deducing allophonic rules part 1 - umass amherst

DeducingAllophonic Rules

Part 1

Course Readings

Introduction andReview

The Logic ofPhonemic Analysis

The Procedure forFinding Rules

The Notation forRules

Summary

Deducing Allophonic RulesPart 1


Part 1

Course Readings





Summary

Course Readings

The following readings have been posted to the Moodlecourse site:

I Contemporary Linguistics: Chapter 3 (pp. 70-77,84-86)

I Language Files: Chapter 3.5 (pp. 127-133)


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Summary

A Review of Where We Are

I The phonology of a language includes rules thataffect individual phones.

I In English, [t]/[p]/[k] are aspirated at the beginning ofonsets.

I Because of such rules, we must distinguish betweenI Phoneme: the sound as represented in memory /X/I Allophone: the sound as actually produced [X]

I [X] is an allophone of /Y/ if [X] is one way thatspeakers pronounce the sound memorized as /Y/

I [th] is an allophone of /t/ in English.I [t] is an allophone of /t/ in English.

I [th] and [t] are allophones of the same phonemein English.


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Summary

A Review of Where We AreI Languages differ in whether phones are allophones

of the same (or different) phonemes.

Example (Thai and English):In Thai, [t] and [th] are allophones of different phonemesIn English, [t] and [th] are allophones of the same phoneme

I If there’s a minimal pair for two phones, then they’reallophones of different phonemes.

Example (Thai):[tam] ‘to pound’ [tham] ‘to do’

I If there aren’t minimal pairs for them, then theymight be allophones of the same phoneme.

Example:In English, there are no minimal pairs for [t] and [th]...


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Summary

An Important Point of Logic

Two phones might be in complementary distribution, butstill be allophones of different phonemes.

Example: [N] and [h] in EnglishI In English, [N] is never in onsets ([bæN], *[Næb])I In English, [h] is never in codas. ([hæt], *[tæh])I ... So there’s no minimal pairs for [N] and [h] in

English...I ...But they are still allophones of different

phonemes!

...Let’s see why!


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Summary

An Important Point of Logic

If [N] and [h] were really allophones of the samephoneme, then...

I There would be some phoneme /X/I There would be a rule R which requires:

I /X/ to be pronounced as [h] in onsetsI /X/ to be pronounced as [N] in codas

I But what’s /X/? (Impossible to say!)I But this rule R looks crazy. (Trust me.)

Conclusion:

I There is no sensible rule that would derive [N] and[h] from the same phoneme /X/.

I And so, linguists conclude that they are allophonesof different phonemes.


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Summary

The Centrality of Rules

To really show that [X] and [Y] are allophones of the samephoneme, you have to:

I Say what phoneme they are allophones of.I State the rule that determines whether that

phoneme is pronounced as [X] or [Y].

Illustration: Aspiration in EnglishHow we proved that [t] and [th] are allophones of the samephoneme:

I We discovered the following rule:

I /p/, /t/, /k/ are aspirated at the beginning of onsets.

I This rule does two things:

I States the phoneme that [t] / [th] are allophones ofI States when that phoneme is pronounced as [t] / [th]


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The Procedure forFinding RulesThe Main Sub-Tasks

Example: Kikuyu V Length

Task 1

Example: English V Length

Task 1

Task 2

Breaking Down Task 2

The Steps


Summary

Deducing Allophonic RulesTo show that [X] and [Y] are allophones of differentphonemes, you have to:

I Find a minimal pair for [X] and [Y].

To really show that [X] and [Y] are allophones of the samephoneme, you have to:

I Say what phoneme they are allophones of.I State the rule that determines whether that

phoneme is pronounced as [X] or [Y].

Burning Question:How, exactly, do we go about looking for these rules?

I The whole process can be broken down intomanageable sub-tasks...


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary

How to Solve ‘Phonology Problems’

The General Task:Determine whether [X] and [Y] are allophones of thesame phoneme.

The Procedure:

I 1. First Main Sub-Task:Determine if there are minimal pairs for [X] and [Y].

I If there are, STOP!I [X] and [Y] are allophones of different phonemes.

I If there aren’t, move on to Second Main Sub-Task.

I 2. Second Main Sub-Task:Determine if there is a rule deriving [X] and [Y] fromthe same phoneme.


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary

Vowel Length in Kikuyu

I In Kikuyu, some vowels are ‘long’ (in duration) and othersare ‘short’ (in duration).

