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Phonology, part 2

Phonology, part 2. While you work on another Quick Write, here’s a funny painting of Superman based on a kid’s drawing:. November 1, 2010. Weekday Update. Mid-term: will hopefully be graded and returned to you by Friday. Today: more phonology

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Phonology, part 2

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  1. Phonology, part 2 • While you work on another Quick Write, here’s a funny painting of Superman based on a kid’s drawing: November 1, 2010

  2. Weekday Update • Mid-term: will hopefully be graded and returned to you by Friday. • Today: more phonology • = we’ll look at distributions again from a slightly different angle. • Then we’ll discuss some reasons why linguists believe that phonology is part of what you “know” as a speaker of a language • ...even though it is subconscious knowledge • But before we get into that, let’s take a look at the last Quick Write…

  3. A Noble Spirit

  4. Place Assimilation • Place assimilation occurs when: • One consonant’s place of articulation becomes identical to that of a neighboring consonant. • /n/ often takes on the place of articulation of a following consonant. • ‘unpleasant’ • ‘month’ • ‘engrossed’ • Likewise, alveolars--except for /s/ and /z/--assimilate to following dentals • Ex: width, tenth, wealth

  5. Allomorphy • What’s going on here? • /in-/ + probable = improbable • /in-/ + mobile = immobile • /in-/ + possible = impossible • /in-/ changes to /im-/ before both /p/ and /m/. • /p/ and /m/ are both produced with the lips. • To explain patterns like this, we’re going to need to know something about how we actually produce the sounds of English. • We have to study Phonetics!

  6. Where Were We? • In phonology, there are both phonemes and allophones. • Phonemes are contrastive sounds. • Change meaning in minimal pairs, etc. • Represent mental abstractions. • Allophones are variants of phonemes. • They appear in particular phonetic environments. • Represent observable, concrete reality. • There are formal rules that determine when a phoneme becomes an allophone in some environment. • /Phoneme/  [Allophone] / Environment

  7. Where Were We? • Example rules: • In English, [t] and [th] are allophones of the phoneme /t/. • /t/  [th] / at the beginning of stressed syllables • (unless it’s preceded by /s/) • In “Japanese”, [h], [ç] and [f] are allophones of the same phoneme. • Japanese rules: /h/  [ç] / ___ [i] • /h/  [f] / ___ [u] • How do we know that /h/ changes to [f], and not the other way around?

  8. A Conundrum • Phonological rules look like this: • /Phoneme/  [Allophone] / Environment • (=Abstract) (=Observable) • That means that, as linguists, we only see the allophones, on the (observable) surface. • Q: How can we figure out what the phonemes are? • (not to mention the rules?) • Note: babies learning language have the same problem

  9. Questions • Q1: How do linguists know that Japanese [h], [ç] and [f] are actually allophones of the same phoneme? • A: because they are phonetically similar, and are in complementary distribution. • (not contrastive distribution) • Q2: How do we know that /h/ changes to [ç] and [f], and not the other way around? • A1: It’s the simplest way to describe the pattern. • A2: Japanese speakers think of the three sounds as “the same”, at some level. • Remember: we’re trying to describe the phonological rules (grammar) that speakers of a language “know”.

  10. Distributions • A “distribution” is simply the collection of phonetic environments in which a sound may appear. • Phonetic environment = the sounds surrounding the phoneme or allophone in question. • Contrastive distribution: • Two sounds can both appear in the same phonetic environment. • And they can change the meaning of a word (as in a minimal pair). •  The two sounds are allophones of different phonemes.

  11. Complementary Distribution • When sounds are in complementary distribution, they never appear in the same phonetic environment. • (They appear in non-overlapping environments.) • [h], [ç] and [f] are in complementary distribution in “Japanese” • [ç] appears before the vowel [i] • [f] appears before the vowel [u] • [h] appears before all the other vowels. • Sounds that are in complementary distribution are generally allophones of the same phoneme. • The phoneme just changes shape, depending on the context….

  12. Enter…the Batman

  13. An Analogy • Consider Commissioner Gordon. He knows a couple of guys: • Batman • Bruce Wayne • He’s noticed that he never sees them together, in the same place, at the same time. • In fact, one of them (Batman) really only shows up in certain situations…

  14. The Distribution of Batman and Bruce Wayne • Batman appears when: • The Joker is on a crime spree. • The Penguin has kidnapped the mayor’s daughter. • Catwoman just broke out of jail, etc. • Bruce Wayne appears when: • They’re at a philanthrophy convention. • The auto show is in town. • He’s jogging in Central Park, etc.

