This document discusses the topic of phonology, which is the study of sound patterns in language. It begins by defining phonology and explaining that languages differ in how they use speech sounds. It then discusses key aspects of phonology like consonants and vowels. A major focus is on the different pronunciations of plural morphemes in English, which can be pronounced as /z/, /s/, or /əz/ depending on phonological rules. Examples are provided to illustrate the environments for each pronunciation. The document concludes by emphasizing the importance of phonology for language teachers.

2. PHONOLOGY: THE
SOUND PATTERNS OF
LANGUAGE
Presented by: Nor-Ann Gemma P. Ladjagais

3. •Nature of Phonology
•Ending sounds of Plurals
•Pronunciation of plurals with correct ending
sounds
What’s there to talk about?

4. – All the languages in the world sound so
different because the way the languages use
speech sounds to form patterns differs from
language to language.

5. What is Phonology?
 The study of how speech sounds form patterns
is phonology.
 Phonology tells us what sounds are in a
language, how they do and can combine into
words, and explains why certain phonetic
features are important to identifying a word.

6. Phonology: The Sound Patterns of
Language
 Phonology also refers to the sound structure of
speech, and to the perception, representation,
and production of speech sounds.
 Speech sounds can be classified as either
consonant or vowels.
 Consonants – the air does not flow freely.
 Vowels – air flows freely to create different sounds

7. Let’s try this!
Put your fingers in front of your throat:
 Say the letters “v” and “f”
 What is the difference?
How about with these letter combinations?
B/P D/T G/K Z/S

8.  Phonology is concerned with the abstract or
mental aspects of sounds in language.
 Compare to phonetics?
Phonetics is the physical properties of speech
sounds, e.g. how the sound is physically produced.
 Phonology serves as the underlying design for all
the variations in different physical articulations of a
sound type in different contexts.

9.  We think of the [t] sound in the following words to
be the same:
- tar
- star
- writer
- eighth
 What we mean is that in the phonology of English,
they are all represented in the same way, but
physically, they are all different.

10. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 Sometimes certain morphemes are pronounced differently
depending on their context.
 For example, the English plural morpheme has three
different pronunciations depending on what noun you
attach it to:
It gets pronounced as a [z] for words like cab, bag, and bar
It gets pronounced as [s] for words like cap, back, and faith
It gets pronounced as [əz] for words like bus, garage, and match

11. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 To determine a rule for when each variant of the plural
morpheme, or allomorph, is used, it is useful to create a
chart to examine the phonological environments in which
each allomorph occurs:

12. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 To help distinguish the phonological environment of
the words that take the [-s], [-z], and [-ez]
allomorphs, minimal pairs can be used.
 A minimal pair is two words with different meanings that
are identical except for one sound that occurs in the same
place in each word.
 Minimal pairs whose members take different forms of the
plural allomorph are particularly helpful for our purposes.

13. For example:
cab [kæb] and cap [kæp] differ only by their final sound,
so since each word take a different allomorph, we can
assume that the allomorph is selected based on the final
sound of the noun.
Therefore:
cab – /kæbz/
cap – / kæps/
More examples:
bead [bid] and beat [bit] …. /bidz/ and /bits/
laugh [læf] and love [lʌv] …. /læfs/ and /lʌvz/

14. List of Minimal Pairs: [s] and [z]
sound
1. Log and lock --- log[z] and lock[s]
2. Wig and wick --- wig[z] and wick[s]
3. Snag and snack --- snag[z] and snack[s]
4. Girl and curl --- girl[z] and curl[s]
5. Stag and stack --- stag[z] and
stack[s]
6. Guard and card --- guard[z] and card[s]

15. Plural nouns: Ending in es / [ez]
 mass - mass + es = mass[ez]
 blouse - blouse + es = blous[ez]
 match - match + es= match[ez]
 sash - sash + es = sach[ez]
 lash - lash + es = lash[ez]

16. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 Since we are looking only at the final sound of each noun,
we can make our chart a little sunccinct:
Allomorph Environment
[z] After [b], [d], [g], [v], [ð], [m], [n], [ŋ], [l],
[r], [a], [ɔɪ]
[s] After [p], [t], [k], [f], [ɵ]
[ǝᴢ] After [s], [∫], [z], [Ʒ], [tʃ], [dƷ]

17. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 Then we can make generalizations about
the environment in which each allomorph
occurs based on knowledge of natural
classes.
- [z] occurs after voiced nonsibilant segments
- [s] occurs after voiceless nonsibilant segments
- [ǝᴢ] occurs after sibilant segments such as s, z, ʃ, Ʒ, tʃ,
dƷ

18. The Pronunciation of Morphemes:
Plurals
 We can simplify this even more by creating a rule
that assumes /z/ is the basic or underlying form of
the plural, then we have two rules to explain why
the other allomorphs occur:
1. Insert a [ǝ] before the plural morpheme /z/ when a
regular noun ends in a sibilant, giving [ǝᴢ]
2. Change the plural morpheme /z/ to a voiceless
[s] when preceded by a voiceless sound
* We can write this in rule format:
/z/ -> [s] / [-voice]

19. This chart illustrates how the plurals of bus, butt,
and bug are formed by applying these two rules:
bus + pl. butt + pl. bug +
pl.
Basic
representation /bʌs + z//bʌt + z/ /bʌg + z/
Apply rule (1) ǝ NA* NA
Apply rule (2) NA s NA
Phonetic
representation [bʌsǝz] [bʌts]
[bʌgz]
*NA means not applicable.

20. Cont.,
 These rules must be ordered so that rule applies before
rule 2 otherwise we would derive an incorrect phonetic
form.
Such as…
Basic representation /bʌs + z/
Apply rule (2) s
Apply rule (1) ǝ
Phonetic representation [bʌsǝs]
 The particular phonological rules that determine the phonetic form
of morphemes are morphophonemic rules.

21. Additional Examples of
Allomorphs
 The English possessive morphemes and the third person
singular morphemes have allomorphs that take on the
same phonetic form as the plural morpheme and are
governed by the same rules:
Possessive:
Add [z] to woman to get woman ‘ s
Add [s] to ship to get ship ‘ s
Add [ǝz] to judge to get judge ‘ s
Third person singular:
Add [z] to need to get needs
Add [s] to eat to get eats
Add [ǝz] to rush to get rushes

22. GUESS THE OBJECT!

23. Instructions: The teacher describes objects in
the class (quantity, location, physical
description) while you try to guess what they
are.
For example:
Teacher: There are three of these in the
classroom.
Student: Windows!

24. But, the fun part does not begin
there yet…
 We take the basic idea of the previous exercise
but this time, it is YOUR turn to play the role of
the teacher.
 Instructions: Find a representative who has the
ability to take the role of the teacher. The
representative will have to throw questions at the
other group who will give their guesses on the
objects being described. The group who gets the
highest points wins the challenge and the losers
will have to take the punishment!

25. Conclusion:
 Phonology has been one of the important
things that an ESL teacher must be familiar
with. The mastery of this kind plays an
important role since it helps teachers be
eloquent with their speaking skills especially
when delivering their lessons to their learners.
It is when learners fully understand and use
English fluently and articulately from teachers
who also have the mastery and broader
background of the study of sounds. Thus,
phonology.

26. References:
 Introduction to Linguistic Theory, Adam Szczegielniak
 The Sound Patterns of Language: Phonology, Ms.
Abras A. Mujaddi
 Phonemic Awareness,
www.ed.gov/teachers/how/tools/initiative/summerworksho
p/valdes/valdes.ppt

27. Thank you for listening! 