Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Phonology
Darrell Larsen
Linguistics 101
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Outline
1
Understanding Phonology
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
2
Doing Phonology
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
3
Summary
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
What Is Phonology?
Definition
the study of the sound systems of languages and the mental
representation of sounds
sound system = inventory of sounds + rules + constraints
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Why Do We Need Phonology?
to account for how sounds are groups together despite being
phonetically distinct.
to explain regular sound alternations (e.g. aspiration of /p t k/)
to explain how we extend these alternations to novel words
to explain how we extend these alternations to mistakes like
spoonerisms
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Why Do We Need Phonology?
to explain how we pronounce loan words
to explain how we determine what possible words of our
language are
to save storage space
etc
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ?
Phonetics:
concerned with actual pronunciation
concerned with articulation
Phonology:
focuses on mental representations of sounds
has rules mapping mental representations to pronunciations
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ?
Phonetics
Phonology
The /k/ in call [kh Al] and in key
h
[k
ff i] are phonetically distinct.
The /k/ in call and key have the
same mental representation.
/kAl/ → [kh Al]
h
/ki/ → [k
ff i]
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
How Do Phonetics and Phonology Differ?
Letter Analogy
aA
Pseudo-phonetics
Pseudo-phonology
The symbols above are distinct.
The symbols above belong to a
single mental representation of
the letter ‘a’.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
From Phonology to Phonetics
Phonology is the starting point, while phonetics is the ‘output’
of phonology.
Phonological rules change sounds from mental
representations (phonemes) into phonetic forms.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
From Phonology to Phonetics
Letter Analogy
The single letter ‘a’ is written as hai or hAi in accordance with
the following (simplified) set of rules:
Use hAi at the beginning of a sentence.
Use hAi at the beginning of a proper noun.
Use hai elsewhere.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
From Phonology to Phonetics
Actual Example
The single phoneme /k/ is pronounced as [k] or [kff] in
accordance with the following (simplified) set of rules:
Use [kff] in front of the vowel /i/.
Use [k] elsewhere.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Phonemes and Allophones
The Basics
A speech sound in isolation is a phone.
The mental representation of a sound is a phoneme.
Allophones are phonetic realizations of phonemes.
Allophones are generally minimally distinct from phonemes.
A phoneme consists of one or more allophones.
Every speech sound we produce is an allophone of some
phoneme.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Phonemes and Allophones
Notation
Allophones are written between square brackets [ ].
Phonemes are written between forward slashes / /.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
From Phonology to Phonetics
Phonemes & Allophones
Native speakers generally think of sounds at the phonemic
level.
Phoneme
/t/
Allophone
[t]
[t^]
[P]
[th ]
[R]
[tS]
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Example
‘stop’
‘cat’
‘cat’
‘tie’
‘atom’
‘train’
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Types of Distributions
When comparing the speech sounds of a language, we can
classify their relative distribution as one of the following:
1
2
3
contrastive
complementary
free variation
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Contrastive Distribution
Two sounds are contrastive when:
1
2
they occur in the same environment, and
replacing one sound with the other can change a word’s
meaning
Question
Are [s] and [z] contrastive in English?
Are [k] and [kh ] contrastive in English?
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Contrastive Distribution
Two contrastive phones are allophones of different phonemes.
Two non-contrastive phones are allophones of the same
phoneme.
Question
Do [s] and [z] belong to the same phoneme or different
phonemes in English?
How about [k] and [kh ]?
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Contrastive Distribution
Minimal Pairs
Minimal pairs provide evidence that two phones are in
contrastive distribution
A minimal pair is two words...
1
2
3
with the same number of sound segments, and
which differ in segment only, and
which have different meanings
Minimal Pairs
[bin] ‘bean’
[m2d] ‘mud’
[læf] ’laugh’
Not Minimal Pairs
[min] ‘mean’
[T2d] ‘thud’
[kh æf] ‘calf’
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[sænd] ‘sand’
[bin] ‘bean’
[kh æt] ‘cat’
Phonology
[stænd] ‘stand’
[bæm] ‘bam’
[kh æP]
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Complementary Distribution
Sounds in complementary distribution...
1
2
never occur in the same environment
occur in predictable environments (with respect to each other)
Sounds in complementary distribution are allophones of the
same phoneme.
Question
Are [p] and [ph ] in complementary distribution in English?
How about [t] and [d]?
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Free Variation
Two sounds are free variation when:
1
2
they occur in the same environment, and
replacing one with the other does not change the meaning
Sounds in free variation are allophones of the same phoneme.
Question
Are released [b] and unreleased [b^] in free variation
word-finally?
Are released [b] and unreleased [b^] in free variation
word-initially?
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Crosslinguistic Variation
The distribution of any two sounds is language-specific.
English
English
[su]
[zu]
[pi]
[ph i]
‘sue’
‘zoo’
‘pee’/‘pea’
Finnish
Korean
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[ku:si]
[ku:zi]
[pi]
[ph i]
Phonology
‘six’
‘six’
‘rain’
‘blood
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Multiple Distributions
The distribution of two sounds may vary depending on the
environment.
Consider the sounds [t], [t^] and [P] in English
‘cat’
‘stop’
[kæt]
[stap]
[kæt^]
*[st^ap]
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[kh æP]
*[sPap]
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Multiple Distributions
A phone may be allophones of more than one phoneme.
E.g., [R] can be an allophone of /t/ or /d/.
‘atom’
‘addict’
[æR@m]
[æRIkt]
cf. ‘atomic’
cf. ‘addictive’
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[@th amIk]
[@dIktIv]
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Distinctive Features
A distinctive feature is a feature which, when changed, may
create minimal pairs.
Any feature may potentially be distinctive.
Which features are distinctive is language-specific.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Distinctive Features
Examples
Voicing, [±voice], is a distinctive feature in English, but not in
Korean.
[p] and [b] are contrastive in English.
[p] and [b] are in complementary distribution in Korean.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Basics
Phonology vs. Phonetics
Distribution of Sounds
Distinctive Features
Distinctive Features
Examples
Aspiration, [±aspirated], is a distinctive feature in Korean, but
not in English.
[p] and [ph ] are contrastive in Korean.
[p] and [ph ] are in complementary distribution in English.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Doing Phonology
Given a set of data from a language, how can we determine
the distribution of two sounds in that language?
1
2
Determine the distribution type (contrastive, complementary,
free variation).
If complementary distribution, determine distribution of each
allophone.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Determine the Distribution Type
1
Are there any minimal pairs for the sounds in question?
Yes? They are contrastive and allophones of different
phonemes. You are done.
No? They are allophones of the same phoneme. Continue to
next step.
2
Are they in free variation?
Yes? You are done.
No? They are in complementary distribution. Continue to next
step.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
To find the distribution of allophones in complementary
distribution...
1
2
3
4
Make a chart of the environment in which each allophone in
question appears. Exclude duplicate environment.
Look for patterns.
Decide what the phoneme is.
Write a rule showing the distribution.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Distribution Type
Given the Korean data below, determine the distribution of [s]
and [S].
First, determine the distribution type.
[son]
[Silsu]
[isa]
[Sinho]
‘hand’
‘mistake’
‘relocating’
‘signal’
[som]
[sos@l]
[sal]
[maSida]
‘cotton’
‘novel’
‘skin’
‘drink’
[Sihap]
[sEk]
[Sipsam]
[oSip]
‘match, game’
‘color’
‘13’
‘50’
They are in complementary distribution. Continue to next step.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
Step 1: Make a chart
Data
[son]
[som]
[Sihap]
[Silsu]
[sos@l]
[sEk]
[isa]
[sal]
[Sipsam]
[Sinho]
[maSida]
[oSip]
s
#o
#o
lu
#o
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
S
#
#
#
#
a
o
i
i
i
i
i
i
s
#o
S
#i
Simplify →
lu
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
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Phonology
ai
oi
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
Step 2: Look for patterns on preceding / following sounds.
Data
[son]
[som]
[Sihap]
[Silsu]
[sos@l]
[sEk]
[isa]
[sal]
[Sipsam]
[Sinho]
[maSida]
[oSip]
s
#o
lu
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
S
#i
ai
oi
Helpful order for searching:
1
2
3
4
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C, V, #
Voicing on consonants
Vowel features
Other consonant features
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
Step 2: Look for patterns on preceding / following sounds.
