Chp 4
since in english we do not contrast [t, tʰ, ʔ, ɾ], they are
allophones of a single phoneme /t/
method of phonology
assume phonetic transcriptions and make cross-linguistic generalizations for theorietical observations
how many environments must be included in a rule
at least one
can't say they're two dif phonemes, have to say they're allophones of the same phoneme??
bc the level of phoneme is the abstract one??
phonology
branch of linguistics interested in restrictions that we find among sounds; why a certain sound can appear in certain places; studies sounds in languages as part of a system; branch of cognitive science that studies how sound patterns are processed in the brain
schwa
can only be in unstressed positions
two criteria for 2 segments to be allophones of different phonemes
1) the segments do not appear in the same environment (complementary distribution) AND 2) the segments are phonetically similar
a pair of words is a minimal pair if
1) the words have different meanings AND 2) the words differ in only a single segment and are otherwise identical (ex. <map/nap>)
Rule template
A-->B/C-D: "A becomes B between C and D"
minimal pairs must have the same number of sounds
TRUE
optional rules
capture optionality. These rules can happen in a language's phonology, but there are no constraints that stipulate that this change is a necessity: "A->B/#__ (optional)" means that they're allophones of the same phoneme in free variation word-initially
2 segments are phonemes if
changing one with the other changes the meaning of a world; appear in the same environment
the two criteria for 2 segments to be allophones of the same phoneme
complementary distribution AND phonetic similarity
phoneme
contrastive segments
if two segs appear in at least one identical environment (meaning same preceding and following environment), they must belong to
different phonemes
allophones must appear in
different, non-overlapping (disjunctive?) environments
free variation
term used to refer to two sounds that occur in overlapping environments but cause no distinction in the meaning of their respective words
elsewhere allophone
the allophone that appears in all other places besides the one exception of where it cannot appear?
by convention, the phoneme is named after
the elsewhere allophone (but this is kind of confusing bc the title of the rule seems to be named after the specific allophone)
learnability experiments
train ppl on a fake language (process) and then ask them to produce/judge new forms
lab/experimental phonology
uses experimental method
allophones
when 2 segments are not contrastive but are phonetically similar; kind of like different shades of blue for us in english; each phoneme can have multiple allophone realizations
allophonic contrasts
when 2 segs appear in complementary distribution and are phonetically similar--> allophones of the same phoneme
phonemic contrasts
when 2 segs appear in saome evironment and form minimal pairs--> 2 dif phonemes
how to mark a voiceless segment
with a little circle directly below
how to formalize connection between allophones of the same phoneme
with rules! :) that map one to the other in a specific environment
how to represent word edges
#
how to mark stress
' before the stressed syllable
how are phonemes marked?
/ /
in the rule template, what do all the letters represent
A=elsewhere allophone B=the other allophone (specific allophone) C=segment before D=segment after
are all distinctions contrastive
NO
if seg A is an allphone of phoneme /X/ and seg B and contrasts with phoneme /X/, could segments A and B be allophones of the same phoneme?
NO (I think at least)
are [h] and engma allophones of the same phoneme since they appear in complementary distribution
NO b/c they are phonetically quite different!
does the rule contain square brackets?
NO! just the relevent segments
if two segments appear in complementary distribution, is this sufficient evidence that they are allophones of the same phoneme
NO!!! but it is a good clue that is could be true
do you always need to mark non-contrastive properties in a phonetic transcription?
NO, only sometimes you do it
minimal pair
PHONOLOGY A pair of words which differ in meaning when only one segment is changed. The differences can be either vowels or consonants.
do you always need to mark contrastive sounds in a phonetic transcription?
YES
is a single minimal pair sufficient evidence that 2 segments are not the same phoneme?
YES
is it sufficient to establish similarity across subsets of allophones with each allophone being similar to just at least one other allophone?
YES! for ex: [t, tʰ, ɾ] all alveolar while [t, tʰ, ɾ] are all voicless stops
how are allophones marked?
[ ]
the two parts each rule consists of
a name (Hebrew /v/ allophone) and the rule itself (b-->v/V--)
how to mark that something is velarized
a tilde through the letterr [ɫ]
what are the two different levels of phonological representation (thanks to structuralism)
abstract (phonemes) and concrete (allophones)
sonar consonants
all manners besides stops, fricatives, and affricates
structuralism
early 20thC, led to theory of allophones and phonemes, there are two different levels of representation
the rule must map the ____ allophone to the _____
elsewhere allo to the more restricted one
the phoneme is named after the
elsewhere allophone
methods of phonetics
experimental method; measuring physical properties of speech sounds, articulation, perception with audio recordings, special software, ultrasounds, etc
all langs have ____ number of phonemes
finite
if given a problem
first look for minimal pairs to determine if phonemic; then, if they are phonetically similar, look for the environments so you can look for a pattern
if two segs do not appear in complementary distribution but switching them out for each other doesn't change meaning of the word, they are
free variants
final devoicing
in many langs, word-final stops, fricatives, and affricates must be voiceless
optionality
in some positions and in some langs, segments may be realized variantly
contrast
key phonological concept related to the way human brain processes speech and language; refers to a substantial qualitative difference between 2 things which are typically in opposition or in close association; not all sound distinctions are contrastive
near minimal pair
like a min pair except that there's more than one difference between the 2 words with dif meanings; the additional difference has no apparent effect on teh 2 segments in question
segment
like a speech sound, but doesn't necessarily refer to a single unit fron a phonological point of view; a diphthong could be considered 2 speech sounds but a single segment
aspirations
marked w/ superscript h [tʰ]; increased duration between stops's release and the beginning of the following sound
syllabic consonants
marked with a , directly underneath
the metarules
must be as simple and general as possible must go general to specific must be consistent with the data (accurate!)
elicitation
native speakers are asked about forms in a language and data is collected
in english do we contrast [t], [tʰ], [ʔ], [ɾ]?
no
can segments ever overlap?
no (but speech sounds can have an affect on a dif sound; this is why they're dif)
does degree of similarity play the sole role in whether or not something is contrastive?
no; sounds can be contrastive in one language but not contrastive in another!
complementary distribution
non-overlapping environments
production experiments
participant given one form and then asked for a related form
perception experiments
participants asked if a word is well formed or in a nonce word could exist
the 2 distinctions among segments in world's languages: some contrasts are
phonemic, while others are allophone
do we compare minimal pairs based on phonetic content or orthography
phonetic content!!!
a minimal pair can be used to determine if the contrast between 2 segments is
phonetic? (whether they are two different phonemes)
is looking at recurrent sound patterns across languages phonetic or phonological? (ex. all languages have vowels)
phonology
distribution can be described in terms of
preceding or following environments (sometimes both, sometimes only one)
the environment refers to the
restricted allophone
when we refer to contrast we refer to contrast between
segments
stop means just oral unless
specified otherwise
obstruent consonants
stops, fricatives, affricates
environments can refer to
stress, syllable structure, voicelessness, vowels, consonants?
phonetics
subfield of linguistics interested mostly in articulatory and acoustic properties of sounds (how they're articulated, how they differ in acoustic properties)
how to mark that something is dental
subscript t̪
how to mark that something is palatized
superscript j [ mʲ ]
how to mark that something is a nasal vowel
superscript tilde [ẽ]