english phonology the sound system of american english
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English PhonologyEnglish Phonology
The Sound System of American English
Key TermsKey Terms
• Phoneme - a unit of sound significant in a specific language (E.g., /s/ is a phoneme in English while the German ch sound /x/ is not)
• Grapheme - The symbols (letters) used in a writing system such as our alphabet
• Digraph - A single sound represented by two letters (e.g., th, sh, ea)
• Phonetic Alphabet - a collection of symbols used for writing words phonetically
More TermsMore Terms
• Allophone - a variant of a phoneme; often not noticed by native speakers (e.g, spin, pin)
• Minimal Pair - Two words that are pronounced the same except for one sound (e.g., Sue, zoo)
• Voiced Sound - A sound produced with the vocal folds (cords) vibrating (e.g. voiced /z/ as opposed to voiceless /s/)
• Diphthong - “a double vowel sound” - two vowels appearing together as the nucleus of a syllable
The Vocal Tract
The Vocal Folds (or Cords)
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The Consonants of English
The Vowels of English
Phonetic TranscriptionPhonetic Transcription
Horseshoes [hors‡uz]
Matches [mæc‡\z]
Bookend [b¨k´nd]
Is [ˆz]
Pain medicine [pen m´d\sˆn]
Thorns [†ornz]
Breathe [bri∂]
Allomorphs Based on PhonologyAllomorphs Based on Phonology
• The plural morpheme – – [s] after a voiceless consonant– [z] after a voiced consonant– [\z] after a sibilant (s, z, sh [s‡], [z‡], ch [c‡], or j
[j])• The past tense morpheme
– [d] after a voiced sound, – [t] after a voiceless sound– [\d] after a [t] or [d]
‡
Allomorphs Based on PhonologyAllomorphs Based on Phonology• The negative prefix /in-/n
– [m] before a labial (e.g., impossible, immovable, imbalance)
– [˜] before a velar (e.g., incorrect, ingratitude)– [r] before /r/ (e.g., irreversible)– [l] before /l/ (e.g., illogical)
• Other examples of assimilation– Conduct, compel, colleague, corrode – Synergy, symmetry, syllogism– Admit, abbreviate, account, annul, appeal, arrive, assign,
attend, alleviate– Submit, succeed, sufficient, suggest, support, surreptitious
Vowel DeletionDelete the last vowel of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel
Anti- ‘against, opposite’ Anti + pathy Ant + agonizeApo- ‘away, from, off’ Apo + logy Ap + androusCata- ‘back, down, away’ Cata + log Cat + egoryDia- ‘through, between’ Dia + meter Di + ureticMeta- ‘beyond, after’ Meta + morphic Met + onymy
Works with some roots and suffixes:auto- ‘self auto + graph aut + ismmiso- ‘hate’ miso + gyny mis + anthrope-ate adjective suffix cre + ate cre + at + ion
Not if prefix is only one syllable: re + act; bi + ennial
E/O DeletionE/O DeletionDelete the e or o of a morpheme ending in er or or of a morpheme if the following morpheme begins with a vowel
Mater ‘mother’ Mater + nal Matr + ilinealMember Dis + member Membr + aneMeter Dia + meter Metr + icAct Act + or Actr + essEnter Entr + ance
S DeletionS DeletionDelete an s after the prefix ex-
Spir In + spire Ex + pireSer In + sert Ex + ertSecu Con + secu + tive Ex + ecu tiveSist Re + sist Ex + ist
Delete the n of the prefix an- before a consonant:
Examples: a + theist, a + pathy, a + symmetry, a + trophy
But not: an + emic, an + archy, an + orexic, an + hydrous
N DeletionN Deletion
Vowel AlternationsVowel Alternations
• /a/ changes to /e/ in other than first syllable– E.,g, ann-ual/bi-enn-ial; apt/in-ept; damn-ation/con-demn
• /e/ changes to /i/ in other than first syllable– E.g., reg-ular; incor-rig-ible; spec-ulate/con-spic-uous
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