Phonology
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Phonology The study of •
distribution of sounds in a language –
•
How sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
the interactions between those different sounds –
Rules that specify how sounds interact with each other
•
What is the organization of sounds in a given language?
•
Which sounds are predictable and which are unpredictable in given contexts?
•
Which sounds affect the identities of words?
Phonetics Phonology Phonetics • Basis for phonological analysis •
Analyzes the production of all human speech sounds (regardless of language)
Phonology –
Basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, etc.
–
Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language •
Determining which phonetic sounds are significant
•
Explaining how these sounds are interpreted (by the native speaker)
What is a phoneme? • The smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. •
American structuralist tradition: –
•
Phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments
Generative tradition: •
Phoneme is defined by a set of distinctive features.
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Distinctive features • /p/
•
/i/
+syllabic
-syllabic
-consonantal
+consonantal
+sonorant
-sonorant
+high
+anterior
-low -back
-coronal
-round
-voice
+ATR
-continuant
-nasal
-nasal
Components of Generative Phonology •
Phonetic representations are assigned to utterances –
•
Reflect native speaker’s internalized grammar
Levels of phonological representations –
Underlying representation
–
Phonetic representation
Phonological rules – Map underlying representations onto phonological representations. Name the largest city in Ontario • Toronto, right? –
How did you say ‘Toronto’?
–
[təˈɹɑnto]
–
[ˈtɹɑnə]
Say the another name for purse • handbag •
[hændbæg] ̃
•
[hænbæg] ̃
•
[hæmbæg] ̃
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
[hæmbæ?] ̃
Phonotactics Certain sounds which are permissible in English Ex. Psychology (starts with /s/) •
Possible words
•
Restrictions on what C and V patterns go together to making up syllables and words
•
Restrictions differ from one language to the other (ex. French and English)
•
Restrictions can be formulated in rules
Phonotactic constraints = Restriction on possible combinations of sounds. Restrictions of wordinitial consonants in English • All may begin a word of English with two exceptions –
[ŋ] and [ʒ] (ex. The –ing in singer and the –sur in leisure)
Restrictions of wordinitial consonants in English • Two-consonant combinations –
Stop or fricative (ex. Print, bring, play) followed by a liquid or a glide •
[bɹ]
bring
[θɹ]
three
•
[gl]
glean
[fl]
fly
•
[mj]
music
[hj]
humour
•
[kw] quick
•
Internal grammar has figured out what permissible in language
•
Other two-consonant combinations –
–
[sw] sweet
[s] followed by voiceless and nasal stops •
[st]
steam
•
[sm]
smear
•
snoop
[s] followed by [f] and [v]
s and is not
LING 1001B
–
January 30, 2014 •
[sf] sphere
•
[sv] svelte
[ʃ] can be followed by [ɹ] in native English clusters •
–
[ʃɹ] shrink
a nasal stop or a liquid in non-native English clusters •
‘Schlemiel, Schnook, schlepp’
•
But also by a stop as in ‘Spiel’
Location of combination matters (ps in psychology vs. ps in stop)
Sound constraints in different positions Syllable type • Basic syllable structure •
Syllables’ can have consonants, vowels in any order or combination (ex. On next page)
•
2 main divisions –
Onset •
–
All consonants before the vowel
Rhyme (sometimes spelled rime) •
Nucleus: vowel or diphthong
•
Coda: consonants following vowel (if any
Multisyllabic words (English) •
•
Two principles yield unique syllable structures –
Maximize onsets
–
Avoid rhymes ending in lax vowels
Maximize onsets in English –
As many consonants as possible into the onset •
•
Maximum determined by possible one-syllable words
Avoid rhymes ending in lax vowels –
e.g., *[bə], *[tɪ]
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
Simple closed syllable –
WORD
Syllable types in English V= Vowel
C= consonant
•
V
• • •
VC at VCC ask VCCC asked
a • •
CV CCCV no CVC CCCVC knot spleen CVCCCCCVCC camp strength • •
Word
Word •
•
spree
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Syllable types in other languages Hawaiian
Indonesian
CV
CV
CV
V
V
CCV
VC
CCVC
CVC
CVC
No double consonant sounds
CVCC can’t have just a vowel
No coda in the syllable
Hebrew
Restraints in English – Two stops combination •
‘Ptolemy’ –
•
‘Gdansk’ –
–
(English would not pronounce the /p?/)
(English would say Gudansk)
Stop and nasal •
‘gnostic’ –
•
English would not pronounce the /g/
‘Knish’
Restraints in other languages • Japanese and Finnish
•
–
Avoid syllables containing Consonant sequences
–
Modify borrowed words
–
They do not allow consonant clusters
Finnish drops Cs –
Strand /sctant/ (CCCVCC) à ranta (CVNCV) ‘beach’...N= nasal
–
Glass /glas/ (CCVC) à lasi
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
Japanese inserts Vs –
CCC à CVCVCV •
Rule-governed and predictable –
After [t] and [d]: insert [o]
–
After all other consonants: insert [ɯ] »
Birth control
/bəɹθ kəntɹol / à [ba:sɯ kontoro:rɯ] -
Rules of what vowels are in certain positions
-
After an alveolar stop there has to be an /o/ in Japanese
Phonotactic constraints in signed languages •
•
ASL specific: –
Monosyllbic sign cannot just consist of one handshape, one location, and one orientation; at least one of these segments must change in order to form a grammatical syllable.
