1. PHONOLOGY
Dr. Comfort Pratt

2. ▪ DEFINITION
The branch of linguistics that
studies how sounds function in
a given language or dialect.

3. ▪ Languages comprise of
sounds of all types put
together to form more or less
regular systems.

4. ▪ The phonological system of the
language.

5. ▪ Phonological knowledge

6. How do we determine which speech
sounds form a language?
Minimal pairs and sets.

7. ○ Minimal Pairs
Examples:
lap/tap, bed/red, sit/fit

8. ○ Minimal sets
[look], [book], [took], [cook]

9. Contrasting sets in other languages
Spanish:
pollo bollo rollo
cazar casar cavar
calló cayó
mono moño
pero perro
vale valle
culo chulo
llano lleno

10.  What is a Phoneme?
The smallest distinct sound unit in a
given language which causes
differences of meaning.