3Phonology.docx

3Phonology.docx

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3Phonology

3.PHONOLOGY

3.1Distinctivenessinspeechsounds

PHONOLOGYisthestudyofsoundsystems—theinventoryofdistinctivesoundsthatoccurinalanguageandthepatternsintowhichtheyfall.

Speechsounds,aswehaveseen,aredifferentfromeachotherinanumberofways,suchas,placeofarticulation,mannerofarticulation,voicing,nasality,aspiration,tongueheight,etc.

Someofthedifferencesaredistinctiveinthattheyservetodistinguishbetweenwordsinagivenlanguage.

InEnglish,forexample,thedifferencebetween/p/and/b/,/i/and/e/,/n/and/η/aredistinctive.Substitutingonefortheotherchangesthemeaningofaword:

“pin”wouldbecome“bin”,“pen”or“ping”

DistinctivesoundsofthiskindaretermedPHONEMES.

Definition:

Whiletheactualproductionofaspeechsoundmayvaryslightly,itscontrasttoothersoundswithinasystemmustbedistinctenoughtodifferentiatemeaning.Thesesystematicunitsofdistinctsoundarecalledphonemes.

Ifasounddifferencedoesnotcauseameaningdifferenceinalanguage,thenitisnondistinctive.

Inthepreviouschapter,wesaidthatthe/1/inEnglishwords“let”,“play”,“tell”arepronounceddifferently,andthesubstitutionofsay,[l]for[l]wouldnotmakeadifferentword,thoughnativespeakersmayfindthepronunciationabitstrange.

Thenondistinctivesoundsaremembersofthesamephoneme,andareknownasALLOPHONES.

Theallophoneisaphoneme-subtype,aparticularwayaphonemeisnormallyutteredinagivenphonologicalenvironment,suchasaspiratedandaspirated[t].

Sincetheydifferassounds,wemightusetwosymbols:

[th]and[t].Thephoneme/t/inEnglishhastheallophones[th]and[t-]

Phonology,differentfromphonetics,islanguagespecific.Itdealswithspeechsoundswithinthecontextofaparticularlanguage.

3.2Thephonemetheory

Thephonemeisthebasicunitinphonologicalanalysis.Phonologists,however,differgreatlyinregardtothenatureanduseofthephoneme.Somelookuponthephonemeasaphysicalphoneticentity;someemphasizethefunctionalsideofthephoneme;andotherstakethepsychologicalpointofview,maintainingthatthephonemeis“amentalreality”,“theintentionofthespeakerortheimpressionofthehearer,orboth.”

3.2.1Minimalpairs

Tofindoutthedistinctivesounds,thecustomarypracticeistotrytofindMINIMALPAIRS—

wordformswhichdifferfromeachotheronlybyonesound.

Foeexample:

inEnglish,“pin”and“bin”,‘pin’and‘pen’areeachaminimalpair.

Contrastivedistribution

Asthesubstitutionof[b]for[ph],[e]for[I],or[η]for[n]changesthemeaningofthewordconcerned,thepairsof[ph]and[b],[i]and[e],[n]and[η]areeachsaidtobeinCONTRASTIVEDISTRIBUTION.

Soundsincontrastivedistributionshouldbeassignedtodifferentphonemes,so[ph],[b],[i],[e],[n],[η]inEnglishbelongtodifferentphonemes,whicharetranscribedas/p/,/b/,/i/,/e/,/n/,/η/.

3.2.2Freevariation

Ifhowever,twosoundsoccurringinthesameenvironmentdonotcontrast,thatis,thesubstitutionofonefortheotherdoesnotproduceadifferentwordform,butmerelyadifferentpronunciationofthesameword,thenthetwosoundsareinFREEVARIATION.

Forexample,theplosivesinEnglishmaynotbeexplodedwhentheyoccurbeforeanotherplosiveoranasal,suchasinthewordsandphrases“act”,“apt”,“thatboy”,“goodmorning”.

Theseunexplodedplosivesmaybetranscribedas[ko],[po],[to],[do],witharaisedcircleontheright.

Soundsinfreevariationshouldbeassignedtothesamephoneme.

Whateverthevariation,twoprinciplesguidetheidentificationofphonemes:

Complementarydistributionandphoneticsimilarity.

3.2.3ComplementarydistributionandPhoneticsimilarity

Notallthespeechsoundsoccurinthesameenvironment.Whentwowordsneveroccurinthesameenvironment,theyaresaidtobeinCOMPLEMENTARYDISTRIBUTION.

Forexample,inEnglish,theaspiratedplosives[ph],[th],[kh]neveroccurafter/s/,andtheunaspiratedones[p],[t],[k]neveroccurinitially,

suchasinthepairs“spot”and“pot”;“stop”and“top”,“school”and“cool”,etc.

Soundsincomplementarydistributionmaybeassignedtothesamephoneme,asisthecasewiththeEnglish[ph]and[p],[th]and[t],and[kh]and[k].Theallophones[l],[l],[f]of/1/arealsoincomplementarydistribution.

Theclear[l]occursonlybeforeavowel,suchasinthewords“light’,“glad”,“failure”;

andthevoiceless[l]occursonlyafteravoicelessconsonant,suchasinthewords“please”,“butler”,“clear”;

andthedark[f]occursonlyafteravowelorasasyllabicsoundafteraconsonant,suchasinthewords“feel”,“help”,“middle”.

Butcomplementarydistributionisnottheonlyconditiontoidentifytwosoundsasofthesamephoneme.Themustsatisfysomeotherconditionsaswell.

