Phonology

Remark

It can be thought as the “grammar of sounds”

Allophones and Phonemes

What is the difference between the / notation and the [] notation?

The / notation refers to the phoneme, while the []refers to an allophone

Allophone

An actual sound (IPA sounds)

Phoneme

An abstract entity - not directly observable. Can be used to represent a group of allophones that represent the same underlying sound.

Contrastive

Constrastive

Two sounds are contrastive if replacing the sound with another sound changes the meaning of the word.

Remark

By default, two contrastive sounds belong to different phonemes.

A minimal pair

A pair of sounds that differ by one feature and are contrastive.

Complementary Distribution

Complementary distribution

Two sounds are in a complementary distribution if they are a minimal pair, and are contrastive.

We can predict when each sound will occur in a complementary distributioon.

Free Variation

Free variation

Two sounds are in free variation if they are non-contrastive and can occur in the same phonetic environments

Two sounds can occur in the same phonetic environments, but different context (formal vs informal).

The distribution of each allophone is not determined by the phonetic environment, but by other non-phonetic factors.

Phonemic Analysis

Phonemic Analysis

To decide whether two or more sounds belong to the same phoneme.

1. assume no free variation (for test purposes)
2. look for minimal pairs
   • if a minimal pair is found
     • the two sounds are contrastive
     • allophones of different phonemes
3. look closely at phonetic environments
   • for each sound, create a list of environments of the form
     • ( as the preceding sound, as the proceeding sound)
   • check for complementary distribution (generalisations over environments)
     • if complementary - decide identity of phoneme (choose less restricted allophone)
       • % if both vowels can be generalised, it is not possible to determine the less restricted allophone
     • if not, of two distinct phonemes

Generalizations over environments

Sensitive to any combination of other phonetic/phonotactic parameters:

• voicing, place, manner (consonants)
• height, backness, rounding, tenseness (vocals)
• phonotactics

Summary

Constrastive distribution

Two phones can occur in the same phonological environment with a meaning change (forms a minimal pair).

Free variation

Two phones can occur in the same phonological environment - meaning change

Complementary distribution

Two phones never occur in the same phonological environment.

Phonotactics

Phonotactics

Language-particular constraint on arrangement of sounds

• possible sound sequences
• possible sounds in a particular position
• possible types of syllables

Allophony is a reflex of the phonotactic constraints of a language.

Why is it difficult to speak a different language?

The sound inventory is different - there are some sounds in other languages that may not be used in English/the person’s native language.

There are also phonotactic constraints - some phonemes are generally produced differently in different languages.

Example

The pronounciation of /p/ is aspirated at the beginning of syllables.