Phonology

The sound patterns of language

What is Phonology?

Peter
 what is Phonology?
the study about how speech sounds form
pattern is Phonology.
the linguistic knowledge that speakers have
about the sound patterns of their language.
the description of that knowledge that
linguists try to produce.
 Phonology tell us...
sounds in our language v.s. foreign language.

impossible combination of sounds *Mbick.

certain phonetic features can identify a word.

adjust our pronunciation and morphemes

 the pronunciation
of morphemes
how we pronounce words and parts of words
we call morpheme.
certain morphemes are pronounced
differently depending on their contexts.
for example...
 the pronunciation
of Plurals
cat/cats, dog/dogs, house/houses, ox/oxen
what’s the difference of their plural forms
pronunciation?
How do we know how to pronounce these
plural nouns ?
 The final sound of
the plural nouns
column A is a [z], a voiced alveolar fricative
column B is a [s], a voiceless alveolar
fricative
column C is a [əz]
column D are a hodge-podge of special cases.
 What is allomorph ?

the more technical term for variant of a

morpheme.
phonological analysis
phonological analysis
there are some property of the environment
associated with each group of allomorph.
[kæb] or [lʌv] / [bʌs] or [bʌz]
[z] or [əz]
 minimal pairs
two words with different meanings that are
identical except for one sound segment
that occurs in the same place in each word.
cat [kæt] and mat [mæt] , initial segment
bus [bʌs] / buzz [bʌz] , final segment
 the distribution of
plural allomorphs
conditioned by the final segment of the
singular form.
 inspection
[əz] : after sibilants segment
[s] : after voiceless nonsibilant segment
[z] : after voiced nonsibilant segment
 Rules - phonetic forms
of all plurals
we assume that the basic or underlying form
of the plural morpheme is /z/, with the
meaning ‘plural.’ This is the “default”
pronunciation.
 Rules - phonetic forms
of all plurals

if no rule applies, then the plural morpheme will be

realized as [z]
 conclusion
The particular phonological rules that
determine the phonetic form of the plural
morpheme and other morphemes of the
language are morphophonemic rules.
Such rules concern the pronunciation of
specific morphemes.
 conclusion
That the rules of phonology are based on
properties of segments rather than on
individual words is one of the factors .
Once the rule is learned, thousands of word
forms are automatically known.
 conclusion
English is not the only language that has
morphemes that are pronounced differently
in different phonological environments.
Many languages have morpheme variation
that can be described by rules similar to the
ones we have written for English.
Phonemes and Allophone

Cheng Yu (Feather)
 what is a Phoneme?
The phonological unit of languge
You use phoneme to build words
Abstract basic form of a sound as sensed
mentally rather than spoken or heard
Manifested physically by one or more actual
sounds, called “allophone”
what are Allophones ?
the perceptible sounds corresponding to the
phoneme in various environment
the sounds we can actually feel and sense
physically, depending on the phoneme in
different environment
 Example

The phoneme [p]

aspirated allophone [pʰ]: pit

without aspirated allophone[p]: spit
 Example
Nasality
Vowels are nasalized before a nasal consonant within the same syllable
how to find Phoneme
Minimal pair
substituting one sound for another
in a word to see if it makes a difference
 how to find Phoneme
[i] [ɪ] [e] [ɛ] [æ] [u] [ʊ] [ɑ] [o] [ɔ] [ɑ] [ʌ] [aɪ] [aʊ] [ɔɪ]

each vowel phoneme have at least 2

allophones, which means they have two
ways of being pronounced. ex. orally or
nasally.
the choice of the allophone is not random
but rule-governed
 What is a Phone?
a particular realization (pronuncation) of a
phoneme
the aggregate of phones that are the
realization of the same phoneme are called
the allophones of that phoneme
phonemic transcription

slashes // are for phonemes

brackets [ ] are for allphones or phones
 Complementary Distribution
Where A occur, B do not occur, vise versa.

Ex. Where oral vowels occur, nasal vowels do not occur, vise versa.
In this sense, the phones are said to complement each other——to
be in complementary distribution.
Complementary Distribution
Contrastive:
can be used to make different words
ex. big/dig
Non-contrastive:
cannot be used to make different words
ex. letter(tʰ/ɾ)
 Complementary Distribution
Contrastive sounds constitute the phonemes of the
language
“the allophones of a phoneme”do not contrast
with each other, and are in a complementary
distribution---never occurring in identical
environments
 the Need for Smilarity
When sounds are in complementary distribution, the
replacement of one sound for another will not change
the meaning of the word
→A phoneme can be viewed as a set of phonetically
similar sounds that are in complementary distribution
the choice of one or another allophone (pronunciation)
is determined by its phonetic environment
 the Need for Smilarity
Complementary distribution alone is not sufficient to
determine the allophones of a phoneme, the phones must be
phonetically similar
Ex. velar nasal[ŋ] and glottal fricative [h] are in
complementary distribution, but [ŋ] does not occur word-
initially and [h] does not occur word-finally. Other than that,
they also share very few phonetic features: [ŋ]is a voiced velar
nasal stop; [h] is a voiceless glottal fricative. Therefore, they
are allophones of different phonemes.
 (sort of a)conclusion
Speakers of a language generally percieve the
different allophones of a single phoneme as the
same sound or phone. For example, bead/bean,
because mentally, speakers produce and hear
phonemes, not phone.
Distinctive features
of
Phonemes
Sharon
 Distinctive Features of Phonemes

Phonetics Phonology

[Link] the means to describe the tells us how various sounds form
phones (sounds) of language patterns to create phonemes and their
allophones
[Link] how they are produced and
vary
 Distinctive Features of Phonemes

[s] & [z] represent two contrasting

phonemes in English

seal [sil] & zeal[zil]

allophone of one phoneme

because one cannot replace the [s] with the [z]

without changing the meaning of the word
 Distinctive Features of Phonemes

seal [sil] & zeal[zil]

> The fact that you can find a minimal pair also means
they are not in complementary distribution as both
occur word initially before the vowel [i]

> They are therefore allophones of the two different

phonemes /s/ and /z/
 Distinctive Features of Phonemes

voicing
seal [sil] & zeal[zil] [s]:voiceless / [z]:voiced
phonetic feature

feel & veal: [f] / [v] cap & cab: [p] / [b]
 Distinctive Features of Phonemes

when a feature distinguishes one phoneme from

another, hence one word from another,
it is a distinctive feature or a phonemic feature
Feature Value
Sharon
 Feature Values

one can think of voicing and voicelessness as the

presence or absence of a single feature, voiced.

plus(+): presence , minus(-): absence

ex: [b]:[+voiced], [p]:[-voiced]
 Feature Values

The presence or absence of nasality can

similarly be designated as [+nasal] or [-nasal]

plus(+): presence , minus(-): absence

ex: [m]:[+nasal][b]:[+nasal], [p]:[-nasal]
 Feature Values

We consider the phonetic and phonemic symbols to

be cover symbols for sets of distinctive features

They are a shorthand method of specifying the

phonetic properties of segments.
 Feature Values
Phones and phonemes are not indissoluble units;
They are composed of phonetic features

molecules atoms
(phones & phonemes) (phonetic features)
 Feature Values
p b m

Labial + + +

Voiced – + +

Nasal – – +
 Feature Values

listed as a phonemic feature

Aspiration in the specification of these units
for English

because [p] and [pʰ] do not

represent different phonemes in English
 Feature Values
phonetic feature
is distinctive when + & – values of that feature in
certain words with different meanings

ex: [+voiced] on [z] in [zIp]

[–voiced] on [s] in [sIp]
 Feature Values
b m d n g ŋ

voiced + + + + + +

Labial + + – – – –

Alveolar – – + + – –

Velar – – – – + +

Nasal – + – + – +

each phoneme in this chart differs from all the other

phonemes by at least one distinctive feature
 Feature Values
Vowels have distinctive features too
look[lʊk] ([+back])
ex: [±back]
lick[lɪk] ([–back])

beat[i]
[±tense]
bit[ɪ]
Nondistinctive Features
Sharon
 Nondistinctive Features
distinctive feature of English consonants
Aspiration
nondistinctive/redundant/predictable
feature

some features may be distinctive for one class of sounds

but predictable for another
(means predictable by rule)
 Nondistinctive Features
ex: nasality is a distinctive feature of English consonants
but not for English vowels

predict when an /m/ or an /n/ will occur in an English word

predict the nasality feature value of the vowels in bean,

mean, comb, and sing
(because the nasalized vowels occur before nasal consonants)

the feature nasal is nondistinctive for vowels

 Nondistinctive Features
Nasality on vowels is phonemic in Portuguese
Nasalization is a distinctive feature for vowels in Akan

[ka] “bite” [kã] “speak”

[fi] “come from” [f ĩ] “dirty”
[tu] “pull” [tũ] “den”
[nsa] “hand” [nsã] “liquor”
[tʃi] “hate” [tʃ ĩ] “squeeze”
[pam]“sew” [pãm] “confederate”
 Nondistinctive Features
Another nondistinctive feature in English is aspiration for
voiceless stops.

