This slide is the eighth session presentation of Introduction to Linguistics. The topic discussed is about phonology (phonemes and allophones). Alsi, it

1. Introduction to Linguistics
Session 8: Phonology
Edi Brata
http://edibrata.com

2. 
The subfield of linguistics that studies the
structure and systematic patterning of
sounds in human language (Akmajian
et.al, 2010:110)
What is Phonology?

3. 
Essentially the description of the systems
and patterns of speech sounds in a
language (Yule, 2006:43)
What is Phonology?

4. 
 Governs both sound patterns and systematic
phonetic variation found in language
(O’Grady et.al, 2005: 57)
 The study of how speech sounds form
patterns (Fromkin et.al, 2011:267)
 It is a study about phonemes.
What is Phonology?

5. 
The smallest contrastive unit in the
sound system of a language.
Phoneme

6. 
Phone Vs. Phoneme
Phone Phoneme
One of many possible sounds in the
languages of the world.
A contrastive unit in the sound
system of a particular language.
The smallest identifiable unit found
in a stream of speech.
A minimal unit that serves to
distinguish between meanings of
words.
Pronounced in a defined way.
Pronounced in one or more ways,
depending on the number of
allophones.
Represented between brackets by
convention.
Represented between slashes by
convention
[b], [j], [o] /b/, /j/, /o/

7. 
• Phoneme can be identified by contrastive
analysis called as minimal pairs.
• Two sounds are said to be contrastive if
replacing one with the other results in a
change of meaning.
• Two sounds are said to be noncontrastive if
replacing one with the other does not result in
a change of meaning.
Phoneme

8. 
• A minimal pair consists of two forms with
distinct meanings that differ by only one
segment found in the same position in each
form.
• Which one(s) of these pairs are minimal
pairs?
a. [ ] and [ ]
b. [ ] and [ ]
c. [ ] and [ ]
Minimal Pairs
/ / and / / are phonemes

9. 
• Within a given language, some sounds are
considered to be the same sound, even though
they are phonetically distinct.
• Same or different?
pool [phul] spool [spul]
• phonetically different (aspirated vs. unaspirated)
• native speakers perceive the same sound
• It is called as allophones.
Same Sound or Different Sound?

10. 
English Phoneme

11. 
• One of a set of non-distinctive
realizations of the same phoneme.
• Corresponds to something physical
produced by a speaker.
• It is variants of a phoneme.
Allophone

12. Articulatory Processes

13. Articulatory
Processes
Assimilation
Dissimilation
Deletion
Epenthesis
Metathesis
Vowel reduction

14. Assimilation:
Two sounds becoming more alike
o Regressive Assimilation
• Assimilation in which a sound influences the
preceding segment.
• E.g. indefinite, impossible, incomplete
o Progressive Assimilation
• Assimilation in which a sound influences the
following segment.
• E.g. books, bags

15. [-z] or [-s]
1. Bananas
2. Grapes
3. Lemons
4. Cookies
5. Cakes
6. Tarts
7. Potatoes
8. Carrots
1. [-z]
2. [-s]
3. [-z]
4. [-z]
5. [-s]
6. [-s]
7. [-z]
8. [-s]

16. [-d], [-t], or [-id]
1. Studied
2. Kicked
3. Eliminated
4. Erased
5. Looked
6. Typed
7. Measured
8. Surrounded
1. [-d]
2. [-t]
3. [-id]
4. [-d]
5. [-t]
6. [-t]
7. [-d]
8. [-id]

17. Dissimilation:
Two Sounds Becoming Less Alike
o Fifths: [f f s]  [f f t s]
o Three fricatives  fricative+stop+fricative

18. Deletion
o A process that removes a segment from
certain phonetic context.
o In English, a schwa [ ] is often deleted
when the next vowel in the word is
stressed.
suppose: [s p z]  [sp z]

19. Epenthesis
o A process that inserts a segment into a
particular environment.
o For example:
(in careful speech) something is
pronounced
[s mp ] instead of [s m ]

20. Metathesis
o A process that reorders a sequence of
segments
o Commonly, in speech of children
o For example:
o spaghetti is pronounced pesgheti
o first become frist

21. Vowel Reduction
o The articulation of a vowel moves to a more
central position when the vowel is
unstressed.
o For example:
considerate vs. consideration
Canada vs. Canadian

22. 