phonology, part 4: natural classes and features november 2, 2012
TRANSCRIPT
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Phonology, part 4: Natural Classes and Features
November 2, 2012
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Solving Phonology Problems• Let’s walk through the practice exercises from last time
together…
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Generalities• Sometimes, the rules for one phoneme’s distribution are identical to the rules for another phoneme’s distribution.
• /t/ [t] / after [s]
/t/ [th] / at the beginning of stressed syllables
[thap] ‘top’ [stap] ‘stop’• /p/ [p] / after [s]
/p/ [ph] / at the beginning of stressed syllables
[phæt] ‘pat’ [spæt] ‘spat’• /k/ [k] / after [s]
/k/ [kh] / at the beginning of stressed syllables
[khar] ‘car’ [skar] ‘scar’
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Natural Classes• The same rules apply to /p/, /t/ and /k/. Why?
• /p/, /t/ and /k/ form a natural class of sounds in English.
• They are all voiceless stops
• No other sound in English is a voiceless stop
• A natural class is set of sounds in a language that:
• share one or more (phonetic) features
• to the exclusion of all other sounds in that language.
• …and function together in phonological rules.
• The phonetic “features” primarily include the phonetic labels we’ve already learned.
• …although we’ll need to make some additions.
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Natural Class Examples• For instance, in English:
1. [k], [g], form the natural class of velar stops
2. [u] and [o] form the natural class of rounded, tense vowels.
• What natural classes are formed by the following groups of sounds?
• [t], [s]
• [v], , [z],
• , ,
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This is actually useful.• Phonological patterns are often formed by natural classes of sounds.
• Ex: the (regular) English past tense exhibits allomorphy.
• Allomorph 1: [d]
study studied fear feared
mail mailed loan loaned
• Allomorph 2:
collect collected mate mated
wade waded need needed
• What’s the natural class of segments that induces the change?
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New Features• There are a few features in phonology that are more general than the ones we find in phonetics.
• For instance: the Arabic Sun and Moon letters.
• What’s the pattern?
• The “Sun letters” include alveolars, post-alveolars and interdentals
• = sounds made with the front part of the tongue
• The “Moon letters” include everything else.
• New feature: [CORONAL] is a cover term for alveolars, post-alveolars and interdentals.
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Assimilation• The change undergone by the definite article in Arabic is called assimilation.
• = when one sound becomes more similar to another in its environment.
• In the Arabic case, there is complete, or total assimilation.
• …but individual features can also change, as in place assimilation.
• Ex: In English, /n/ often takes on the place of articulation of a following consonant.
• ‘unpleasant’
• ‘engrossed’
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More Assimilation• Remember this pattern?
• Plural forms:
cat: dog:
match: judge:
chair: pass:
hose: puck:
• The basic form of the plural is [z].
• It exhibits voicing assimilation when following voiceless segments…
• becoming voiceless [s].
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More Assimilation• Remember this pattern?
• Plural forms:
cat: dog:
match: judge:
chair: pass:
hose: puck:
• The basic form of the plural is [z].
• It becomes when it follows [s], [z], or .
• These are [strident] consonants.
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Some New Features• Only CORONAL consonants can be [strident].
• “strident” = noisy
• Other place of articulation features:
• LABIAL (involves the lips)
• includes both bilabials and labio-dentals
• [p], [b], [m], [f], [v]
• DORSAL (involves the back of tongue)
• includes both palatals and velars
• [k], [g], [j]
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Distinctive Features• The features used to describe natural classes of sounds in phonology are known as distinctive features.
• …because they distinguish between otherwise identical sounds.
• The distinctions made by features are (almost always) denoted by a [+] or [-] in front of the feature name.
• For instance, stops and fricatives are distinguished by the feature [continuant].
• [s] = [+continuant] (air flows steadily through mouth)
• [t] = [-continuant] (air does not flow steadily through mouth)
• (Note: nasals and affricates are also [-continuant])