1. THE SOUND PATTERNS OF LANGUAGE

2. 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.

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

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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]

7. 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).

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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)

11. 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

12. Articulatory Processes
Assimilation
Dissimilation
Deletion
Epenthesis
Metathesis
Vowel reduction

13. 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

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

15. 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

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

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

18. 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

19. 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)

20. (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)

21. 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