Phonology

Dr. Nuray Alagözlü

Phonology

Phonology is the study of sound patterns found in human language. It is concerned with how sounds are organized in a language. Phonology examines what occurs to speech sounds when they are combined to form a word and how these speech sounds interact with each other.

Phonology

It endeavours to explain what these phonological processes are in terms of formal rules.It is also the term used to refer to the kind of knowledge that speakers have about the sound patterns of their particular language. Phonology is

1-The study of sound patterns in language 2-the sound pattern of a language

Phonetics(sesbilgisi) or Phonology (sesbilim)

Phonetics deals with how speech sounds are actually made, transmitted and received. Phonology, on the other hand, deals specifically with the ways those sounds are organized into the individual languages. Phonology is, in effect, a sub-category of phonetics.

Phonetics or Phonology

Phonetics is the study of all the sounds that the human voice is capable of creating whereas phonology is the study of a subset of those sounds that constitute language and meaning.

Of course, most of the principles that apply to the study of phonetics also apply to the study of phonology. In many instances, they are indistinguishable from one another.

Phonological Knowledge

The phonological knowledge is necessary as it permits a speaker, specifically,

To produce sounds which form meaningful utterances

To recognize a foreign accent To add the appropriate phonetic segments to

form plurals and past tenses.

Phonological Knowledge

To produce “aspirated “and “unaspirated” voiceless stops in the appropriate context.

To know what is or what is not a sound in one’s language.

To know that different phonetic strings may represent the same meaningful unit.

Key Terminology in Phonology

Phone- the smallest ,discrete and perceptible segment of speech sound.

/p/ /t/ /k/ /e/

Phonemes

Phonemes are sounds that actually mean something in a particular language. While they usually do not stand for a particular idea, they play meaningful roles in words. A unit of speech is considered a phoneme if replacing it in a word result in a change of meaning.

For example, while some people may pronounce the vowel sound in the word "buy" differently, these different pronunciations do not result in different words. Thus, the different sounds are not separate phonemes.

Phonemes

Pin Bin Cot CutBat Rat

Allophones

For example [p] and [pH] are the allophones of the phoneme /p/ and [t] and [tH] are the allophones of the phonemes

PHin spin A phoneme is a family of similar sounds

which a language treats as being "the same". Members of the family are called its allophones. In English, [p] and [ph] are allophones of the /p/ phoneme.

[pH]it spit

Allophones (aspirated-unaspirated)

An example: Compare pit and spit. The first consonant of pit has an extra puff of air after it which is not found after the [p] of spit. This extra puff of air can be transcribed with the IPA diacritic for aspiration, a superscript "h":

Allophones

Switching allophones of the same phoneme won't change the meaning of the word: [sphIt] still means 'spit'.

Switching allophones of different phonemes will change the meaning of the word or result in a nonsense word: [skIt] and [stIt] do not mean 'spit'.

/th/ /D/ /t-/ seen vs seed /i:/ vs /~i/

Minimal Pairs

Phonemic distinctions are tested through minimal pairs. To determine whether two sounds in a language are distinctive , it is necessary to identify a minimal pair- a pair of words that differ by a single sound in the same position, but are otherwise identical.

Bat pat Pill bill Beed deed Pit kit are minimal pairs.

Free Variations

Free variation is the interchangeable relationship between two phones, in which the phones may substitute for one another in the same environment without causing a change in meaning.

Free variation may occur between allophones or phonemes.

Examples (English)

In utterance-final position, there is free variation between unreleased and aspirated plosives, as demonstrated below:

– [hQt|] ‘hat’ – [hQtH] ‘hat’

In the word ‘data’, there is free variation between the phonemes /ei/ and /a:/, as demonstrated below:

– [deit ] ‘data’ – [da:t] ‘data’

Complementary distribution

Complementary distribution is the mutually exclusive relationship between two phonetically similar segments. It exists when one segment occurs in an environment where the other segment never occurs

Examples (English)

The phones [p] and [pH] are in complementary distribution. [pH] occurs syllable-initially in a stressed syllable as in spot, spit, spark, but [p] never does, as demonstrated here: pepper versus spin

Phonological Rules

Assimilations Deletions Dissimilations Insertions

Phonological Rules

Rules make certain predictions about the pronunciation of a language. For example; in English

1- Nasalize vowels and diphtongs before nasals (thing) 2-Aspirate voiceless stops before stressed vowels at the

beginning of a word or syllable.Therefore they specify the class of sounds, affected by the rules(1), (pot)

Vowels and diphtongs in 1 Voiceless stops in 2 they state what phonetic changes are to occur nasalize and aspirate

Phonological Rules

These rules specify the context or the phonemic environment of the relevant sounds.