Data
[son]
[som]
[Sihap]
[Silsu]
[sos@l]
[sEk]
[isa]
[sal]
[Sipsam]
[Sinho]
[maSida]
[oSip]
s
#o
lu
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
S
#i
ai
oi
[S] appears in front of [i]
[s] does not appear in front of [i]
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
Step 3: Decide what the phoneme is.
Data
[son]
[som]
[Sihap]
[Silsu]
[sos@l]
[sEk]
[isa]
[sal]
[Sipsam]
[Sinho]
[maSida]
[oSip]
s
#o
lu
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
S
#i
ai
oi
In general, the allophone
occurring in the greatest number
of distinct environments is the
phoneme.
Here, /s/ will be our phoneme.
[S] and [s] are both allophones of
/s/
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Korean [s] and [S]
Determine Complementary Allophone Distribution
Step 4: Write a rule showing the distribution.
Data
[son]
[som]
[Sihap]
[Silsu]
[sos@l]
[sEk]
[isa]
[sal]
[Sipsam]
[Sinho]
[maSida]
[oSip]
s
#o
lu
o@
#E
ia
#a
pa
S
#i
ai
oi
Darrell Larsen
Start with ‘opposite’ sound(s).
/s/ → [S] / i
Do the ‘same’ sound.
/s/ → [s] / elsewhere
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
When two sounds are in complementary distribution, we can
show the distribution through the use of rules.
Phonologist argue that these rules are psychologically real.
Example 1
V
pre-change
→
becomes
V[+nasal ]
post-change
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Phonology
/
when
C[+nasal ]
environment
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
The rule below says that a vowel becomes nasalized when it
occurs immediately in front of a nasal consonant.
Example 1
V
→
V[+nasal ]
/
C[+nasal ]
‘mom’ /mAm/ → [mÃm]
‘mop’ /mAp/ → [mAp] (rule does not apply because [p] is not
nasal.)
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
In Korean, /p/ becomes voiced intervocalically.
We can write a sound-specific rule as follows:
Example 2
/p/
→
[b]
/
V V
‘idiot’ /papo/ → [pabo]
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Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
In fact, Korean has four voiceless stops /p t c k/, and they all
become voiced intervocalically.
If we write four sound-specific rules, it doesn’t capture the
general pattern.
Instead, we can write rules with features.
Example 3
/+stop/
→
[+voice]
/
V V
The above rule subsumes the following: /p/ → [b], /t/ → [d],
/c/ → [é], /k/ → [g]
Note that we only need to write the feature that changes after
the arrow. Everything else stays the same.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
English voiceless stops /p t k/ become aspirated word-initially
(and at the beginning of stressed syllables, which we will
ignore for now)
Example 4
/-voice, +stop/
→
[+aspirated]
/
#
The # stands for a word boundary. # means ‘at the
beginning of a word’, while # means ‘at the end of a word’.
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
How to Solve a Phonology Problem
Example Phonology Problem
Writing Phonological Rules
Rules come in sets. The final rule is always the ‘elsewhere
rule’.
Consider aspiration in English. For ease of presentation, I’ll
use sound-specific rules for /p/.
/p/ → [ph ]
/p/ → [ph ]
/p/ → [p]
/#
/ [ ...]σ[+stress ]
/ elsewhere
(i.e. beginning of a word)
(i.e. beginning of a stressed syllable)
Thus, ‘pat’ [pæt] → [ph æt], ‘superb’ /supôb/ → [suph ôb], and
"
"
‘spot’ /spAt/ → [spAt]
(Don’t waste your time trying to understand the stressed-syllable rule. You won’t need such rules in this course.)
Darrell Larsen
Phonology
Understanding Phonology
Doing Phonology
Summary
Summary
Key Words and Concepts
phonology vs phonetics
phoneme vs allophone
distribution types
contrastive
complimentary
free variation
minimal pair
distinctive feature
phonological rules
solving phonology problems
Darrell Larsen
Phonology