2. 1. Provide a list of words substituting just one
segment:
/____æt/
2. Try to describe the possible variants of the
following sound:
/p/
3. What is the difference between the group of
sounds in No. 1 and the group of sounds in
No. 2?
3. In group 1:
The sounds belong to different sound
groups or classes.
In group 2:
The sounds belong to the same sound
group or class.
They represent the variants of the same
sound.
4. The distinction between sound groups and
sound variants lead to the distinction
between two study fields:
Phonetics & Phonology
5. Phonetics:
Physical description of
speech sounds.
Articulation of sounds.
Inventory and
description of all
phonetic segments.
Narrow transcription.
Phonology:
Description of systems
and patterns of sounds
in a language.
Study of sound systems
in a language.
Determines distinctive
sounds of a language
(discreteness).
- Broad transcription
6. It deals with:
The speaker’s knowledge to combine sounds in a
language (Competence/ Langue).
The abstract or mental aspects of sounds.
The “blueprint” or underlying design of sound types in
our minds.
Phonology
7. Phonology
• For example:
People Apple Cop
– We perceive the /p/ sound as the same.
– Actually the /p/ sound is produced in different ways
(phonetic distinction).
– These differences in pronunciation don’t have
meaningful consequences.
– This aspect is less important to phonology (more
important to phonetics).
8. Phonology
For example:
/pIt/ /pit/ /peit/ /pat/ /paƱt/ /pƱt/ /pʌt/ /pæt/ /pƐt/
pit peat pate pot pout put putt pat pet
The different sounds are perceived and articulated
differently.
The distinction in a group of sounds (vowels) is more
important to phonology.
This distinction of segments has meaningful
consequences.
9. Phonology
Trubetzkoy (1939 in Mannell, 2008) wrote:
“It is the task of phonology to study which differences
in sound are related to differences in meaning in a
language, in which way the discriminative
elements…are related to each other, and the rules
according to which they may be combined into words
and sentences.”
10. Phonemes
Abstract cognitive units.
Underlying mental sounds (ideal sound).
The mental blueprint of each sound (despite the
different possible articulations).
Meaning-distinguishing units.
Distinctive or contrastive sounds in a language.
(discriminative elements)
11. Phonemes
Differential/ contrastive function
No meaning on their own
Substitution of
one segment in
the same environment
or position
environments
site side
segment segment
Different meaning
12. Phonemes & Phones
Phonemes /p/ are physically articulated through
speech using phones [p]:
Phones are:
Concrete units
Different versions (articulations) of a sound type (a
phoneme)
The actual realization of phonemes
Phonetic units
In [ ] (Yule, 1996)
13. Phones & Allophones
[p ] = aspirated – pool
[p] = unaspirated – spoon
[p°] = unreleased – loop
The set of phones that refer to one phoneme are:
Allophones of that phoneme
-Sound class /p/
-No distinction
in meaning
h
14. Allophones
Allophones are: Page 36 reading material
Phonetic units [ ]
Versions of one phoneme
Different pronunciations/ articulations of one phoneme
Don’t have a contrastive/ differential function
So… If we substitute:
One phoneme for another change in meaning
One allophone for another change pronunciation
15. Distinction of phonemes
Phonology determines groups/classes of sounds to
establish a list of phonemes of a language.
Phonology examines the distribution of the sounds in
similar environments.
By the substitution of one sound for another in the
same environment, phonologists can determine if
these sounds belong to different phonemes or not.
16. If the meaning of the word changes with the
susbtitution of one sound for another, then these sounds
belong to a different sound group or class (phonemes).
For example: would – could (minimal pair)
/w/ /k/
Change in meaning
Different phonemes
Distinction of phonemes
17. Minimal Pairs
would – could : pairs of words that differ in one
/w/ /k/ segment in the same environment
or position.
Minimal Sets
big pig rig dig wig: groups of words that differ in
one segment in the same
environment or position.
18. Phonetic similarity
Allophones of a phoneme must share one or more
phonetic properties.
Example:
All allophones of /k/ are –V, velar, stops
Complementary distribution
Allophones of a phoneme occur in mutually exclusive
environments.
Example:
19. Allophones of /k/
[k ] Aspirated: 1) in initial possition (class)
2) when a stressed vowel follows (acquire)
3) final position after ‘s’ (ask)
[k] Unaspirated: 1) after initial ‘s’ (scare)
2) middle possition after a stressed
syllable (income)
[k ] Unreleased: 1) final position (look)
h
°
20. Free variation
2 allophones can occur in the same environment
Example:
[k ] and [k ] are in free variation in final position.
*Important: pages 33 & 36 reading material!
h
°
21. In summary
• Studies sound patterns of a language
• Determines the distinctive sounds of a
language
Phonology:
• Abstract mental units (phonological units)
• Linguistically contrastive units of a language
• Change meaning when substituted
• Represented in / /
Phonemes:
22. In summary
• Phonetic units
• Actual realizations of a speech sound
• Represented in [ ]
Phones:
• Versions (set of phones) of a phoneme
• No constrastive function
• Change pronunciation, not meaning,
when substituted
• Also represented in [ ]
Allophones:
23. In summary
• 2 words that differ in only one
segment in the same environment.
Minimal
pair:
• Group of words that differ in only one
segment in the same environment.
Minimal
set:
• Minimal pairs and minimal sets help
to determine different phonemes in a
language.
Remember:
24. In summary
• Phonetic similarity: allophones
must share phonetic features
• Complementary distribution:
allophones cannot occur in the
same environment.
• Free variation: 2 allophones can
occur in the same environment.
Criteria for
classifying
sounds as
members
of the
same
phoneme:
