Faculty of Arts

Phonology

Chapter 7: Phonology: the sound patterns of language

Important concepts (these are the concepts you should know after the lectures on Phonology):

phonology; contrastive sounds; phonemes; minimal pair; minimal set; free variation; phonemes vs. phones; allophones of a phoneme; complementary distribution of allophones; phonetic features; distinctive features; phonological rules; phonemic representation; phonetic representation; syllables: onset, rhyme, nucleus, coda; phonotactics; phonotactic constraints; natural classes of sounds; stress; phonological rules: assimilation, dissimilation, addition of segments, deletion of segments, metathesis, spoonerisms; allomorphs of morphemes; phonological conditioning of allomorphs; complementary distribution of allomorphs; productive patterns of distribution of allomorphs; homorganic nasals

(1) Contrastive sounds

[] - [l]
[d] - [th]
[s] - [z]
[] - []
[] - []		 rip - lip
den - ten
sip - zip
put - pot
bit - but		 [p] - [lp]
[dn] - [thn]
[sp] - [zp]
[pht] - [pht]
[bt] -  [bt]

(2) Non-contrastive sounds

[p] - [ph]
[l] - []		 spin - pin
lick - kill		 [spn] - [phn]
[lk] - [kh]

(3) Minimal set (consonants)

pill [ph]
kill [kh]
chill [t]		 bill [b]
gill [g]
Jill [d]		 till [th]
fill [f] 
mill [m]		 dill [d]
sill [s]
nil [n]

will [w]

(4) Free variation

button
bottle

either		 [bt] or [b]
[bt] or [b]

[i:] or [a]

(5)

oral
robe [ob]
bead [bi:d]		 nasalised
roam [m]
bean [b:n]

(6) Complementary distribution
nasalised vowels: only before a nasal consonant in the same syllable, e.g. bean [b:n]
oral vowels: elsewhere, e.g. bead [bi:d], bee [bi:]
 
(7) Feature values

[b] [+ voiced]
[kh] [+ aspirated]
[n] [+ nasal]
[:] [+ nasal(ised)]
[a:] [+ long]		 [p] [- voiced]
[k] [- aspirated]
[d] [- nasal]
[i:] [- nasal(ised)]
[a] [- long]

(8)

p b t d k g m n
stop
voiced
labial
alveolar
velar
nasal		 +
-
+
-
-
-		 +
+
+
-
-
-		 +
-
-
+
-
-		 +
+
-
+
-
-		 +
-
-
-
+
-		 +
+
-
-
+
-		 +
+
+
-
-
+		 +
+
-
+
-
+		 +
+
-
-
+
+

(9) French oral-nasal distinction
coter [kte] 'to assess' vs. compter [kte] 'to count'
gars [g] 'lad' vs. gant [g] 'glove'

(10) English aspirated vs. unaspirated voiceless stops
port [ph:t] vs. sport [sp:t]
tone [thn] vs. stone [stn]
kill [kh] vs. skill [sk]

(11) Unaspirated and aspirated consonants in Eastern Armenian

kap
'bond'
barts
'difficult'
tak
'under'		 kaph
'club'
bartsh
'high'
takh
'hot'

(12) English [] - [] distinction
thigh [a] vs. thy [a]
ether [i:] vs. either [i:]
loath [lo] vs. loathe [lo]

(13) [] and [] in Toqabaqita (Solomon Islands)
[al] 'sky' vs. [b] 'pig'
[uu] 'to sink'

(14) Difference in sound but not in meaning

either
basil		 [i:] and [a]
[bzl] and [bezl]

(15)
phonemic
representation		 phonetic
representation		 rule
pat /pt/ [pht] voiceless stops are aspirated when not preceded by [s]
scene /si:n/ [s:n] vowels are nasalised before a nasal consonant
lull /ll/ [l] /l/ becomes dark [] at the end of a word

(16) Finnish [t] and [d]

a. [kudot]
c. [katot]
e. [kade]
g. [maton]		 'failures'
'roofs'
'envious'
'of a rug'		 b. [kate]
d. [madon]
f. [ratas]
h. [radon]		 'cover'
'of a worm'
'wheel'
'of a track'

(17) Greek [k], [x], [c] and []

a. [kano]
c. [ino]
e. [kali]
g. [eli]
i. [eri]
k. [xori]
m. [krima]
o. [kufeta]		 'do'
'pour'
'charms'
'eel'
'hand'
'dances'
'shame'
'bonbons'		 b. [xano]
d. [cino]
f. [xali]
h. [ceri]
j. [kori]
l. [xrima]
n. [xufta]
p. [oi]		 'lose'
'move'
'plight'
'candle'
'daughter'
'money'
'handful'
'no'

before   [a] [i] [e] [o] [u] [r]
[k]
[x]
[c]
[ç]		 yes
yes
no
no		 no
no
yes
yes		 no
no
yes
yes		 yes
yes
no
no		 yes
yes
no
no		 yes
yes
no
no

/k/ [c] before [i] and [e], i.e. before front vowels
[k] elsewhere
/x/ [] before [i] and [e], i.e. before front vowels
[x] elsewhere

(18) Rhymes
Jack and Jill
Went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down
And broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.