Before nasals in 1 Before stressed vowels at the beginning of a

word or syllable.

Phonological Rules

instead of becomes an arrow is used.

[-Consonantal] (a glide or vowel)

[+nasal] before a [+nasal]

Phonological Rules

A slash / means in the environment of A dash - before and after the segment

(s) that determine the change [-voiced] [+aspirated] / $ -

[- consonantal and +stress] (a vowel or glide nasalized in the environment after a nasal)

Assimilation Rules

The Vowel Nasalization rule (a vowel or glide is nasalized before and after a nasal) is an assimilation rule. It assimilates one segment to another by copying or spreading a feature of a sequential phoneme making two phonemes more similar(coarticulation). bomb

Assimilation Rules

#The phonemes /t/ and /d/ often become bilabial before bilabial consonants /p/, /b/, /m/

Ex. He is a rather fat boy # /t/ assimilates to /k/ before /k/ and /g/. /d/

assimilates to /t/ before /k/ and /g/. Ex.Where has that cat been all night? /t/ assimilates

to /k/ Ex. It was a very good concert /d/ assimilates to /g/

Assimilation

/n/ can assimilate to / η/ before k and g As in I’ve been going too much lately. /s/ assimilates to As in This shiny bag /z/ assimilates to /з/ before

Assimilation in Turkish

Lenis Voiced stops become fortis voiceless stops. /d/ assimilates to /ç/

ağaç-dan – ağaç-tan ocak-cı-ocak-çı seç-gin- seç-kin kaç-dı – kaç-tı

Dissimilation Rules

The value of a feature of a segment changes to become different from that of a neighbouring segment. For example, An aspirated sound becomes unaspirated if it occurs before certain sounds

Elision/Deletion (ses düşmesi)

It describes the disapperance of a sound. We arrived next day. /t/ vs/d/ /t/ elided

betw. /ks/ and /d/ Complex consonant are simplified. Ex.She acts /aekts/ becomes /aeks/ /ә/ schwa disappears in unstressed syllables Ex. We should call the police

Elision/Deletion (ses düşmesi)

In Turkish küçüğ-cük- küçücük Du bakalım, gelmiyo.,ayşa:nım,kuruğ kuru Akılım- aklım; ağızım-ağzım, In English, mystery-mystry; In French, petite tableaux

Insertion

An additional sound is inserted Ex. Tiren (turkish) Gurup Scutary ( rumca) üsküdar azcık –azıcık

darcık daracık

Word Stress

Word stress (THE SYLLABLE PRONUNCED MORE STRONGLY, SHOWN ‘ BEFORE THE STRESSED SYLLABLE.

QUAlify, baNAna, underSTAND One of the syllables will sound louder than other

idenfiable syllables. Ooo, oOo, ooO Many everyday nouns and adjs of two syllable length

are stressed on the first syllable.

Word Stress

Loudness Pitch change Length of the syllable

Rules of word stress

Core vocabulary: first syllable stress lile MOther, WAter, PAper etc.

Prefixes and suffixes : not stressed QUIetly, oRIGinally, exceptions: BIcycle, DISlocate

Compound words: first element stressed like POSTman, NEWSpaper, TEApot

Words having a dual role: either a noun or a verb PREsent(n) preSENT (v)

IMport(n) imPORT(v)

Stress timing (Isochronicity) – Syllable timing

English, Arabic and Russian are stress timed languages. Stresses occur at regular intervals in connected speech. The duration of an utterance is dependent on the number of the stresses than the number of the syllables.

Japanese, French, and Spanish are syllable –timed languages. There is no strong stress pattern. Syllables maintain their length and vowels maintain their quality. (see p.70)

Tonic Syllables- Onset syllable

Tonic syllable The most important word in a sentence

Onset syllable -where the sentence stress starts

The use of tonic syllables is closely related to intonation.

Sentence stress

Some words in a sentence are uttered more loudly. It is closely related to intonation.

He LIVES in the HOUSE in the CORner.

Sentence- meaning-

L LOVE you ( AND I want you to know this) I love YOU (nobody else) I love you ( he does not)

Intonation

It refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch when we are speaking. Although all languages have it, there are tone languages like Chinese in which the voice is used quite differently, which determines the meaning. “Ma” in Chinese may mean mother , hemp (kenevir) or scold depending on whether voice goes up and down and stays level.

intonation

Pitch Loudness Length

INTONATIONFallingRisingFlatFalling –RisingRising- Falling

intonation

Information questions falling Yes/No Questions- rising Statements –falling Imperatives- falling Question tags-

– expecting confirmation- falling – Showing less certainity- rising

Lists – rising , rising, and falling.

(See p. 89)