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Evolution of Phonological Theories: A Synoptic View

This text delves into the development of phonological theories from the Phoneme Theory to Generative Phonology, exploring Linear and Non-linear approaches. With a focus on The Sound Pattern of English (SPE) and the advent of Optimality Theory (OT), it navigates through distinguishable features, constraints, and derivational rules. By examining various phonological modules and constraints, it offers a broad understanding of phonological acquisition and cognitive processes. Moving from rule-based to constraint-based theories, it highlights the significance of cognitive explanations in harmonizing linguistic patterns. A comprehensive study encompassing distinct features, consonant and vowel classifications, this work provides insights into the intricate world of phonological structures.

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Evolution of Phonological Theories: A Synoptic View

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  1. Phonological Theory Beijing Foreign Studies University 2008

  2. 1. Development of phonology • The phoneme theory • Distinctive Features • SPE (Chomsky & Halle 1968) • Division of phonetics and phonology • Integrated phonology • Laboratory phonology

  3. Modules of study • Phonemes and allophones • Syllables • Stress • Intonational and tonal phonology • Prosody (metrical phonology) • Phonological acquisition and cognition • Language impairment

  4. Phonology in Generative Grammar Syntax Phonetic Form Semantic Form • Generative Phonology

  5. Three stages of Generative Phonology • Linear theories • SPE (standard theory): Chomsky, N. & Halle, M. 1968. The Sound Pattern of English. Harper & Row/MIT. • Natural Generative Phonology • Natural Phonology

  6. Non-linear theories • Lexical Phonology • Autosegmental Phonology • Metrical Phonology • Dependency Phonology • Government Phonology • CV/VC Phonology • Declarative Phonology

  7. Constraint-based theory • Optimality Theory (OT): Prince, A. & Smolensky, P. 1993/2002. Optimality theory: constraint interaction in generative grammar. ms. Rutgers University.2004.Published by Blackwell.

  8. SPE • Rule-based. • Derivational: derivation from underlying to surface form. A  B / X__Y

  9. OT • Constraint-based. • Development of generative phonology. • Very different way of representation. • Can be used for syntax and acquisition studies. • Aims at cognitive explanations.

  10. Constraints are universal. • Languages differ in the ranking of constraints. • Constraints can be contradictory and can be violated.

  11. Examples of derivational rules • DEVOICING:A voiced obstruent becomes voiceless after a voiceless obstruent. • ə-INSERTION:Insert [ə] between two adjacent sibilants in the same word.

  12. Examples of constraints • *SIBSIB:sibilants cannot occur cnosecutively within a word. • *VOICEVOICE:consecutive obstruents must be identical in voicing within a syllable. • MAX-IO:deletion of segment is prohibited. • DEP-IO:insertion of segment is prohibited. • IDENT-IO:input segment and the corresponding output must be identical.

  13. 2. Linear Phonology • Make the rules as general as possible. • Use “Distinctive Features” instead of individual sound segments when writing the rules.

  14. Distinctive Features • The idea of Distinctive Features was first developed by Roman Jacobson (1896-1982) in the 1940s as a means of working out a set of phonological contrasts or oppositions to capture particular aspects of language sounds. Since then several versions have been suggested.

  15. Major class features • consonantal (con): sounds produced with a major obstruction in the oral cavity. • approximant (approx): sounds made with an oral tract constriction which is less than that required to produce friction. • Vowels, glides and liquids are [+approx], other sounds are [-approx]. • Also known as syllabic (syl) to indicate that they can form a syllable peak. • sonorant (son): sounds produced with a vocal tract configuration in which spontaneous voicing is possible. • Obstruents (plosives, affricates and fricatives) are [-son], other sounds are [+son].

  16. Vowel place features • high: the body of the tongue is raised from the neutral position. • low: the body of the tongue is lowered from the neutral position. • back: the body of the tongue is retracted from the neutral position. • round: the lips are protruded. • tense: sounds requiring deliberate, accurate, maximally distinct gestures that involve considerable muscular effort.