–
Handshape change can occur in one location if a previous sign is comprised of no movement
–
Handshape change must occur during movement if there is movement in the previous sign
–
Also constraints on what signs may be adjacent to one another.
One-handed signs are performed with the dominant hand –
Restrictions on non-dominant hand •
If both hands are moving, non-dominant hand must have same handshape, orientation, and motion as dominant hand à symmetry constraint.
Direction may be parallel or anti-parallel p. 106/107 Signed code for Mandarin Chinese versus Taiwan Sign language (hearing people wanted to introduced new signs into Mandarin Chinese code the symmetry rule was thrown out the window. Then in Taiwan sign could not accept these new signs because of language rules)
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Foreign Accents •
Spanish –
[st], [sk], [sp] clusters not permitted word-initially
à[ɛstudɛnt] •
Sound substitution (can not pronounce voiced fricative th- because of the place of articulation) –
French speakers
[ð] à [z] ‘this’ Why this sound? –
English speakers
–
[x] à [k] ‘Bach’
–
[x] à [h] ‘Bach’
Phonemes and Allophones (un)predictability English •
[k] and [g] not predictable
•
In English the pronunciation of k and g is not predictable
-
[b ɹ ɪ _____]
-
[b ɹ ɪ g] ‘sailing vessel’
-
[b ɹ ɪ k] ‘block used in masonry construction’ = Minimal pair (huge difference in meaning but small in pronunciation) = contrastive
Kikamba (Bantu language spoken in Kenya) •
[k] and [g] are predictable –
[g] can only occur after [ŋ] (rule)
–
[k] will never occur after [ŋ] (no exceptions)
–
If a velar stop in Kikamba:
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
[g] occurs after [ŋ], otherwise [k]
= complementary distribution •
English
-
if a velar stop in English:
-
[g] occurs after [ŋ], otherwise [k] ??????
No! -
anchor [æŋkɹ]̩
-
anger [æŋgɹ̩]
-
not predictable whether /k/ or /g/
Kikamba •
[katala]
‘count’
•
[okatala]
‘if you count’
•
[ŋgatala] ‘if I count’ •
Underlying tone in these words changes the /k/ to /g/ English
Phonemes
/k/
/g/
Allophones
[k]
[g]
Kikamba /k/ [k]
[g]
Phonemes and allophones Allophonic variation • [ kʰ æ̃n t ] can’t nasalized vowel •
[ pɹ o ŋ ̃ ]
•
[ pæ n ̃ ] /v/ [v]
•
v=vowel [v ]̃
Phonemic analysis •
[ kʰ æ̃n t ] vs. [kʰ æ n t ] •
No difference in meaning in English!
phoneme allophones
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014 [ kʰ æ̃n t ] vs. [k æ̃ n t ] •
•
No difference in meaning in English!
P. 109 •
•
(1)
•
(2)
•
(3)
Gives different allophones
January 30, 2014
Phonology The study of •
distribution of sounds in a language –
•
How sounds are organized and used in natural languages.
the interactions between those different sounds –
Rules that specify how sounds interact with each other
•
What is the organization of sounds in a given language?