The voiceless aspirated stops [pʰ],[tʰ] and [kʰ] and the voiceless
unaspirated stops [p], [t], and [k] are in complementary
distribution.
Phonemic Patterns May
Vary across Languages
Sharon
Aspiration is a phonetic feature in Thai just as in English,
but it functions differently in the two languages.

Voiceless Unaspirated Voiceless Aspirated

[paa] forest [pʰaa]to split

[tam] to pound [tʰam] to do
[kat] to bite [kʰat] to interrupt
In English they are allophones of the phonemes /p/, /t/, and /k/;
in Thai they represent the distinct phonemes /p/, /t/, /k/,/pʰ/,
/tʰ/, and /kʰ/.

aspiration is a distinctive feature in Thai;

it is a nondistinctive redundant feature in English
 The phonetic facts alone do not reveal
what is distinctive or phonemic:

The phonetic representation of utterances shows what speakers

know about the pronunciation of sounds.

The phonemic representation of utterances shows what speakers

know about the patterning of sounds.
 Korean

il “day” i:l “work”

seda“to count” se:da“strong”
kul “oyster” ku:l “tunnel”
 Italian African language
grandfather = nonno/non:o/ grow up = /kula/
ninth = nono/nono/ treasure = /k:ula/

consonant length is consonant length is

phonemic phonemic and unpredictable
 In ASL phonology, signs can be decomposed into
handshape, movement, and location.

“candy”,”apple”,”jealous”:
articulated at the same location on the face
involve the same movement
but contrast minimally in hand configuration
“summer”,”ugly”,”dry”:
a minimal set contrasting only in place of articulation
“tape”,”chair”,”train”:
contrast only in movement
 Like sounds, signs can be decomposed into
smaller minimal units that contrast meaning.

Some features are non-distinctive.

Whether a sign is articulated on the right or left hand

does not affect its meaning.
Natural classes of
speech sound

Ryan
Natural classes of speech sound

Phonological rules determine vowels-- nasalized,

voiceless stop aspirated.

Apply to made- up words

Sint, peeg, sparg
phonemically
/sɪnt/, /pig/, /sparg/

phonetically.
[sĩnt], [phig], [sparg]
Similar phonological rules involve the same classes of
sounds such as nasal and voiceless stop.

Nasalized vowel before nasal consonant.

[ +nasal ]
[ +voiced ], [ -voiced ]

Ex. Aspirated sounds [ -voiced ]

Voiceless
 Natural classes

A group of sounds described by a small number of

distinctive features.

[–voiced], [–continuant]
[–voiced], [–continuant] /p/, /t/, /k/, /ʧ/.

However...

/p/ [–voiced], [–continuant], [+labial].

Feature-Changing
Rules

Danny
rules change features from one value to its opposite or
even add features not present

rule in English aspirates voiceless stops at the

beginning of a syllable
rule : aspirates voiceless stops at the beginning of a
syllable

/p/ pit , repeat aspirated [pʰ]

/p/ inspect , compass unaspirated [p]

 We can now state the rule

A voiceless noncontinuant has [+aspirated] added

to its feature matrix at the beginning of a syllable
when followed by a stressed vowel with an optional
intervening consonant.
Assimilation Rules
 The vowel nasalization rule is an assimilation rule that
makes neighboring segments more similar by adding the
feature [ +nasal] to the vowel.
 the vowel nasalization rule
Vowels are nasalized before a nasal consonant within the
same syllable.
This rule specifies the class of sounds affected by the rule:

Vowels
It states what phonetic change will occur by applying the rule:

Change phonemic oral vowels to phonetic nasal vowels.

and it specifies the context or phonological environment.

