən]glottal stop

Variants of /t/ hunter[hənər] t-sound deleted

Variants of /t/ tea aspirated stayunaspirated (plain) potunreleased betterflap batmanglottal stop winterdeleted

Variation in phonemes These different pronunciations do not make a difference in meaning (i.e., they have the same value, /t/) These different pronunciations are all recognized by native speakers as /t/ The variation is conventional — the same among speakers in a community

*Allophone One of the different pronunciations of a speech sound that is still recognized as having the same value (value of the phoneme), and thus makes no difference in meaning I.e., all the above sound like /t/ to us Each variant constitutes an allophone

Phonemes The concept of a phoneme is language specific

Phonemes In English both aspirated t h too [t h u] and unaspirated t stew [stu] still are felt as /t/ (variants of English /t/) i.e., [t] and [t h ] are allophones of /t/)

Phonemes But Chinese distinguishes aspirated and unaspirated sounds, 套 t h ao ‘set’ 道 tao ‘the religion’ /t h / and /t/ are distinct: They are different phonemes in Chinese

Observations of variation Observations like these result in *descriptive rules about a language Here rule means dynamic principle

*Derived rules The following rules can be derived for the allophones of English /t/ 1.At beginning of syllable, Voiceless stops are aspirated — too; pie; can [*Aspiration rule]

Rules for allophones of English /t/ 2. *After /s/, Voiceless stops are plain — spy, stay, ski

Rules for allophones of English /t/ 3. *At the end of syllables and words, Voiceless stops are often unreleased in rapid speech — bought; hit; what

Rules for allophones of English /t/ 4. *Before nasal sounds /t/ may become glottal stop — button; waitin’; huntin’

Rules for allophones of English /t/ 5. (American Eng.) *Between vowels (after stressed syllable) Voiceless alveolar stops become voiced flaps — butter, better, water

Rules for allophones of English /t/ 6. *After a nasal sound, /t/, may be deleted — hunter [hənØr], winter [w I nØr] (but also sandwich, grandma for some)

Some allophones in Japanese Japanese /t/ has the following allophones of /t/ in syllables: ta, te, to, tsu, chi Rules?

Some allophones in Japanese Before /a/, /e/, and /o/, /t/ is [t h ] Before /u/, /t/ is [ts] Before /i/, /t/ is [ t∫ ] This allophonic variation occurs in all words

* SYSTEMATIC VARIATION These observations — SYSTEMATIC VARIATIONS — can be called Phonological processes or Phonological rules

More phonological processes *Assimilation – Sometimes variation caused by influence of sounds that come after it in speech string— San Bernardino – Sa[m]Bernardino- /n/ labialized by influence of following /b/; tenth- /n/ dentalized by following interdental

More Assimilation Or on sounds that precede it: barn- /n/ retroflex twelfth_night- /n/ dentalized

Assimilation *Defined: The process of a sound changing in some way to be more like sounds that precede or follow it

Assimilation in Korean Korean /hap/ but [hamnida], — the /p/ is nasalized before /n/

Phonological processes *Palatalization: Because of the influence or a neighboring sound, the place of articulation shifts to the palate Did you eat → What are you doing → “I need your vote” →

Palatalization in Japanese (Jp.) teyuuka ‘anyway’ → t ∫ uuka ( Recall, in Japanese /t/ before /i/ → t ∫ )

Phonological processes *Devoicing please true cream The aspiration of the voiceless stop causes devoicing of the following /r/ or /l/

Phonological processes *Stop insertion sen~se once hamster angst [voiceless stop] inserted between nasal sound and /s/ at same point of articulation

Phonological processes *Metathesis inversion of consonants: ask ~ aks cavalry ~ calvary comfortable ~ [kəmftərbl]

Phonological processes *Plural Voicing/Devoicing Beds – [-z] Watches – [- ә z] Hats – [-s] English Rules?

*Plural Devoicing Rules – Beds – [-z] after voiced final sound Watches – [-әz] after sibilants Hats – [-s]all the rest, i.e., voiceless sounds

Phonological processes Each language has its own phonological processes

Phonological processes In English – shoes – [ ∫ u-z] plural Where in Spanish – los amigos – [-s]

Phonological processes Phonological processes are systematic They operate throughout the vocabulary and speech stream, according to principles (rules) which can be induced

Phonological processes The processes are conditioned by the features of sounds surrounding the sound in question E.g. /t/ followed by /i/ → palatalization /n/ followed by /b/ → labialization Form of Pl (-s) agrees determined by last sound of word stem: shoes, judges, hats

Phonology *These examples of allophones, –the systematic variation they show and –the phonological processes (or rules) derived from them show that: 1.Speech sounds in a language interact systematically 2.Their interaction is based on observable principles

Phonology This interaction is the subject of the study of phonology