•
Which sounds are predictable and which are unpredictable in given contexts?
•
Which sounds affect the identities of words?
Phonetics Phonology Phonetics • Basis for phonological analysis •
Analyzes the production of all human speech sounds (regardless of language)
Phonology –
Basis for further work in morphology, syntax, discourse, etc.
–
Analyzes the sound patterns of a particular language •
Determining which phonetic sounds are significant
•
Explaining how these sounds are interpreted (by the native speaker)
What is a phoneme? • The smallest contrastive unit in the sound system of a language. •
American structuralist tradition: –
•
Phoneme is defined according to its allophones and environments
Generative tradition: •
Phoneme is defined by a set of distinctive features.
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Distinctive features • /p/
•
/i/
+syllabic
-syllabic
-consonantal
+consonantal
+sonorant
-sonorant
+high
+anterior
-low -back
-coronal
-round
-voice
+ATR
-continuant
-nasal
-nasal
Components of Generative Phonology •
Phonetic representations are assigned to utterances –
•
Reflect native speaker’s internalized grammar
Levels of phonological representations –
Underlying representation
–
Phonetic representation
Phonological rules – Map underlying representations onto phonological representations. Name the largest city in Ontario • Toronto, right? –
How did you say ‘Toronto’?
–
[təˈɹɑnto]
–
[ˈtɹɑnə]
Say the another name for purse • handbag •
[hændbæg] ̃
•
[hænbæg] ̃
•
[hæmbæg] ̃
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
[hæmbæ?] ̃
Phonotactics Certain sounds which are permissible in English Ex. Psychology (starts with /s/) •
Possible words
•
Restrictions on what C and V patterns go together to making up syllables and words
•
Restrictions differ from one language to the other (ex. French and English)
•
Restrictions can be formulated in rules
Phonotactic constraints = Restriction on possible combinations of sounds. Restrictions of wordinitial consonants in English • All may begin a word of English with two exceptions –
[ŋ] and [ʒ] (ex. The –ing in singer and the –sur in leisure)
Restrictions of wordinitial consonants in English • Two-consonant combinations –
Stop or fricative (ex. Print, bring, play) followed by a liquid or a glide •
[bɹ]
bring
[θɹ]
three
•
[gl]
glean
[fl]
fly
•
[mj]
music
[hj]
humour
•
[kw] quick
•
Internal grammar has figured out what permissible in language
•
Other two-consonant combinations –
–
[sw] sweet
[s] followed by voiceless and nasal stops •
[st]
steam
•
[sm]
smear
•
snoop
[s] followed by [f] and [v]
s and is not
LING 1001B
–
January 30, 2014 •
[sf] sphere
•
[sv] svelte
[ʃ] can be followed by [ɹ] in native English clusters •
–
[ʃɹ] shrink
a nasal stop or a liquid in non-native English clusters •
‘Schlemiel, Schnook, schlepp’
•
But also by a stop as in ‘Spiel’
Location of combination matters (ps in psychology vs. ps in stop)
Sound constraints in different positions Syllable type • Basic syllable structure •
Syllables’ can have consonants, vowels in any order or combination (ex. On next page)
•
2 main divisions –
Onset •
–
All consonants before the vowel
Rhyme (sometimes spelled rime) •
Nucleus: vowel or diphthong
•
Coda: consonants following vowel (if any
Multisyllabic words (English) •
•
Two principles yield unique syllable structures –
Maximize onsets
–
Avoid rhymes ending in lax vowels
Maximize onsets in English –
As many consonants as possible into the onset •
•
Maximum determined by possible one-syllable words
Avoid rhymes ending in lax vowels –
e.g., *[bə], *[tɪ]
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
Simple closed syllable –
WORD
Syllable types in English V= Vowel
C= consonant
•
V
• • •
VC at VCC ask VCCC asked
a • •
CV CCCV no CVC CCCVC knot spleen CVCCCCCVCC camp strength • •
Word
