24.900: Introduction to Linguistics Classnotes: Week of February 25, 2002 MORPHOLOGY PHONOLOGY Problem set #3: Due Monday, March 4, 2002 No class on Wednesday, February 27, 2002 Recitation section problem solved!!!! 1. Review of important points regarding Morphology a. Note about compounding The compound stress rule is involved in the phonological interpretation of syntactic structure the same syntactic structure that is interpreted semantically. Thus the constituents or units involved in meaning (what modifies what in the structure) are the same constituents assigned S or W for stress purposes. "black board" vs. blackboard b. Morphology in review Pieces syntactic pieces semantic pieces phonological pieces Relations/structures hierarchical tree structure as in LISP list Interpretation semantic interpretation - phonological interpretation c. What are those pieces? 1
Syntactic roots "girl"-ish functional heads = syntactic feature bundles girl -"ish" Semantic roots interpretable syntactic features Phonological roots morphs = structures of phonological features that realize (=interpret) syntactic feature bundles d. Word structure is always a hierarchical tree structure whose "terminal nodes (non-branching nodes) consist of roots or functional heads, where roots are signs in the sense of Saussure (cat) functional heads are bundles of syntactic features things like [plural], [past], [N] Root functional heads So word structure isn t about segmenting the phonological structure into a linear string of morphs: nation-al-iz-ation 2
syntactic word structure: Root Adj. Verb Noun nation -al -iz -ation insertion of morphs as part of phonological interpretation choice of morph for syntactic feature bundle depends on adjacent head: -al: procedur-al, norm-al, region-al, (a)tion-al -ous: noxious, anxious, religious, impervious, glorious, nervous -al and -ous both morphs that realize Adj functional heads/nodes in construction with roots (and with Ns). Need to look at the node with which the Adj head is in construction to know which morph to use. Arabic and other Semitic languages suggest that roots themselves do not bear syntactic category features ktb root for writing in Arabic kataba he wrote kattaba he caused to write kaataba he corresponded takaatabuu they kept up a correspondence kitaabun book kuttaabun Koran school kitaabatun act of writing maktabun office English shows similar behavior of roots 3
atroc-ious, atroc-ity *atroc religi-ous, relig-ion *relig(i) don-ate, don-or *don nomin-ate, nomin-ee *nomin re-ceive, de-ceive, con-ceive, per-ceive *ceive This suggests Roots never bear syntactic category features An important general point here that takes us back to the structure of grammar presented in the first week of lectures: Phonology interprets structures of morphemes built by the syntax of the language. In no sense is the sound structure of language prior to syntax not in acquisition and not in the structure of our linguistic knowledge. Language Myths: (L. Bauer, & P. Trudgill (eds.), 1998. Language Myths.London: Penguin Books) Myth #1: The meanings of words should not be allowed to vary or change. This is inherently an undesirable process as change can be dangerous and confusing. We should do everything in our power to stop it. Phonetics and Phonology: Your mental/neurological/linguistic representations of speech sounds involve discrete sound categories You hear speech sounds largely in terms of the way that you might produce them Your representations of speech sounds exhaustively decompose into ( distinctive ) phonological pieces 4
1. Phonetics Main points today: Articulators Place of articulation Manner of articulation Acoustic correlates of articulation a. Articulators Vocal cords (glottis) Velum (open/close nasal cavity) Tongue root (dorsum) Tongue tip (corona/coronal sounds) Lips b. Vocal cords/glottis [+/-voice] (+/-spread glottis and +/-constricted glottis) [+voice] = -spread, -constr aspiration: t vs. t h +spread glottis glottal stops +constricted glottis Regular vowels = -spread glottis Whispered vowels = +spread glottis [h] = whispered vowel c. Velum Raise the velum = [-nasal] Lower the velum = [+nasal] Note: vowels as well as stop consonants can be nasal. In English, vowels before nasal consonants are nasalized. In French, nasal and non-nasal vowels contrast d. Dorsum Can make contact with uvula (no such sounds in English) or velum velar sounds g, k, ª [+/-high] [+/-low] for vowels refer to the position of the velum g, k, ªare [+high] [-low] 5
d. Lips/labial sounds Labial sounds may be [+/-round] Labial stops/fricatives in English are generally [-round]: b, p, m, f, v But say, moo and watch/feel your lips e. [+back] [-low] vowels in English are [+round] In French, [+/-round] is contrastive for [-low] [-back] vowels 2. Place of articulation (near/against what do you place your articulators?) Velar (dorsal sounds) contrast: velar vs. uvular Palatal (-anterior coronal sounds) Alveolar (+anterior coronal sounds) contrast: palatal vs. alveolar Interdental (+anterior coronal sounds) Î, Labio-dental (labial, -round sounds) f, v Labial b, p, m 3. Manner of articulation a. Consonantal (vs. vocalic) stops (nasal and non-), fricatives, glides Sonorant resonance in vocal track possible = vowels, glides, nasal stops, vowels, liquids -sonorant (obstruents) non-nasal stops and fricatives b. +/-continuant +continuant vowels, glides, laterals, fricatives -continuant stops c. affricates stop followed by fricative acting as one segment: t ( ) d ( ) d.acoustic correlates of articulation Glottal pulses (or, if spread glottis, noise) from vocal cords drive the acoustics of the vocal track. 6
The fundamental frequency of the glottal pulses corresponds to the pitch of the voice. The vocal tract acts as a filter over the harmonics of the fundamental frequency. The tongue separates the vocal track into two main, connected resonating chambers. Tongue height mainly changes the volume of the back chamber low vowels have a smaller back chamber and thus a higher resonant frequency for this chamber, which corresponds to the first formant or enhanced frequency band of the speech spectrum. The front or back position of the tongue [+/-back], changes mostly the size of the upper resonating chamber of the vocal track. Back position increases the size of this chamber and lowers the frequency of the second formant or frequency band in the speech spectrum. The perceptual system is particularly tuned to the frequency of the formants, i.e., the pattern of enhanced harmonics of the pitch of the voice. Perception of the formants is perception of the changing shape of the vocal apparatus as it articulates speech. That is, the perceptual system is hearing the movements of the articulators and classifying speech sounds according to these movements. 7