The sound patterns of

language

Phonology
Chapter 5

Alaa Mohammadi- Fall 2009 1

This lecture

There are systematic differences between:
 What speakers memorize about the sounds of
words.
 The speech sounds that speakers produce when
they utter.
 What speakers store in memory about the
sounds of language, and how they translate
these patterns into speech sounds..
Phonology

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Phonetics & Phonology

Phonetics -- What are the sounds? How
are they made in the vocal tract?

[t] voiceless alveolar stop

[p] voiceless bilabial stop

Phonology -- How do sounds combine?
How do they affect each other?

What happens to [t] when it occurs initially
or between vowels?
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What is the difference between

Phonetics and Phonology?

Phonetics deals with the physical properties
of speech sounds, e.g. how the sound is
physically produced.

Phonology deals with the sound systems

languages

How sounds are organized into systems in
different languages

How sounds are combined

The relation between them and how they affect
each other.
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 Definition of Phonology

The description of the systems and patterns
of speech sounds in a language.

Concerned with abstract or mental aspects of

speech sounds.

Key concepts : Phonemes and Allophones

How /t/ in ‘tuck’, ‘stuck’, ‘cut’ is different.

Phonology

What knowledge do we possess about the
phonological rules in our language?

Know which sound sequences might be a
word in our language
thrim/blamp vs. gdit/rpuk
mipped vs. ritp

Pronounce words we never heard before

Change foreign words to pattern like the
words in our language

Apply rules to words we never heard before
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 The Phoneme

Transcribe the following words

Tip dip lip zip

The smallest speech sound that distinguishes
meaning. It serves to create meaning
differences, e.g. /t/ is different than /d/.

An abstract term, specific to a particular
language.

Forms the structure of sound system in a
language.
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Phonemes

An essential property of a phoneme is that it
functions contrastively.

In English, 2 phonemes /f/ &/v/

Contrast:

fat ≠ vat

fine ≠ vine

Rule: If we substitute one sound for another in a

word and there is a change in meaning, then the two
sounds represent different phonemes.
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Phonemes

Consonant chart lists phonemes in
English

The terms that are used in creating the
chart are called ‘features’ which are
marked by sign + & -

E.g [b] + voice + bilabial +stop
[s] – voice + alveolar + fricative

Phonemes

/p/ [- voice, + bilabial, + stop]
/k/ [- voice, + velar, + stop]
/t/ [ - voice, + alveolar, + stop]

Natural class?

Sounds that have features in common
behave phonologically in similar ways.

/v/ [+ voice, + labiodentals, +
fricative]– not the same natural class.
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 Allophones

Transcribe the following words

Top stop writer kitten eighth hunter

The [t] is different in each word.

[t] in ‘top’ is aspirated and non-aspirated in
‘stop’

American English [t] a flap in ‘writer’

[t] in ‘kitten’ is a glottal stop

[t] in ‘eighth’ is dentalized

American English– there is no [t] in ‘hunter’
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Allophones of /t/
Allophones of [t]

Flap Glottal stop Dental

Aspirated
Between vowels A vowel and When followed by a
Initially
Writer - butter syllabic consonant Dental
Top - time
Kitten – batman eighth

Phone 1 Phone 2 Phone 3 Phone 4

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 Phonemes vs. Phones
In the mind In the mouth

The phoneme is the In actual speech,

abstract unit (sound many different versions
type) of /t/
e.g. /t/ e.g. tar, star, writer,
eighth
each version = phone

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The allophone

Each phoneme may have different realisations
depending on the context in which it is found.

/s/ in seen and soon.

‘seen’ is produced with spread lips, as /i/ follows.

‘soon’ is realised with rounded lips, to prepare for the
following rounded vowel, /u/.

This second, rounded /s/ is a variation, or allophone
of the phoneme.

/p/ in pal and pull

/k/ in kill and cool

Allophones are what we actually produce and
hear. 14

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 Phonemes and allophones

These differences are usually expressed using phonological
rules.

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The difference between a

phoneme and an allophone

If one allophone is exchanged with another,
e.g. if seen is produced with lip rounding, the
meaning does not change but it sounds
strange.

If one phoneme is swapped with another,

e.g. seen is produced with a /b/, instead of a
/s/, the meaning of the word changes-
Phonemes function contrastively

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One more example!