Oneconditionfortwosoundsincomplementarydistributiontobelongtothesamephonemeisthattheymustbephoneticallysimilar.

Onewell-knowncaseinthisregardistheEnglishsounds[h]and[η].Intermsofdistribution,theyarecomplementarytoeachother:

[h]occursonlyatthebeginningofasyllable,suchasinthewords“head”,“heart”,“enhance”,“perhaps”,and[η]havelittleincommonexceptthattheyarebothconsonants.[h]isvoicelesswhile[η]isvoiced;[h]isafricativewhile[η]isa（nasalplosive;[h]isoralwhile[η]isnasal;[h]isglottalwhile[η]isvelar.

PHONETICSIMILARITY,however,islargelyamatterofdegree.Itisdifficulttodecidetowhatextentthesimilaritycounts.

Andwhenasoundissimilartotwoothersounds,itisdifficulttodecidewhichofthetwoitshouldbegroupedtogetherwith.

Anotherexample:

phoneticsimilarityandcomplementarydistribution.

Thefirstsaysthatthedental/n/oftenth,thealveolar/n/often,andpalatal/n/ofinchareenoughaliketobeclassedtogether.

Thesecondisawayofdisposingofthefeaturesthatdiffer.Thedistributionofdental/n/andpalatal/n/arenotthesameasthatofalveolar/n/;insteadtheycomplementeachother:

Eachoccurswherethetwoothersdonot—theydonotcontrastwithoneanotherinthesameenvironment,as/nηm/doinran-rang-ram.Sotheyare“thesame/n/”withdifferentallophones.

3.2.5Patterncongruity

IncasesliketheEnglishunaspirated[p],[t],[k],wemusttakeintoconsiderationthegeneralpatternofthephonemesinthelanguage.

Ifwechoosetoclassifythemwith[b],[d],[g],thatis,toassignthemasallophonesof/b/,/d/,/g/,thenweshouldhavetotranscribe[spot]phonemicallyas/sbop/,and[sku:

l]as/sgu:

l]/.

HoweverthisrecognitioniscontrarytothegeneralpatterninEnglish,namely,inconsonantclustersofplosivesandfricatives,theyusuallysharethesamevoicefeature,eitherbotharevoicedorbotharevoiceless.

Whatismore,inviewofthetotalityofthephonemesinEnglish,thefeatureofvoiceismoreimportantthanthefeatureofaspiration.

Thereforeitispreferabletoclassify[p],[t],[k]with[ph],[th],[kh].

ThetermPATTERNCONGRUITYhasalsobeenusedinthesensethatotherthingsbeingequal,themoresymmetricalaphonologicalsystemisthebetter.

InEnglish,thereisapairofaffricates/t∫/and/dэ/.Whydowenottreatthemascombinationsofsinglephonemesintheway[ts]and[dz]aretreated?

Itappearsthatthesound[dэ]shouldbetreatedasasinglephonemewhile[t∫]couldbetreatedasacombinationoftwophonemes.Butifwedidthat,thepatternofEnglishconsonantswouldappearasymmetrical:

Onthegroundsofpatterncongruity,therefore,[t∫]isbettertreatedasasinglephonemetoo.

3.3Afunctionalapproach

AfunctionalapproachtowardstheconceptofphonemewasproposedbythePragueSchool,agroupoflinguistsactiveinthe20sand30softhiscenturyatPrague.

Theydeclare:

“Thephonemecanbedefinedsatisfactorilyneitheronthebasisofitspsychologicalnaturenoronthebasisofitsrelationtothephoneticvariants,butpurelyandsolelyonthebasisofitsfunctioninthesystemoflanguage.”（NikolaiTrubetzkoy,PrinciplesofPhonology:

41）

Weshalltouchupononlytwooftheirviewpoints:

neutralizationandarchiphoneme;distinctivefeatures.

3.3.1NeutralizationandArchiphoneme

Phonemesarecapableofdistinguishingbetweendifferentwordsbecausetheythemselvesaredifferentfromoneanother.

ThisdifferencebetweenphonemesiscalledphonologicaloppositioninthePragueSchool.

Intheirdiscussionofphonologicaloppositions,theynoticethatsomeoppositionsareeffectiveinallcontextsandsomeareeffectiveonlyincertaincontexts.

Theycalltheformertypeconstantoppositionandthelatterneutralizableopposition.

Forexample,inEnglish,/p/and/b/aretwodistinctivesounds;substitutingonefortheothergenerallychangesthemeaningofaword.

Butinthecontextof/s-/,thisoppositionislost,i.e.neutralized.NotwoEnglishwordsaredistinguishedbythepresenceof/sp/inoneandthepresenceof/sb/intheother.

Thereisonlyonesoundoccurringafter/s/,whetheritisgroupedwiththephoneme/p/or/b/.

InPragueSchoolphonology,aphonemeisdefinedbytheoppositionitenters.Sincetheoppositionisdifferentwhenitisneutralizedfromwhenitisnot,thephonemeintheneutralizedpositioncannotbethesameasthephonemeinthenon-neutralizedposition.

Thatistosay,theEnglishphonemeoccurringafter/s/shouldnotbethesameaseither/p/or/b/.PragueSchoollinguistsuseaspecialsymbolforit–thecapitalized/p/,andtermitARCHIPHONEME.

3.3.2Distinctivefeatuces

Phonemeshouldcontainonlythephonologicallyrelevantproperties.

Forexample,inEnglish,thesound[ph]containsthephone