LECTURE TWO P H O N E S AND PHONEMES 1. Broad and narrow phonetic writing 1.1. Coronal nasal consonants A coronal nasal may be: - somewhat forward, so that the blade contacts the teeth; - somewhat back on the alveolar ridge, termed retroflex and written [ŋ] - articulated with tongue body raised, so that it contacts the plate; - articulated with the length of a vowel, as a syllable, for which the phonetic symbol is [n,], and heard in English when word-final after other alveolar consonants 1.2. High front lax vowels This vowel, described as high, front, and lax, whose phonetic symbol is [I], may be modified in various ways, it may be articulated: - nasalized, with the velum somewhat open, when a nasal consonant precedes or follows - lengthened, when stressed and a single voiced consonants in the syllable, - voiceless, when it is unstressed between two voiceless consonants; - somewhat raised and fronted but not to the extent of [i] 1.3. Narrow phonetic writing It is narrow, detailed phonetic writing accurately differentiating the different phonemes 1.4. Broad phonetic writing It employs broad phonetic writing of English using just 37 phonemes symbols 2. Phonemic writing 2.1. Contrast 1
Speakers know which segments of their language contrast and which do not Segments are in contrast when their presence alone can change the meaning of a word also distinctive, in opposition When two segments contrast in an environment, there s no rule to predict when you get one versus the other Two sounds are contrastive if interchanging the two can change meaning of the word 2.2. Phonemes and their allophones Allophones are in noncontrastive distribution. Noncontrastive distribution is either complementary distribution, or free variation. Complementary distribution: When two (or more) phonetically similar sounds never occur in exactly the same environment, but in mutuallyexclusive (i.e., complementary) environments Free variation: Sounds that can be used interchangeably and essentially perceived as being the "same" sound -the usage is not predictable, but it doesn't change the meaning of the word ([p] and [p ] are used in free variation in English) 2.3. Aspiration Aspirated vs. unaspirated stops in English pill spill till still kill skill PHONETIC FACT: There is a burst or puff of air after the /p/ in pill, till, and kill, that is absent in spill, still, and skill. Aspiration: The period between the release of the closure of a consonant and the start of the vocal cord activity for the vowel that comes after it. This period is usually felt as a puff of air. pill [p h Il] spill [spil] till [t h Il] still [stil] Aspiration Rule in English: Aspiration occurs on all voiceless stops occurring as the first sound in a stressed syllable. 2
Although aspirated stops and unaspirated stops are physically different, we consider both to be the same sound. For English, aspiration is not employed to create a meaning difference. 2.4. Minimal pairs Minimal pair: A pair of words whose pronunciations differ by exactly one sound and that have different meanings -the differing sounds are contrastive and are allophones of different phonemes 3. Allophonic rules in English Rules affecting consonants (1) Consonants are longer when at the end of a phrase. (2) Voiceless stops (i.e., / p, t, k / are aspirated when they are syllable initial, as in words such as pip, test, kick [ pʰɪp, tʰɛst, kʰɪk ]. (3) Obstruents stops and fricatives classified as voiced (that is, / b, d, g, v, ð, z, ʒ /) are voiced through only a small part of the articulation when they occur at the end of an utterance or before a voiceless sound. Listen to the /v / when you say try to improve, and the / d / when you say add two. (4) So-called voiced stops and affricates / b, d, g, dʒ / are voiceless when syllable initial, except when immediately preceded by a voiced sound (as in a day as compared with this day). (5) Voiceless stops / p, t, k / are unaspirated after / s / in words such as spew, stew, skew. (6) Voiceless obstruents / p, t, k, ʧ, f, θ, s, ʃ / are longer than their corresponding voiced obstruents / b, d, g, ʤ, v, ð, z, ʒ / when at the end of a syllable. (7) The approximants / w, r, j, l / are at least partially voiceless when they occur after initial / p,t, k /, as in play, twin, cue [ pleɪ, twɪn, kju ]. (8)The gestures for consecutive stops overlap, so that stops are unexploded when they occur before another stop in words such as apt [æp)t ] and rubbed [rʌb)d ]. (9) In many accents of English, syllable final / p, t, k / are accompanied by a glottal stop, as in pronunciations of tip, pit, kick as [tɪˀp, pɪˀt, kɪˀk ]. (This is another case where transcription cannot fully describe what is going on.) (10) In many accents of English, / t / is replaced by a glottal stop when it occurs before an alveolar nasal in the same word, as in beaten ['bi?n2] 3
(11) Nasals are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after an obstruent as in leaden, chasm ['lɛdn, 'kæzm] (12) The lateral / l / is syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant. (12a) The liquids / l, r / are syllabic at the end of a word when immediately after a consonant. (13) Alveolar stops become voiced taps when they occur between two vowels, the second of which is unstressed. (13a) Alveolar stops and alveolar nasal plus stop sequences become voiced taps when they occur between two vowels, the second of which is unstressed. (14) Alveolar consonants become dentals before dental consonants, as in eighth, tenth, wealth [eɪtt θ, tɛnn θ, wɛll θ]. Note that this statement applies to all alveolar consonants, not just stops, and it often applies across word boundaries, as in at this [ ætt9 ðɪs ]. This is a statement that in English the gestures for these two consonant overlap so much that the place of articulation for the first consonant is changed. (15) Alveolar stops are reduced or omitted when between two consonants. (16) A homorganic voiceless stop may occur (i.e., be inserted) after a nasal before a voiceless fricative followed by an unstressed vowel in the same word. (17) A consonant is shortened when it is before an identical consonant. (18) Velar stops become more front before more front vowels. (19) The lateral / l / is velarized when after a vowel or before a consonant at the end of a word. Rules affecting vowels (1) Other things being equal, a given vowel is longest in an open syllable, next longest in a syllable closed by a voiced consonant, and shortest in a syllable closed by a voiceless consonant. (2) Other things being equal, vowels are longer in stressed syllables. (3) Other things being equal, vowels are longest in monosyllabic words, next longest in words with two syllables, and shortest in words with more than two syllables. 4
(4) A reduced vowel may be voiceless when it occurs after a voiceless stop (and before a voiceless stop). The parenthesized phrase may be omitted for many people. (5) Vowels are nasalized in syllables closed by a nasal consonant. (6) Vowels are retracted before syllable final dark [ɫ]. 4. Letters and phonemes Phoneme (speech sound). Graphemes (letters or groups of letters representing the most common spellings for the individual phonemes). 5. Derivations We can produce a systematic phonological analysis of languages by using the same method of rules and derivations we have been using for morphology, syntax and semantics. The idea is to begin the derivation with each word consisting solely of its phonemes, then use phonological rules to derive the details; that is, the particular allophones in particular environments. The phonological rules most often change the values of the features; later on we will see that they can insert or delete sounds and perform other operations as well. To do this carefully, let us suppose that every word has a phonemic representation, defined as follows: The phonemic representation of a word is the string of phonemes from which it is formed. From the phonemic representation, we can derive a phonetic representation, which is a linguistic characterization of the actual pronunciation of a word. In the case we are considering, there is just one phonological rule, which can be stated as follows: / ɹ/ Rounding /ɹ/ [+round] / [+syllabic] 5