  17. advanced tongue root (ATR):vowels made by drawing the root of the tongue forward, thus enlarging the pharyngeal cavity, tending to raise the tongue body, and tending to give the sound a more tense articulation, e.g. [i e o u]. • [-ATR] sounds lack this gesture, e.g. [I E ç U a A].

  18. Consonant place features • labial (lab): Sounds that involve a constriction of the lips to give either a labial (labiodental) consonant or a rounded vowel/glide. • coronal (cor): produced with the blade or tip of the tongue raised from the neutral position. • anterior (ant): defined only for coronal sounds. An anterior ([+ant]) sound is made with a constriction at or forward of, the alveolar ridge. Posterior ([-ant]) sounds are produced behind the alveolar ridge. • The anteriors are the dentals and alveolars, the posterior sounds are the retroflex, palato-alveolar and palatal sounds.

  19. dorsal (dor): Sounds made by raising the dorsum (tongue body) towards the hard palate, the soft palate (velum) or the uvula. • The dorsal consonants are the velars and uvulars. • radical (rad): Sounds produced in the pharyngeal or laryngeal (glottal) region, e.g.

  20. strident (strid): produced with a construction with greater noisiness. • Stridency is only defined for fricatives and affricates. • Labiodentals, sibilants and uvular fricatives/ affricates are [+strid]; all other fricatives/affricates are [-strid].

  21. Manner features • continuant (cont): the primary constriction is not narrowed so much that airflow through the oral cavity is blocked. • Plosives and nasal stops are [-cont], other sounds (including laterals) are [+cont]. • nasal (nas): the velum is lowered which allows air to escape through the nose. • lateral (lat): the mid section of the tongue is lowered at the side.

  22. Laryngeal features • voice: the vocal folds vibrate. • spread glottis (spread, or s.g.): the vocal folds are spread far apart. • Aspirated (voiceless) consonants, breathy or murmured voiced consonants and voiceless vowels/glides are [+spread]; other sounds are [-spread]. • Also known as aspirated.

  23. Distinctive feature matrix for English consonants

  24. Now we can represent the rule that governs the unaspiration of /p/ after [s] in terms of features:

  25. Past tense forms in English • stopped, walked, coughed, kissed, leashed, reached • stabbed, wagged, achieved, buzzed, soothed, bridged • steamed, stunned, pulled • played, flowed, studied • wanted, located, decided, guided

  26. The regular past tense form in English is pronounced as [t] when the word ends with a voiceless consonant, [d] when it ends with a voiced sound, and [ɪd] when it ends with [t] or [d].

  27. Plural rule • z   / [-voice, +cons]______ (Devoicing) •   /咝擦音_____z (增音) • z  z 剩余位置

  28. Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP) • Obligatory Contour Principle • No identical adjacent autosegments. (Goldsmith 1976)

  29. 3. Non-linear Phonology • These theories began as a method for representing prosodic features such the stress in complex words, so that their different levels of stress are represented not by linear orders but by a metrical grid:

  30. Later the method was extended to the representation of earlier linear rules.

  31. Plural rule (1) [+cons] [+cons] [-son] root [-son] plural z Laryngeal Laryngeal [-voice] [+voice]

  32. Plural rule (2) Ø  X /X____________X [-cons] [+cons] [+cons] [+strid] [+strid] [COR] [COR]

  33. Past tense rule (1) [+cons] [+cons] [-son] root [-son] past d Laryngeal Laryngeal [-voice] [+voice]

  34. Past tense rule (2) Ø  X /X__________X [-cons] [+cons] [+cons] [-cont] [-cont] [-nas] [-nas]

  35. 4. OT • The ranking of the constraints is represented by a “tableau”.

  36. Review of some constraints • *VOICEVOICE:consecutive obstruents must be identical in voicing within a syllable. • DEP-IO:insertion of segment is prohibited. • IDENT-IO:input segment and the corresponding output must be identical. • OCP:No identical adjacent autosegments.

  37. OT tableau for plural forms (1)

  38. OT tableau for plural forms (2)

  39. OT tableau for past forms (1)

  40. OT tableau for past forms (2)

  41. Ranking of the constraints OCP » DEP-IO » *voice-voice » IDENT(F)

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