Chapter 4: Phonology…

…not the study of telephones!

NOTES: The slides/lecture/discussion for this chapter deviate from the order

of the book… You WILL need to read, you decide to read early, late or both…

About exercising: it keeps you healthy: physically & mentally…

Kinds of Sound Change Assimilation (become more alike)

Nasalization Voicing Flapping

Dissimilation (become less alike) Metathesis (shift sounds around) Epenthesis // Intrusion (add a sound)

Other Elision // Deletion (take a sound away) Vowel Reduction (shorten or ‘schwa’ a sound)

Kinds of Sound Change

Sound Safari Find example words for one

subcategory of each type of sound change in the previous slide

Hand me the examples highlighting IPA for “careful” vs. “fast-casual”

speech Explanation of the change in terms of

natural classes Answer: Is the created sound always

allophonic, or sometimes phonemic

Phonemes

Formal Definition:Sounds that are heard distinctively by native speakers of a language

Dave’s Translation: Sound that make meaningful differences in a language

What word do you get…

…if you delete the first sound of:

1. 2. 3. 4.

Do sounds1, 2, 3, &/or 4

test for phonological awareness?

On Being Distinctive AKA Contrastive … AKA Phonemic Minimal pairs

You tell me: Standard spelling for each of the

above… More minimal pairs…

What’s This?

Allophones

Formal Definition:Sounds that are NOT heard distinctively by native speakers of a language

Dave’s Translation: Sounds that DO NOT make meaningful differences in a language

Aspiration

Hold a paper in front of your mouth Say “pot” and “poke” Then “spot” and “spoke”

Does the paper move differently?

Phonemes & Allophones

Minimal Pairs phonemic distinction

- Allophones (in English) (sit, sing) Phonetically distinct, phonologically

same Complementary distribution

Other Language:

Phonemic or allophonic?

Phonological Principles

Ideal vs. Realization Largely subconscious Universals exist Rule governed

Rules can be formalized Rules can be generalized Rules must be ordered…

To Formalize

Phoneme –Allophone Illustration

Underlying form

Surface form

Phonological Rule

Explain the Rule…

What type of change is this?

In Simpler Words

A B / C __ D

A becomes B when it comes between C and C

We typically use features for A, B, C and D… For shorthand we may sometimes use segments instead…

Rules & Allophones

Get Some Exercise

Yes, [h] and [?] are phonemic. Both appear at the beginning & between vowels…

Any Questions…

…before we move on?

(…breathe, stretch, move around…)

Natural Classes

Sounds that share feature(s) and behave similarly in phonology Consonants

+ Stop - Stop+ Voice - Voice

Vowels+ High - High+ Back - Back

Natural Classes: Exercise

Natural Classes: Answers

Challenge: Find the rest… (there are at least 12)

Get Some Exercise

More Exercise…

Any Questions…

…before we move on?

Phonological Units

Features

The atoms of phonology Building blocks of sound Key to understanding (most)

variation Binary distinction (+/-)

You’ve either got it, or you don’t…

Any Questions…

…before we move on?

Possible English Words?

Syllable Book’s Definition:

A unit of linguistic structure that consists of a syllabic element and any segments that are associated with it

Dave’s Interpretation: A potentially independent group of

sounds that sticks closely together

Syllabic Recipe

σ

Onset (O) Rhyme (R)

Nucleus (N) Coda (Co)

sprint

NOTE: Only the Nucleus is required…

Sequence Constraints

Formal Definition: The set of constraints on how sequences of segments pattern

Dave’s Interpretation: Rules on which sounds can be next to each other (≈ in a syllable)

(PhonotacticConstraints)

Sequence Constraints Different languages = Different rules

English V, VC, CV, CVC, CCV, etc…≠

Spanish≠ Onset = [sk], [st], [sp]

Japanese≠ “C” as coda, except [n]

Explain Spanish or Japanese constraints in terms of natural classes…

Whaddya Know…

… about syllable constraints in another

language?

Don’t Get Stressed Out… Primary and Secondary Stress

Separate Words = Separate Stress Whíte hóuse

Single Concept = Related Stress Whíte Hòuse

Multi-syllable words Stress varies http://oak.ucc.nau.edu/tn24/wordstress/wstresstex

t.html

Syllablabic Interventions…

Sentence Level Stress

Stress Content Words N, V, Adj, Adv

Not function words Det, Aux Vs, Conj’s, Pronouns,

Prepositions

Any Questions…

…before we move on?

Try It: The Plural Suffix

Orthography: -s or -es Phonetic: Sort the following phonetically:

tack, tag, torch, cough, cup, dish, dress, grave, graph, hat, house, hunch, judge, lad, lash, lathe, maze, room, tax, thing

Why? (i.e. What are the rules?)

tack tag torchcough grave dishcup lad dress

graph lathe househat room hunch

thing judge lash maze

tax

3 Rules

Plural Rules:

Any Questions…

…before we move on?

…only two slides left…

Cross-linguistic Variation

For “Tomorrow”

Quiz Exercises

Yes, they’re a good idea… 4-1, 4, 8, 15 Teacher-focused, but also good:

4-18, 19, 20, 22