/i/ seen & seed

seen = nasalization = ~

seed = normal [i]

2 phones for one phoneme /i/

Both are allophones of /i/

In English, the nasalized version is not

meaningfully contrastive.

In French, it is.

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Finding Phonemes

Minimal pairs of words

A pair of words that have different
meanings and which differ in only one
sound.

Here is an example from English:
Sip [s
p]
Zip [z
p]
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Minimal sets

When a group of words can be differentiated,
each one from the other, by changing one
phoneme (in the same position in the word),
we can have a minimal set.
e.g.

feat/ fit/ fat/ fate/ fought/ foot (vowel phonemes)

big/ pig/ rig/ fig/ dig/ wig (consonant phonemes)

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Minimal pairs

Four golden rules for minimal
pairs:
• Have the same number of sounds
• Identical in every sound except for one
• The sound that is different must be in
the same position in each word
• The words must have different
meanings
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Phonotactics

big/ pig/ rig/ fig/ dig/ wig

The above minimal set doesn’t include (lig/
vig)

They are not English words

But they could be!

Our phonological knowledge of the pattern
of sounds in English would allow us to
consider them acceptable.

In the future! (I think Joe is one very
ignorant guy. ~ Yeah, he’s a big vig)
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Phonotactics

[fsIg] / [rnIg]

Do not and will never exist.

Formed without obeying some constraints on the
sequence or position of English phonemes.

Such constraints on the sequence or position of
phonemes / rules = Phonotactics

Phonotactics: the permitted arrangements of

sounds in a language.

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 Syllables

A syllable: a phonological unit that contains more
than one phoneme

A syllable must contain a vowel or a vowel like sound

(e.g. [w], [j]).

The basic elements of the syllable are: Onset +
Rhyme
Onset = one or more consonants syllable

Rhyme = Nucleus + Coda

onset rhyme
Nucleus = a vowel
Coda = one or more consonants nucleus coda

Consonant(s vowel Consonant(s

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) )

Open vs. Closed Syllables

Open syllables = an onset + a nucleus (but no
coda)
e.g. me, to, no

Closed syllables= the coda is present
e.g. up, at, syllable

cup, hat, Sam, dip

onset rhyme

nucleus coda

Consonant( vowel Consonant(

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s) s)

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Consonant cluster

Both the onset & the coda can consist
of more than one consonant.

e.g. /st/ = consonant cluster (CC)

/st/ = CC = a onset in stop

/st/ = CC = a coda in post

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Consonant cluster

There are many CC onset combinations
permitted in English phonotactics:
e.g. black, flat, bread, trick, throw, twin
Note: liquids (/l/, /r/) & a glide (/w/) are in
2nd position

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Consonant cluster

English can have larger onset
clusters
e.g. stress, splat (3 initial
consonants = CCC)

the phonotactics here are not
difficult to describe!
1. 1st consonant = /s/
2. -V stop = (/p/, /t/, /k/)
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3. One of these liquids or glides = (/l/,

Co-articulation effects

Our talk is often fast and spontaneous

Our articulators move from one sound to
another without stopping.

Co-articulation: The process of making one

sound almost at the same time as the next
sound

There are two well-know co-articulation

effects: assimilation & elision 28

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Assimilation
Assimilation is a common phonological process by
which the phonetics of a speech segment (a sound)
becomes more like that of an adjacent sound.

articulation = easier, quicker

e.g.
Phonological rule: “Any vowel becomes nasal
whenever it immediately precedes a nasal.”
- lap [læp] vs. fan [fæn]

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Assimilation
Another example:

can [kæn]

I can go

Because of the velar stop [g] in go, the alveolar nasal [n] in
can will be the velar nasal [ŋ]

[ajkəŋgo]

Notice: æ became ə

and [ænd]

you and me [yuənmi]

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Elision

you and me [yuənmi]

Where is the [d]?

The stop [d] between two nasals [n] & [m]

Friendship [frnʃIp]

Elision: The process of not pronouncing a sound

segment that might be present in the deliberately
careful pronunciation of a word in isolation

More examples: p. 49

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Normal speech

Constantly avoiding the regular patterns
of assimilation & elision would result in
extremely artificial-sounding talk.

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Key terms

Phonology

Phonemes & allophones

Minimal pairs and sets

Phonotactics

Syllables

Co-articulation effects

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See you next class ☺

Please read chapter 6

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