  15. Conditioning Environments • Do these environments have anything in common? • The Joker is on a crime spree. • The Penguin has kidnapped the mayor’s daughter. • Catwoman just broke out of jail, etc. • They’re all crimefighting situations • Do these environments have anything in common? • They’re at a philanthrophy convention. • The auto show is in town. • He’s jogging in Central Park, etc. • They’re just non-crimefighting situations…

  16. Complementary Distribution • Bruce Wayne and Batman are in complementary distribution • They never appear together in the same place, at the same time Batman appears here Bruce Wayne appears here other situations crimefighting situations

  17. Analyzing Distributions • Given two sounds in a language, treat them like Batman and Bruce Wayne. • Ask yourself: is it possible to show that they’re meaningfully different sounds (or people)? 2. Try to force them into the same situation together • In the case of Batman and Bruce Wayne, invite them both to the same party • In the case of sounds, see if they ever appear in the same phonetic environment

  18. Strategy, continued 3. Describe what kind of phonetic environment each sound appears in. • Figure out if there is anything in common among the various phonetic environments in which each sound appears. • If two different sounds never appear in the same phonetic environment, they’re in complementary distribution. • You can then assume that they’re allophones of the same phoneme.

  19. Restricted and Basic • A sound that only appears in a limited set of environments is the restricted allophone. • Ex: Batman only appears in crimefighting situations, so… • Batman is the restricted “allo-person” • A sound that appears more generally is the basic allophone. • Bruce Wayne is the basic “allo-person”. • In Japanese: • [f] only appears before [u]  restricted allophone • [h] appears before [a], [e], [o]  basic allophone

  20. Phonological Rules • In general, you can assume: • The basic allophone is the representation of the underlying phoneme. • The appearance of the restricted phoneme is conditioned by its environment. 4. You can write a rule for the conditioned allophone: /Bruce Wayne/  [Batman] / __ crimefighting situations /h/  [f] / ___ [u]

  21. Non-Complementary • What happens if you find two sounds in the same environment? • There are two possibilities: • They are in contrastive distribution • …if they contrast between the meanings of different words • They are in “free variation” • …if they do not change the meaning of the words

  22. Free Variation • = Two different sounds appear in the same environment, but they don’t change the meaning of the word. • Ex: vs . “kit” •  and are allophones of the same phoneme. • They are in free variation. • = you can freely substitute one for the other. • Another example (some dialects of English): • “thought” • “thought” • Also witness: Tina Fey

  23. Some More Data • There is an interesting rule regarding the production of /r/ in some English dialects. • Compare Canadian English with English English • CEEE “care” “park” “read” “other” “ride” “carrot” “cart” • Do you see any patterns?

  24. The Rules • In English English: • /r/ appears as [r] when it precedes vowels • Examples: read, carrot • /r/ appears as when it appears at the end of a syllable or word • Examples: care, other • /r/ makes a preceding vowel long when it appears before a consonant in the same syllable • Examples: park, cart

  25. Rhotic vs. Non-Rhotic • Note: English is divided up between “rhotic” dialects and “non-rhotic” dialects • rhotic: /r/ appears everywhere • non-rhotic: /r/ disappears, sometimes • Rhotic dialects: • Canadian English, General American, Irish English, Scots English… • Non-Rhotic dialects: • English English, Australian English, some areas of the American South and East Coast…

  26. Really, it does • Phonologists are not just making this stuff up for fun • Interesting phenomenon: • in non-rhotic dialects, /r/ sometimes appears in places where it doesn’t appear in rhotic dialects • Ex: “I was thinking about an idear I had...” • Q: Why on earth does that happen?

  27. Idears, Explained • In non-rhotic dialects, • words ending in /Vr/ surface as . • Phonology notation note: • V = “vowel” • C = “consonant” • Examples: • “care” • “fear” • “wire”

  28. Idears, Explained • But remember: in these dialects, • /r/ appears as [r] whenever it precedes a vowel. • So an /r/ appears as [r] at the end of words like “care”, “fear” and “wire”… • when they appear before other words which start with vowels. • Examples: • “care a lot” • “fear I had” • “wire a house”

  29. Psychological Reality • When a child is learning to speak a non-rhotic dialect, “idea” looks no different from “care”, “fear” or “wire” • It normally ends with •  it gets interpreted as /ajdir/ “idear” • The /r/ will surface whenever it appears before a word that begins with a vowel: “an idear I had”. • Psychological (phonemic) representations of the same word are different between dialects: • non-rhotic: /ajdir/ • rhotic:

  30. Other Evidence • Speech errors provide more evidence that things are going on inside the mind that we can’t observe directly, in physical reality. • “Slips of the tongue” • Examples: • “stick in the mud”  “smuck in the tid” • “gone to seed”  “god to seen” • Both errors exhibit metathesis. • = two sounds have switched places with each other.

  31. Example Error • “stick in the mud”  “smuck in the tid” • error: phonemic and have switched places. • Phonetically: •  • Notice: in the error, the /t/ in “tid” is aspirated. • The aspiration rule has to apply after the switch. • Speech error process: • First, phonemes switch • Then, phonological rules apply…

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