(19)
 

(20) English phonotactics word initially
/pr/ pray /pre/
/pl/ plum /plm/
/tr/ trick /trk/
*/tl/ not possible

If a word begins with three consonants, the first one must be /s/:
splash /spl/
scream /ski:m/
stew /stju:/
squash /skw/

// does not occur word initially

(21) Mäori syllable phonotactics
                 

haka, pohutukawa, kiwi

reo 'language'
maea 'emerge'

(22) Some natural classes in English
/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/, /m/, /n/, //: stops
/f/, /v/, /s/, /z/, //, //, //, //: fricatives
/i:/, /e/, //, /u:/, etc.: vowels
/p/, /t/, /k/, /b/, /d/, /g/: oral stops
/m/, /n/, //: nasal stops
/p/, /t/, /k/: voiceless oral stops

/p/, /z/, /l/, /a/, /e/: not a natural class

(23)

obstruents nasals liquids glides vowels
features
consonantal
sonorant
syllabic
nasal		 +
-
-
-		 +
+
+/-
+		 +
+
+/-
+		 -
+
-
-		 -
+
+
+/-

(24)

noun phrase
 compound
    2    1
a hot dog
     1    2
a hot dog
     2     1
a black belt		      1     2
a black belt

(25)
Jane brought the wine.
Jane brought the wine.

(26) V -> [+ nasal] / __ [+ nasal] (C) $

(27) [] and [] in Toqabaqita (Solomon Islands)
[al] 'sky' vs. [b] 'pig'
[uu] 'to sink'

 -> [+voice] / V __ V

(28) Optional devoicing of nasals and liquids in English

snap
smoke
climb
press		 [snp] or [sp]
[smok] or [sk]
[khlm] or [khm]
[ps] or [ps]

(29) Dissimilation of /l/

anecdot-al
spiritu-al
music-al		 angul-ar
pol-ar
titul-ar

(30) Vowel length dissimilation in Bandjalang (Australia)
bajgal
bajgal-na:
bajgal-be:		 'man'
'of the man'
'only the man'

but:
ama:l
ama:l-na
ama:l-be		 'goanna'
'of the goanna'
'only the goanna'

(31) Addition of segments

the idea of it
something		 [i: adi:rvt]
[smp]

(32) Segment deletion in French
/ptit ami/  'small friend'
/ptit wazo/  'small bird'
 /pti tablo/  'small picture'
/pti li:vR/  'small book'
/pti mz/ 'small house'

(33) Segment deletion in casual speech

mystery
she is
last day		 [mstri:] or [mstri:]
[i: z] or [i:z]
[la:st de] or [la:s de]

(34) Metathesis in Kwara'ae (Solomon Islands)
/lka/ and /lak/
/abu/  and /aub/
/a-mu/ and /a-um/		 'good'
'sacred'
'your leg'

(35) Spoonerisms

Intended utterance
gone to seed
sons of toil
stick in the mud
half-formed wish		 Actual utterance
god to seen
tons of soil
smuck in the tid
half-warmed fish

(36) Variant forms of morphemes: allomorphs
/ bk/
/kt-s/
/hs-t/		 /n ep/
/dg-z/
/o-d/
/h:s-z/
/pt-d/

French

/ptit ami/
'small friend'		 /pti tablo/
'small picture'

(37) Allomorphs of the indefinite article
/n ep/
/n adi:/
/n ok/		 / bk/
/ p/
/ ledi:/

(38) Allomorphs of the noun plural morpheme

/-z/
/-s/
/-z/		 kiss, rose, clash, luge, church, judge
wasp, crate, book, chief, bath
side, bag, name, ring, metal, bee, show, fly, etc.

(a) Insert // before the /z/ when the noun ends in  /s/, /z/, //, //, /t/ or /d/.
(b) Change the voiced /z/ into voiceless /s/ when the noun ends in a voiceless sound other than /s/, // or /t/.

(39) Irregular plurals of nouns
child - children; man - men; goose - geese; louse - lice; sheep - sheep

(40) Allomorphs of the negative morpheme in Akan (Ghana)

/m p/  'I like'
/m t/  'I speak'
/m k/  'I go'		 /m m-p/  'I don't like'
/m n-t/  'I don't speak'
/m -k/  'I don't go'

(41) Homorganic nasals in English
Negative prefix:

[n-]
[m-]
[-]
[-]		 intolerable, indefinite, insecure; inaccurate, inorganic
impossible, imbalance
incongruous, inglorious
infinite, invalid

But also:
input
San Francisco		 [mpt]
[s fnssko]


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