Introduction to Linguistics course (BBN-ANG11-132) Irina Burukina

Handout 2. Phonology irine-bu@caesar.elte.hu

Readings to this class: Fromkin’s An introduction to language. Chapter 5. pp. 190 – 210.

(let me know if you cannot find a copy of this book)

Additional book: E.C. Zsiga The Sounds of Language: An Introduction to Phonetics and Phonology, 2013

This is a very nice book. You are not required to read it, but if you want to learn more you can take a look at it.

0. Basic terminology

Phonology vs phonetics

phonology … studies the system of sounds in (a particular) language.

phonetics … studies the sounds of human speech (their articulatory and acoustic properties)

Phoneme vs phone vs allophone

/phoneme/ – a unit of sound in the sound system of a particular language that can distinguish one word from another (ABSTRACT)

[phone] – any distinct speech sound

allophone – distinct speech sounds corresponding to a phoneme

Complementary distribution X and Y are said to be in complementary distribution if they cannot appear in the same context (environment)

Accidental gaps – possible but non-existent words. Examples: English voiced consonants bet/pet, geek/keek Non-distinctive feature in English: nasal vowels bean-bead, roam-robe Hungarian examples of distinctive features and minimal pairs? ! Orthography does not necessarily represent the sounds of a languageExample: Did he believe that Caesar could see the people seize the seas? My father wanted this book badly.

1. Distinctive featuresFeature geometry: features can be grouped together (place of articulation, manner of articulation, voice...)

Binary features: [±high] [±low] for vowels, [±voice] for consonantsIPA: International Phonetic Alphabet http://www.ipachart.com/

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*English – blue, Hungarian – red; red underlined – only long

Consonants

Lateral – releasing air down the sides of the tongue.Approximant = a consonant produced by bringing one articulator (the tongue or lips) close to another without actually touching it (English /ɹ/). + additional tables (for example, affricates)FunCompare English to Dothraki

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Exercises1. Provide phonemic transcriptions for the following words (Received Pronunciation; consult the Oxford Dictionary and IPA). Describe each phoneme in terms of place and manner of articulation.dog, cat, ice, snow, seed, bear, there2. For each group of sounds listed, state the phonetic feature(s) they all share.Example: [p], [b], [m] – bilabial, stop, consonanta. [g], [p], [t], [d], [k], [b]b. [u], [ʊ], [o], [ɔ]c. [i], [e], [ɪ], [ɛ] d. [t], [s], [ʃ], [p], [k], [tʃ], [f], [h]

2. RulesPhonemic string → phonetic pronunciation / context A → B / X ____YExample: feature changing rules

How can we describe these transformations? Types of rulesAssimilation, dissimilation, feature addition rules, lenition, fortition, segment addition (epenthesis) /deletion rules, metathesis rules. Rule orderingFeeding vs bleedingFeeding: the application of the first rule creates a context in which the second rule can now apply.Bleeding: the application of the first rule creates a context in which the second rule can no longer apply.Example: a. k → tʃ / __ i b. i → u / k __ Underlying: c. /ki/Simultaneous application: d. tʃuOrdering a-b: e. tʃiOrdering b-e: f. ku

Exercises

2. Consider these phonetic forms of Hebrew words:[v] – [b] [f] – [p]bika ‘lamented’ litef ‘stroked’migbal ‘limited’ sefer ‘book’ʃavar ‘broke’ (masc.) sataf ‘washed’ʃavra ‘broke’ (fem.) para ‘cow’Ɂikev ‘delayed’ mitpaxat ‘handkerchief’bara ‘created’ haɁalpim ‘the Alps’Assume that these words and their phonetic sequences are representative of what may occur in Hebrew. In your answers, consider classes of sounds rather than individual sounds.

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Answer the following questions:a) Are [b] and [v] allophones of one phoneme? Are they in complementary distribution? In what phonetic environments do they occur? Can you formulate a phonological rule stating their distribution? b) Does the same rule, or lack of a rule, that describes the distribution of [b] and [v] apply to [p] and [f]? If not, why not?c) Here is a word with one phone missing. A blank appear in place of the missing sound: hid_ik.Check the one correct statement:

i. [b] but not [v] could occur in the empty slot.ii. [v] but not [b] could occur in the empty slot. iii. Either [b] or [v] could occur in the empty slot. iv. Neither [b] nor [v] could occur in the empty slot.

3. Write a rule for the deletion (omission) of /t/ in words and phrases like postman, must be, post doc. Write a second rule that would describe deletion of /t/ if it was obligatory in postman and must be, but prohibited in post doc.5. Consider the following alternation that occurs in English. Describe it as assimilation, dissimilation, lenition, fortition, epenthesis, or deletion. Write down a formal rule/formal rules for the alternation.

The prefix con-, meaning ‘with,’ has three different allomorphs: conduct [kəndʌkt], complain [kəmplen], congress [kaŋgrɛs].

6. Write a formal rule based on this description.Voiceless stops and fricatives become voiced between sonorants.

3. Prosodic/suprasegmental/autosegmentalLarger than a segment – syllable; within a syllable: onset / coda / nucleus

Tones: Chinese high, rising, dipping, falling. Stress: fixed / non-fixed, primary/secondary.

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