Faculty of Arts
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
[![]() [d] - [th] [s] - [z] [ ![]() ![]() [ ![]() ![]() |
rip - lip den - ten sip - zip put - pot bit - but |
[![]() ![]() ![]() [d ![]() ![]() [s ![]() ![]() [ph ![]() ![]() [b ![]() ![]() |
(2) Non-contrastive sounds
[p] - [ph] [l] - [ ![]() |
spin - pin lick - kill |
[sp![]() ![]() [l ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(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 |
[b![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [b ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [i: ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(5)
oral robe [ ![]() ![]() bead [bi:d] |
nasalised roam [ ![]() ![]() ![]() bean [b ![]() |
(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] [ ![]() [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 [k
te] '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 [st
n]
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 [


thigh [




ether [i:




loath [lo




(13) [] and [
] in Toqabaqita (Solomon Islands)
[al
] 'sky' vs. [b
] 'pig'
[u
u] 'to sink'
(14) Difference in sound but not in meaning
either basil |
[i:![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [b ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(15)
phonemic representation |
phonetic representation |
rule | |
pat | /p![]() |
[ph![]() |
voiceless stops are aspirated when not preceded by [s] |
scene | /si:n/ | [s![]() |
vowels are nasalised before a nasal consonant |
lull | /l![]() |
[l![]() ![]() |
/l/ becomes dark [![]() |
(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. [ ![]() e. [kali] g. [ ![]() i. [ ![]() 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. [o ![]() |
'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/ | [![]() [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'
[u
u] 'to sink'
-> [+voice] / V __ V
(28) Optional devoicing of nasals and liquids in English
snap smoke climb press |
[sn![]() ![]() ![]() [smo ![]() ![]() ![]() [khl ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [p ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(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:
![]() ![]() ![]() |
'goanna' 'of the goanna' 'only the goanna' |
(31) Addition of segments
the idea of it something |
[![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() [s ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(32) Segment deletion in French
/p![]() /p ![]() |
/p![]() /p ![]() /p ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(33) Segment deletion in casual speech
mystery she is last day |
[m![]() ![]() ![]() [ ![]() ![]() ![]() [la:st de ![]() ![]() |
(34) Metathesis in Kwara'ae (Solomon Islands)
/l![]() ![]() /abu/ and /aub/ / ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
'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
/![]() ![]() /k ![]() /h ![]() |
/![]() ![]() /d ![]() / ![]() ![]() |
/h ![]() ![]() /p ![]() ![]() |
French
/p![]() 'small friend' |
/p![]() 'small picture' |
(37) Allomorphs of the indefinite article
/![]() ![]() / ![]() ![]() ![]() / ![]() ![]() |
/![]() ![]() / ![]() ![]() ![]() / ![]() ![]() |
(38) Allomorphs of the noun plural morpheme
/-![]() /-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![]() ![]() /m ![]() ![]() /m ![]() ![]() |
/m![]() ![]() /m ![]() ![]() /m ![]() ![]() ![]() |
(41) Homorganic nasals in English
Negative prefix:
[![]() [ ![]() [ ![]() ![]() [ ![]() ![]() |
intolerable, indefinite, insecure; inaccurate, inorganic impossible, imbalance incongruous, inglorious infinite, invalid |
But also:
input San Francisco |
[![]() ![]() [s ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |