CHAPTER 4 The Sound Patterns of Language

Phonology

Phonology is the study of how sounds are organized and used in a language. It's about the mental blueprint or abstract representation of sounds, rather than their physical production.

Individual Variation: While there are millions of different vocal tracts, and each individual pronounces sounds differently in various contexts, we can still recognize them consistently.

Phonological Knowledge: Our understanding of a language's sound patterns (phonological knowledge) helps us overcome these variations and identify words correctly.

Underlying Design: Phonology focuses on the underlying design or blueprint of each sound type, not the physical variations that can occur.

Meaningful Distinctions: The key is to distinguish sounds that have meaningful consequences, like the difference between "t" and "k" in "tar" and "car."

Abstract Representation: Phonology deals with the mental representation of sounds that allows us to recognize and interpret words based on what we hear and say.

Phonemes

Each one of these meaning-distinguishing sounds in a language is described as a phoneme

-The phoneme (the single stable sound) are used by the single written symbol

-The phoneme /t/ is described as a sound type, all the different spoken versions of [t] are tokens

-[i] occurs before a voiceless consonant while [i:] occurs before a voiced consonant

–Functions contrastively:

Important properties of phonemes

Is the basic activity to identify phonemes in language

two phonemes /f/ and /v/ –> the contrast in meaning between the words fat and vat, or fine and vine

Natural Classes

A set of phonemes in a language that share certain distinctive features.

–Natural Classes: a set of phonemes in a language that share certain distinctive features.

Ex: /v/ has the features [+voice, +labiodental, +fricative] and so cannot be in the same natural class as the sounds /p/ or /k/

=> Voiced stops and other classes of sound are not affected by this rule

-Natural classes can be defined by + and – feature values

Phones and Allophones

– Allophones: one of a closely related set of speech sounds or phones - versions of one phoneme

–Phones: units and appear in square brackets

-If we add the prefix “allo-” (= one of a closely related set) and call them allophones of that phoneme.

–An allophone is a different pronunciation of a phoneme that does not change word meaning

Complementary Distribution

–Complementary distribution is the relationship between two different pronunciations (allophones) of a sound type (phoneme) in different places in words

Minimal Pairs and Sets

–Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested via pairs and sets of words.

–Minimal pairs: when two words are identical in form except for contrast in one phoneme occurring in the same position –> such as fan and van

–Minimal sets: when a group of words can be differentiated, each one from the others, by changing one phoneme in the same position in the word

Phonotactics

Phonotactics are constraints or the permitted arrangements of sounds

-The part of every speaker’s phonological knowledge.

Ex: the arrangement of sounds in [fsig] and [rnig] are not permitted –> do not exist in the English language.

Syllables

A syllable (âm tiết): a unit of sound which must contain a vowel or vowel-like sound, including

Must contain:

Onset= initial one or more consonants
Rhyme (or rime): a vowel treated as the nucleus
Coda= final one or more consonants

Two types of syllable:

Syllables like me, to or no have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as open syllables
When a coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are called closed syllables.
-The basic structure of the kind of syllable found in English words like: green (CCVC), eggs (VCC), and (VCC), ham (CVC), I (V), do (CV), not (CVC), like (CVC), them (CVC), Sam (CVC), am (VC)

Consonant Clusters

Consonant clusters are the onset and coda combining more than one consonant as permitted in English phonotactics –> such as stop, post

Consonant clusters of two consonants (CC): a combination between liquids + glide –>such as black, bread, trick, twin, flat, and throw

-Consonant clusters with three consonants (CCC): the phonotactics of the larger onset (CCC) => the first consonant must be /s/, followed by a –voice stop (/p/,/t/,/k/) and a liquid or glide (/l/,/r/,/w/) –> such as stress, splat, splash, strong, square, spring, strong

Coarticulation Effects

Is the process of making one sound almost at the same time as the next sound.

In English, large clusters may be reduced in casual conversational speech, particularly if they occur in the middle of a word. This is just one example of a process that is usually discussed in terms of coarticulation effects.

Assimilation

When two sound segments occur in sequence and some aspect of one segment is taken or copied by the other.

–Assimilation of place: a final consonant (Cf) with alveolar place of articulation is followed by an inital consonat (Ci) with a place of articulation that is not alveolar

Ex: He’s ab rather fat boy. (/t/ assimilates to /p/)

Nasalization

The vowel becomes nasal whenever it immediately precedes or follow a nasal consonant /m,n/

Vowels are also subject to assimilation.
In isolation, we would typically pronounce [ɪ] and [æ] with no nasal quality at all. However, when we say the words pin and pan in everyday talk, the anticipation of the final nasal consonant makes it easier to go into the nasalized articulation in advance.
This process is known as nasalization and can be represented with a small diacritic (~), called “tilde,” over the vowel symbol.

–Obstruent sounds: plosives, affricates and fricatives

–Sonorant sounds: nasals, liquids and glides

–yam: /jæm/

–parsnip: /ˈpɑːsnɪp/

Elision

The process of not pronouncing a sound segment that might be present in the careful pronunciation of a word in isolation

– In consonant clusters, especially coda position, /t/ and /d/ is a common elision

–> such as aspects [æspεks]

-/ə/ can disappear in unstressed syllables –> such as perhaps [pəˈhæps],

-/v/ can disappear in of, before consonants

-Avoidance of complex consonant clusters –> 3 plosives/ 2 plosives plus a fricative -> middle plosive and disappear

-Weak vowel +n,l,r becomes a syllabic consonant

-In vowels, they disappear in some positions –> such as every [εvri]

Normal Speech

These processes of assimilation, nasalization, and elision occur in everyone’s normal speech and should not be regarded as some type of sloppiness or laziness in speaking

In fact, consistently avoiding the regular patterns of assimilation, nasalization and elision used in a language would result in extremely artificial-sounding talk.
The point of investigating these phonological processes is not to arrive at a set of rules about how a language should be pronounced
But to try to come to an understanding of the regularities and patterns that underlie the actual use of sounds in language. Study Quest

Study Questions

These two vowels are phonemes in French. While they may sound similar, they are distinct sounds that can change the meaning of a word. For example, "beau" (handsome) and "bon" (good) are clearly different words, demonstrating that the difference in vowel quality is phonemic.
The English phoneme /k/ has these features. It is voiceless (–voice), produced at the velar place of articulation (+velar), and is a stop consonant (+stop).
An aspirated sound is one that has a puff of air released after the closure. In English, the words "kill", "pool", "skill", and "spool" are typically pronounced with aspirated /k/ and /p/ sounds.
This phrase contains neither a minimal pair nor a minimal set. A minimal pair consists of two words that differ in only one sound and have different meanings. A minimal set is a group of words that differ in only one sound and share the same meaning. In this phrase, the words "big", "black", and "bag" are distinct, and there are no pairs or sets that meet the criteria.
ban/pan

fat/pat

bet/vet

This type of exercise with minimal sets also allows us to see that there are definite patterns in the types of sound combinations permitted in a language.
The rhyme (sometimes written as “rime”) consists of a vowel, which is treated as the nucleus.
Syllables like me, to or no have an onset and a nucleus, but no coda. They are known as open syllables

When a coda is present, as in the syllables up, cup, at or hat, they are called closed syllables

The nasal consonant in the everyday pronunciation of "I can go" is alveolar.
This process of not pronouncing a sound segment that might be present in the deliberately careful pronunciation of a word in isolation is described as elision.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse