THE SOUND PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE

What phonologists do? Making explicit statements about the sound patterns of individual languages in order to discover something about linguistic knowledge that people must have in order to use these patterns. Discovering the general principles that underlie the patterning of sounds in human language.

Phonolgy the mental representation of sounds as part of a symbolic cognitive system; how abstract sound categories are manipulated in the processing of language

Phonemes The phonological elements of a language are the basic, distinctive sounds In English, these are the following (for a dialect of Standard American English) consonants: p, t, k, b, d, g, č, , f, θ, s, š, h, v, ð, z, ž, m, n, ŋ, l, r, w, y vowels: i, u, I, U, e, o, ε, ə, o:, æ, a, ay, aw, oy

Allophones Phoneme= the abstract unit or sound-type There are often differences in the way a phoneme is pronounced in a specific context. The variant pronunciations are called allophones ("other sounds") When it is important to make this difference: we'll use [square brackets] to indicate sounds from a phonetic point of view, i.e. focusing on their physical properties and the details of actual pronunciation; and we'll use /slashes/ to indicate sounds from a phonological point of view, i.e. as part of an abstract representation independent of potential differences in the way the sound in pronounced in specific contexts. In other words, in the ideal case, [ ] = allophone, / / = phoneme.

Aspiration Example: spin- pin pin contains an aspirated version of /p/, with a puff of air after the stop is released; this is written [ph] spin contains a plain /p/, without a puff of air after the stop; this is written as just [p]

Minimal Pairs A minimal pair consists of two forms with distinct meanings that differ by only one segment found in the same position in each form. Example: pill till kill These sounds are said to be "distinctive" because they can be used to make contrasts between different words (contrastive distribution).

Minimal set When a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme Example: feat fit fat fate fought foot

Phonotactics The set of constraints on how sequences of segments pattern. Possible initial three-consonant clusters in English p t k (((l ) r (w) j p t k s

Syllable- structure the onset or consonant(s) at the beginning of the syllable English normally permits up to two consonants but in addition, [s] can be added to the beginning of many syllables as well, making up to three consonants all sounds can occur in this position except for [ŋ] the nucleus or vowel that is the core of the syllable sometimes a consonant can serve as the nucleus, as in the second syllable of kitten. the coda or consonant(s) at the end of the syllable English normally permits up to two consonants at the end (belt, jump, arc) but in addition, certain sounds such as [s, t, θ] can be piled up (belts, sixths)

Above the segment: Syllables Internal structure of the syllable ‘sprint’ σ Consonant(s) Vowel Consonant(s) Onset (O) Rime (R) Nucleus (N) Coda (C) s p r i n t

Articulatory Processes Assimilation Dissimilation Deletion Epenthesis Metathesis Vowel reduction

Assimilation: Two sounds becoming more alike Regressive Assimilation Assimilation in which a sound influences the preceding segment. E.g. indefinite, impossible, incomplete Progressive Assimilation Assimilation in which a sound influences the following segment. E.g. books, bags

Dissimilation Change to a sound less like the other, e.g.: ‘laurel’ for earlier ‘laurer’

Deletion A process that removes a segment from a certain phonetic context. In English, a schwa [Ə] is often deleted when the next vowel in the word is stressed. suppose səˈpəʊz sˈpoʊz

Epenthesis A process that inserts a segment into a particular environment. For example: ‘something’ pronounced as ‘somepthing’

Metathesis A process that reorders a sequence of segments For example: Brid (Old English)  Bird (Modern English)

Syllabification An optimal syllable consists of a sonority peak, corresponding to the nucleus, optionally flanked by segments which decrease in sonority the further they occur from the nucleus. *vu.lgar is incorrect, because the sonority slope of the cluster decreases towards the syllable nucleus, while it should increase

Syllabification in Government Phonology Whether a consonant is a governor (T) or a governee (R) is determined by their complexity. To some extent, complexity reflects sonority in that the more complex the segment, the less sonorous it is. Thus, a more complex segment always governs the less complex one regardless of their linear order in a string: g  l; l  g (T R;R  T)

(a) vul.gar (b) co.bra R O N O N /\ /\ v ʌ l  g ǝ kɔ b  r ǝ The rightward governing relation defines branching onsets (br), and the leftward direction specifies a relation between an onset and the preceding non- vocalic complement of a branching rhyme, that is, the coda (l.g)

Suprasegmentals Refers to phonetic phenomena such as stress, duration, intonation (melody), and tone (pitch) Many English words function as nouns or verbs depending on the position of stress: Import – N import – V Permit – N permit – V Contact – N contact – V Stress also differentiates noun phrases from compound nouns: Black bird – NP blackbird – comp. noun