Word •
•
spree
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Syllable types in other languages Hawaiian
Indonesian
CV
CV
CV
V
V
CCV
VC
CCVC
CVC
CVC
No double consonant sounds
CVCC can’t have just a vowel
No coda in the syllable
Hebrew
Restraints in English – Two stops combination •
‘Ptolemy’ –
•
‘Gdansk’ –
–
(English would not pronounce the /p?/)
(English would say Gudansk)
Stop and nasal •
‘gnostic’ –
•
English would not pronounce the /g/
‘Knish’
Restraints in other languages • Japanese and Finnish
•
–
Avoid syllables containing Consonant sequences
–
Modify borrowed words
–
They do not allow consonant clusters
Finnish drops Cs –
Strand /sctant/ (CCCVCC) à ranta (CVNCV) ‘beach’...N= nasal
–
Glass /glas/ (CCVC) à lasi
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014
Japanese inserts Vs –
CCC à CVCVCV •
Rule-governed and predictable –
After [t] and [d]: insert [o]
–
After all other consonants: insert [ɯ] »
Birth control
/bəɹθ kəntɹol / à [ba:sɯ kontoro:rɯ] -
Rules of what vowels are in certain positions
-
After an alveolar stop there has to be an /o/ in Japanese
Phonotactic constraints in signed languages •
•
ASL specific: –
Monosyllbic sign cannot just consist of one handshape, one location, and one orientation; at least one of these segments must change in order to form a grammatical syllable.
–
Handshape change can occur in one location if a previous sign is comprised of no movement
–
Handshape change must occur during movement if there is movement in the previous sign
–
Also constraints on what signs may be adjacent to one another.
One-handed signs are performed with the dominant hand –
Restrictions on non-dominant hand •
If both hands are moving, non-dominant hand must have same handshape, orientation, and motion as dominant hand à symmetry constraint.
Direction may be parallel or anti-parallel p. 106/107 Signed code for Mandarin Chinese versus Taiwan Sign language (hearing people wanted to introduced new signs into Mandarin Chinese code the symmetry rule was thrown out the window. Then in Taiwan sign could not accept these new signs because of language rules)
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
Foreign Accents •
Spanish –
[st], [sk], [sp] clusters not permitted word-initially
à[ɛstudɛnt] •
Sound substitution (can not pronounce voiced fricative th- because of the place of articulation) –
French speakers
[ð] à [z] ‘this’ Why this sound? –
English speakers
–
[x] à [k] ‘Bach’
–
[x] à [h] ‘Bach’
Phonemes and Allophones (un)predictability English •
[k] and [g] not predictable
•
In English the pronunciation of k and g is not predictable
-
[b ɹ ɪ _____]
-
[b ɹ ɪ g] ‘sailing vessel’
-
[b ɹ ɪ k] ‘block used in masonry construction’ = Minimal pair (huge difference in meaning but small in pronunciation) = contrastive
Kikamba (Bantu language spoken in Kenya) •
[k] and [g] are predictable –
[g] can only occur after [ŋ] (rule)
–
[k] will never occur after [ŋ] (no exceptions)
–
If a velar stop in Kikamba:
LING 1001B
January 30, 2014
[g] occurs after [ŋ], otherwise [k]
= complementary distribution •
English
-
if a velar stop in English:
-
[g] occurs after [ŋ], otherwise [k] ??????
No! -
anchor [æŋkɹ]̩
-
anger [æŋgɹ̩]
-
not predictable whether /k/ or /g/
Kikamba •
[katala]
‘count’
•
[okatala]
‘if you count’
•
[ŋgatala] ‘if I count’ •
Underlying tone in these words changes the /k/ to /g/ English
Phonemes
/k/
/g/
Allophones
[k]
[g]
Kikamba /k/ [k]
[g]
Phonemes and allophones Allophonic variation • [ kʰ æ̃n t ] can’t nasalized vowel •
[ pɹ o ŋ ̃ ]
•
[ pæ n ̃ ] /v/ [v]
•
v=vowel [v ]̃
Phonemic analysis •
[ kʰ æ̃n t ] vs. [kʰ æ n t ] •
No difference in meaning in English!
phoneme allophones
LING 1001B •
January 30, 2014 [ kʰ æ̃n t ] vs. [k æ̃ n t ] •
•
No difference in meaning in English!
P. 109 •
•
(1)
•
(2)
•
(3)
Gives different allophones