I In IPA, [V:] = the vowel V is ‘long’

Vowel Length in Kikuyu[kera] ‘cross over’ [ke:ra] ‘realize’[Daka] ‘beautiful’ [Da:ka] ‘play’[kua] ‘die’ [ku:a] ‘carry’[Dura] ‘spit’ [Du:ra] ‘stay’[kOra] ‘find’ [kO:ra] ‘little frog’

Question:In Kikuyu, are the long vowels and short vowelsallophones of the same phoneme?


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First Main Sub-Task:Are there minimal pairs for the long vowels and the shortvowels?


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Result:There are! So we stop.


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Conclusion:In Kikuyu, long vowels and short vowels are allophones ofdifferent phonemes.


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Task 1


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Task 2


The Steps


Summary

Vowel Length in English

In English, too, some vowels are ‘long’ and others are ‘short’.

Vowel Length in English‘ride’ [ôa:jd] ‘right’ [ôajt] ‘rye’ [ôaj]‘aid’ [e:jd] ‘ate’ [ejt] ‘bay’ [bej]‘lobe’ [lo:wb] ‘lope’ [lowp] ‘low’ [low]‘teethe’ [thi:D] ‘teeth’ [thiT] ‘tea’ [ti]‘save’ [se:jv] ‘safe’ [sejf] ‘say’ [sej]

Question:In English, are the long vowels and short vowels allophones ofthe same phoneme?


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary




First Main Sub-Task:Are there minimal pairs for the long vowels and the shortvowels?


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Task 1


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Task 2


The Steps


Summary




Result:

I There aren’t any minimal pairs for short and long vowels.

I So, on to Second Main Sub-Task...


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Task 1


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Summary




Second Main Sub-Task:Determine if there is a rule deriving the long and short vowelsfrom the same phoneme.


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Task 1


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The Steps


Summary

Breaking Down Second Main Sub-Task

Question:But, now how do we find out if there is such a rule?

Answer:We will break down this sub-task into (four) smallersub-steps.

Vocabulary:The environment of a phone [X] in some word W =The phones that immediately precede and follow [X] in W.


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary


The Logic of Our Search:We want to figure out which is true (if any):

1. There’s a rule that turns long vowels into short vowels insome environment.

2. There’s a rule that turns short vowels into long vowels insome environment.

Some Reasoning:I If (1) were true, then...

I there’d be an environment where only short vowelsshow up (no long vowels).

I If (2) were true, then...I there’d be an environment where only long vowels

show up (no short vowels).


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary


Summary:We now want to figure out which is true (if any):

1. There’s an environment where you only find short vowels.I If so, then there’s a rule turning long vowels into

short ones there.2. There’s an environment where you only find long vowels.

I If so, then there’s a rule turning short vowels intolong ones there.

There are four steps to figuring out which of these is true.


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary

Step 1: Get the Environments

Step 1:Determine the environments of the two phones.

I Write up four lists:1. The phones that precede a long vowel.2. The phones that follow a long vowel3. The phones that precede a short vowel4. The phones that follow a short vowel

Notation: ‘#’ = the edge of a word


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Task 1


Task 1

Task 2


The Steps


Summary

Step 1: Get the EnvironmentsStep 1:Determine the environments of the long and short vowels.

‘ride’ [ôa:jd] ‘right’ [ôajt] ‘rye’ [ôaj]‘aid’ [e:jd] ‘ate’ [ejt] ‘bay’ [bej]‘lobe’ [lo:wb] ‘lope’ [lowp] ‘low’ [low]‘teethe’ [thi:D] ‘teeth’ [thiT] ‘tea’ [ti]‘save’ [se:jv] ‘safe’ [sejf] ‘say’ [sej]

I The phones that precede a long vowel.I [ô] # [l] [th] [s]

I The phones that follow a long vowel.I [d] [b] [D] [v]

I The phones that precede a short vowelI [ô] # [l] [th] [s]

I The phones that follow a short vowelI [t] [p] [T] [f] #


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Summary



I The phones that precede a long vowel.

I [ô] # [l] [th] [s]





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I The phones that precede a long vowel.I [ô]

# [l] [th] [s]





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I The phones that precede a long vowel.I [ô] #

[l] [th] [s]





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I The phones that precede a long vowel.I [ô] # [l]

[th] [s]





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I The phones that precede a long vowel.I [ô] # [l] [th]

[s]