Before a nasal consonant within the same syllable

 short hand

V → [+nasal] / _ [+nasal] $
vowels nasalized before nasal within a syllable
segments
became when
 den/dɛn/ [dɛn]

deck /dɛk/ [dek]

not affected!!
 “bob” “boom”
phonemic representation /b a b/ /b u m/

Nasality: phonemic
- O* - - O* +
feature value

Apply nasal rule NA

Nasality: phonetic feature

- - - - + +
value

phonemic representation [b ~
u m]
[b a b]

*The O means not present on the phonemic level.

dissimilation Rules
 dissimilation

similar sounds become less similar to be easy to say

“the sixth sheik's sixth sheep is sick”

harder than

"the second sheik's tenth sheep is sick"

 fricative dissimilation rule

applies to sequences to be a stop fifth sixth

/fθ/ and /sθ/
into
into
fift sikst
[ft] and [st].
 -al -ar all of the -ar contain
/l/
ment-al angul-ar
annu-al annul-ar
spiritu-al simil-ar
ven-al vel-ar
Segment Insertion
and Deletion Rules

Alesa
 Phonoligical rules may add or delete entire segment.

Epenthesis

The process of inserting a consonant or vowel.

The rules for forming regular plurals, possessive forms,
and third-person singular verb agreement in English all
require an epenthesis rule.
Example

●insert a /ə/ before morpheme /z/ ➝[əz]

eg. kiss➝kisses

●add a [z] to squeeze to form its plural➝[skwizː]

But it would be hard for English speakers to distinguish from [skwiz],
because they do not contrast long and short consonants.
Segment deletion

One such rule occurs in casual or rapid speech.

Example

mystery➝mystry general➝genral memory➝memry

funeral➝funral vigorous➝vigrous Barbara➝Barbra

 Segment deletion

The silent g that torments spellers in such words.

Example
A B
sign [sãɪn] signature [sɪgnəʧər]
design [dəzãɪn] designation [dεzɪgneʃ�n]
paradigm [pʰærədãɪm] paradigmatic [pʰærədɪgmæɾək]
a phonetic [g] a [g] occurs

↓
a /g/ that will be deleted by the regular
rule if a prefix or suffix is not added.
 From One to Many
and from Many to One
Phonemic to Phonetic representation

FUNCTION EXAMPLE

1. Change feature values [Link] consonant assimilation rules in

Akan and English
2. Add new features [Link] in English
3. Delete segments 3. g-deletion before nasals in English
4. Add segments 4. Schwa insertion in English plural
and past tense
The same phone may be the realization of several different phonemes.

↓ ↓
All the boldfaced vowels are stressed The boldfaced vowels are without stress, or
vowels with a variety of vowel phones. reduced, and are pronounced as schwa [ə].
 The word meaning ‘bundle,’ Bund /bʊnd/;
In German, ‘colorful,’bunt /bʊnt/

↓ [+voiced]

The phonemic representation of the final stop in Bund is /d/,

specified as [+voiced]; it is changed by rule to [–voiced] to derive
the phonetic [t] in word-final position.

No simple relationship between phonemes and their allophones.

 The Function of
Phonological Rules
 The function is to provide the phonetic information
necessary for the pronunciation of utterances.

Derivation
Slips of the Tongue:
Evidence for
Phonological Rules
 Slips of the Tongue = speech errors

Example
Intended Utterance Actual Utterance

1. gone to seed 1. god to seen → nasalization rule

[gãn tə sid] [gad tə sĩn]
[Link] in the mud [Link] in the tid → aspiration rule
[stɪk ɪ̃n ðə mʌd] [smʌk ɪ̃n ðə thɪd]
[Link] production [Link] seduction → aspiration rule
[spiʧ phrədʌkʃə̃n] [phriʧ sədʌkʃə̃n]
Prosodic Phonology

Melody
 Syllable Structure
Every syllable has a nucleus
one or more phonemes
usually a vowel
a phonological unit (but can be a syllabic liquid or nasal)
may be preceded and/or followed
one or more syllables by one or more phonemes called the
syllable onset and coda.
words
 Syllable Structure
In rhyming words, the nucleus and the coda of
Jack and Jill the final syllable of both words are identical.
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
the nucleus + coda constitute the subsyllabic
unit called a rime (note the spelling).
Using the IPA symbol σ for the phonological
syllable, the hierarchical structure of the
monosyllabic word splints can be shown:
 Word Stress
one or more of the syllables in every content word are stressed
Be marked by an acute accent (')
Example:
pérvert (noun) as in "My neighbor is a pervert."
pervért (verb) as in "Don't pervert the idea."
súbject (noun) as in "Let's change the subject."
subiéct (verb) as in "He'll subject us to criticism.
adjective inválid (not valid) /the noun invalid (a sickly person).
 Word Stress
The vowel that receives primary stress is marked by an acute
accent (´). The other stressed vowels are indicated by grave
accents (`) over the vowels
Example:
rèsignátion lìnguístics sỳstemátic
fûndaméntal ìntrodúctory rèvolútion
vowels in unstressed syllables are pronounced as schwa [ǝ]in
English except at the ends of certain words such as confetti,
laboratory, and motto.
 Word Stress
láboratòry
American English ：
British English :
=>English vowels generally reduce to schwa
or delete when they are not stressed
British version the fourth vowel is deleted because it is not
stressed.
property of the syllable
prosodic or suprasegmental feature.
Sentence and Phrase Stress
Is capable by varied vocal inflexions of expressing all
states of mind.
only one of the vowels in a phrase (or sentence)
receives primary stress or accent.
we place primary stress on the adjectival part of a
compound noun (which may be written as one word,
two words separated by a hyphen, or two separate
words)=>chapter3
Sentence and Phrase Stress
we place the stress on the noun when the words are a
noun phrase consisting of an adjective followed by a
noun.
Example:
 Sentence and Phrase Stress

1. stress may be predictable from the morphology and

syntax.
2. The stress differences between the noun and verb pairs
are also predictable from the syntactic word category.
 Intonation

Pitch still plays an important role, but only in the form of the
pitch contour or intonation of the phrase or sentence.
=>is also a phonemic feature in tone languages such as
Chinese, Thai, and Akan.

Intonation may reflect syntactic or

semantic difference.
Intonation

Tristram wanted Isolde to follow him

Tristram wanted Isolde to read and

follow a set of directions,
Sequential Constraints
of Phonemes

Patrick
 Phonotactic Constraints

Limitations on sequences of phonemes that exist

in all languages, albeit with different constraints.

What makes “explicit” a possible English

word but not “condstluct”?
 Explanation:
Syllables are the basis of phonotactic constraints, so only
clusters that can begin a syllable can begin a word and only a
cluster that can end a syllable can end a word.

The former does NOT violate any rules because of a clear

syllable boundary between /k/ and /spl/
The latter does violate this rule because the second syllable
starts with the impermissible onset of /stl/ or /tl/
Accidental gaps
Creck, cruck

Xanax, Kodak
Why Do Phonological Rules Exist?
page 258 page 259

“Many linguists believe that “Thus phonological rules exist because

phonological rules exist to ensure that languages have general principles that
the surface or phonetic forms of words constrain possible sequences of sounds. The
rules specify minimal modifications of the
do not violate phonotactic constraints. If
underlying forms that bring them in line with
underlying forms remained unmodified, the surface constraints. Therefore, we find
they would often violate the different variants of a particular underlying
phonotactics of the language.” form depending on the phonological context.”
 Constraints in Twi, a language
different languages spoken in Ghana

/pik/ is not a possible word in

Twi but /mba/ is because
words in Twi may end only in
a vowel or nasal consonant
(e.g. /mba/, /bam/, /ban/)
 Constraints in Polish language
different languages

/zl/ and /kt/ - which are

impermissible in English - are
permissible syllable-initial
combinations in Polish
 Constraints in Croatian language
different languages

/ml/ in Mladen - which is

impermissible in English - is a
permissible sequence in
Croatian
 Constraints in Japanese language
different languages
Severe constraints In
Japanese on what may begin
a syllable means very few
combinations are permissible
(usually a consonant and a
vowel with /sh/ being one
exception)
English
Consonants If a word begins
cannot be with an /l/ or an
followed by /r/, the next
Obstruent sequences may not another stop segment MUST be
consonant (e.g. a vowel (e.g. lamp,
differ with respect to their voice road)
*bkli)
feature at the end of a word (e.g.
[kasb], [kabs] VS [kasp], [kɛbz])
Sequences of obstruents that
differ at most with respect to
voicing are not permitted
within English words

(Constraint A)
 Optimality Theory

This theory proposes that a universal set of phonological constraints exists. This
set is ordered and some constraints are more highly ranked than others. The
higher the constraint is ranked, the more influence it exerts on the language.

As we’ve seen through the past-tense rule, English highly ranks constraint A
In Modern Hebrew, constraint A is highly ranked, so suffixes that begin with
/t/ are always separated from stems ending in /t/ or /d/ by inserting [e] as
in /kiʃat + ti/ ([kiʃatetɪ])
In Berber, constraint A is NOT highly ranked, so /tt/, /dd/, and /ss/
consonants can surface
Phonological
Analysis
Time :D