Introduction to General Linguistics WS 2004/05 Course author: Hubert Truckenbrodt Course teacher: Arnim von Stechow Phonology 3: January 28, 2005 Basic phonology (vowels) Handout In today's section, you will learn the following important phonological notions, and get a first understanding of them: phonological feature, natural class phonological rule, derivation, UR, PR inventory, phoneme, allophone. 1 Chamorro vowels 1.1 Chamorro vowel harmony: first generalization (1) Chamorro front back high [i] [u] mid [e] [o] low [æ] [a] (2) noun without determiner same noun with definite determiner [i] a. um 'house' a'. i im 'the house' b. tom 'knee' b'. i tem 'the knee' c. lah 'male' c'. i læh 'the male' d. wih n 'fish' d'. i wih n 'the fish' e. pec 'chest' e'. i pec 'the chest' 1.2 Vowel features and natural classes (3) Vowel features: [+high] the highest point of the tongue is high in the oral cavity; (F1 is low and other acoustic consequences) [-high] the highest point of the tongue is not high in the oral cavity; [+low] the highest point of the tongue is low in the oral cavity; [-low] the highest point of the tongue is not low in the oral cavity; [+back] the highest point of the tongue is back in the oral cavity [-back] the highest point of the tongue is not back in the oral cavity p 1 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling
(4) [-back] [+back] [+high] [i] [u] [-high] [e] [o] [-low] [æ] [a] [+low] (5) Natural class of sounds of a given language: A natural class is the sets of sounds picked out by a feature or a combination of features. This set must include all and only the sounds picked out by this feature or combination of features. (6) Natural classes relative to the inventory in (4): a. [+high] [i, u] 'high vowels' b. [-high] [e, o, æ, a] 'non-high vowels' c. [-high, -back] [e, æ] 'non-high front vowels' d. [-high, -low] [e, o] 'mid vowels' e. [+low] [æ, a] 'low vowels' f. [-low] [i, u, e, o] 'non-low vowels' g. [-low, -back] [i, e] 'non-low front vowels' h. [-low, -back] [i, e] 'non-low front vowels' i. [+back] [u, o, a] 'back vowels' j. [+low, +back] [a] 'low back vowel' k. [+high, +low] l. [-low, +back] [o, u] 'non-low back vowels' m. [-back, -high, -low] [e] 'front mid vowel' n. [e, o, u] not a natural class o. [a, u] p 2 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling
1.3 Phonological rule and phonological derivation (7) First characterization of the process in (2): The first vowel of the word becomes [-back] when [i] precedes the word. This vowel, however, preserves all its features for [high] and [low]: it remains high, mid, or low through this change. (8) a. ton 'to know' a'. en tenu 'you know' b. hul 'up' b'. sæn hil 'upward' c. otd t 'ant' c'. mi etd t 'lots of ants' d. oks 'hill' d'. i eks 'the chest' e. la 'north' e'. sæn læ 'toward north' (9) The first vowel of the word becomes [-back] when the preceding vowel is [-back]. (10) (Phonological) rule Backness harmony V -> [-back] / [-back] C 0 C 0 ; 0 or more consonants (11) Sounds as sets of features (Roman Jacobson) A sound is not the smallest entity in phonology. Rather, a sound is a set of features. These features define properties of the sounds, and cross-classify the inventory of sounds of a given language. In the earlier feature-theories, each feature was binary, i.e. had a plus- and a minusvalue (such as [+high], [-high]). Later, some features were claimed to be unary (or privative), and to just have a single value, or be absent: [coronal] vs. [labial] vs. [dorsal] vs. 'nothing'. (12) i g u m -consonantal +consonantal -consonantal +consonantal -consonantal +sonorant -sonorant +sonorant +sonorant +sonorant +high dorsal +high labial... -low +voiced -low... -back... +back...... (13) i g i m -consonantal +consonantal -consonantal +consonantal -consonantal +sonorant -sonorant +sonorant +sonorant +sonorant +high dorsal +high labial... -low +voiced -low... -back... -back...... p 3 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling
(14) (Phonological) derivation Underlying Representation (UR) / i g u m / [-back] [+back] Rule of Backness harmony: / i g i m / [-back] [-back] Phonetic Representation (PR) / i g i m / [-back] [-back] 1.4 More on underlying representation (UR) and phonetic representation (PR) underlying representation (UR) [G. zugrundeliegende Form]: 'what we memorize'; in phonology, the pronunciation as specified in the lexical entry of a morpheme or word. In a standard cognitive understanding of the grammar, this is the way speakers memorize the pronunciation; part of the postulated entry in the mental lexicon. phonetic representation (PR) [G. phonetische Form]: 'what we hear or say'; a form that is either identical to the underlying representation or derived from it by the application of phonological rules. This form is the input to the phonetic implementation: it may be thought of as the form that defines what instructions are given to the articulators in articulation, and the form that is recovered from the phonetic input in the perception. (15) a. Postulated mental lexical entry of a native speaker of Chamorro: pronunciation: / um / syntax: noun meaning: 'HOUSE' (plus additional information) b. Derivation: UR /i um / Backness Harmony: [i im ] PR [i im ] c. Result: PR [ im ] => instructions to articulators for saying this: - for [g]:... - for [i] = [+high, -back,...]: position the tongue high position the tongue front... - for [m]:... p 4 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling
2 'Ich-Laut' and 'ach-laut' in German (16) a. kriechen [k i n] b. Buch [bu x] Licht [l t] Spruch [ p x] Bücher [by ] hoch [ho x] Gerücht [ t] doch [d x] mechanisch [me a n ] nach [na x] rächen [ n] Bach [bax] Recht [ t] Löcher [lœ ] (17) Vowel classification in German -consonantal -back +back -round +round -round +round +high +tense i y u -tense -low +tense e ø o -high -tense œ -tense a +low (18) Generalization about the distribution of [ ] and [x]: [ ] is found following front vowels [x] is found following back vowels complementary distribution [G. komplementäre Verteilung]: two sounds A and B are in complementary distribution if they do not occur in the same environment. Often, this means that one of the two sound occurs in one environment only, while the other sound occurs in all other possible environments. Example: [ ] and [x] are in complementary distribution in German Standard explanation for complementary distribution in phonology: Only one of the two sounds is allowed in the underlying representation of words in the entire language. (For example: [ ] may be used in underlying representations, but not [x].) The other sound is derived from the first sound by a phonological rule, in a specific environment. (For example: [x] is then derived from [ ] by a phonological rule.) Hypothesis 1 below is an implementation of this for [ ] and [x]. Hypothesis 2 is also an implementation of this, but a different one. p 5 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling
(19) Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 underlying: always /x/ underlying: always / / rule: Fricative Fronting rule: Fricative Backing [x] -> [ ] / [-back] [ ] -> [x] / [+back] example derivations: example derivations: "ich" "ach" "ich" "ach" UR / x/ /ax/ UR / / /a / FF [ c] -- FB -- [ax] PR [ c] [ax] PR [ ] [ax] correct results correct results (20) [ ] but not [x] after consonants (where possible) [... l ]: Molch, Strolch [... n...]: Poncho [ ] but not [x] initially (for some speakers) China [ i na] (normally: [ki na], sometimes: [ i na] Chemie [ emi ] (normally: [kemi ], sometimes: [ emi ] (21) Hypothesis 1 Hypothesis 2 "Molch" "Molch" UR /m lx/ UR /m l / FF -- FB -- PR * [m lx] PR [m l ] result wrong result correct inventory [G. (Laut)inventar]: the set of sounds used in underlying representations. Examples: The inventory of English: {p, t, k,...,...i, u,...} includes / /, but not /x/ or / /. The inventory of German: {p, t, k,...,...i, u,...} does not include / /. We adopt Hypothesis 2, and say: it includes / / but not /x/. phoneme [G. Phonem]: (traditionally defined as the smallest unit that can make a difference in meaning; here also:) a sound that is in the inventory of the language. allophones [G. Allophone]: two allophones of a phoneme are two sounds that are in complementary distribution, and are both derived from the same underlying phoneme. Example (adopting Hyp. 2): in German, / / is a phoneme, with the allophones [ ] and [x]. p 6 Handout January 27 2004 Intro Ling