ING507 Linguistics The Nature of Language

1. ING507 LinguisticsThe Nature of Language Asst. Prof. Dr. Emrah Görgülü Lecture 5: Thesoundpatterns of language

2. What is this? "Uansapponataimuastriberres; mammaberre, pappaberre, e beibiberre.  Liveinnecontrinireforesta.  NAISE AUS.  No mugheggia.  Uannadeipappa, mamma, e beibigobice, orie e furghettalocchedidorra. Bai ene baicommeseGoldilocchese.  Scigarranatingha tu dubattemeichetroble.  Scipusciaollefuddedaondimaute; no livecromma.  Den scigosappesterreseenne slipse in ollebeddse.“ Bob Belviso, quoted in Espy (1975)

3. PhoneticsandPhonology • Inphonetics, welooked at thephysicalproduction of speechsounds in terms of thearticulatorymechanisms of thehumanvocaltract. Physicalproperties of somesounds: • [t] voicelessalveolar stop • [i] highfront tense vowel • [eɪ] a diphthong, a combo of onemidandonehighvowel • Whenweconsideredthehumanvocaltract, wedid not havetospecifywhetherweweretalkingabout a fairlylargeperson, oversixfeettall, weighing 200 pounds, orrather a smallperson…..

4. PhoneticsandPhonology (cont’d) • Physically different individuals would inevitably have physicallydifferent vocal tracts, in terms of size and shape. • Since every individual has a physically different vocal tract, everyindividual will pronounce sounds differently. • Each individual will not pronounce the word “me” in a physicallyidentical manner on every occasion. • How do wemanageconsistently to recognize all those versions of me as the form [mi], and not [ni] or [si] or [ma]or [mo] or something else entirely?

5. What is phonology? • Phonology is the description of the systems and patterns of speech sounds in a language. E.g. speak / *sb.. -- splint / *slpint • It is concerned with the ways in which speech sounds formpatternsand systems inhuman language. • Itdealswith the abstract or mental aspect of thesounds in language rather than with the actual physical articulation of speech sounds.

6. What is phonology? (cont’d) • Whenwethink of the [t] sound in thewordstick, stick, writerandeighthas beingthesame, wemeanthat, in thephonology of English, theywould be representedthesameway. • Inactualspeech, these [t] soundsareverydifferent. • tick [tʰık] • stick [stık] • writer [raıtər] / [raıDər] • eighth [eıtθ] • Q: Can youthink of anyothersound in English thatbehaveslike /t/ in English?

7. Phonemes • Eachone of themeaning-distinguishingsounds in a language is described as a phoneme. • How do weknow [t] and [d] arephonemes in English? • Weneedtofind minimal pairs: ten – den • ten [tɛn] / den [dɛn] • How about [b] and [p]? Aretheyphonemes in English? • _________________________________________ • Whatabout [g] and[k]? Aretheyphonemesin English? • _________________________________________

8. Phonemes (cont’d) • An essentialproperty of a phoneme is that it functionscontrastively. Therearetwophonemes /f/ and /v/ in English becausetheyaretheonlybasis of thecontrast in meaningbtweenthewords: • fatand vat • fineandvine • This contrastive property is thebasic operational test for determining the phonemes which exist in alanguage. • If we substitute one sound for another in a word and thereis a change of meaning, then two sounds represent differentphonemes.

9. Phonemes (cont’d) • Place of articulation, manner of articulation, voicingare thedistinguishing featuresof phonemes. • If the feature is present, we markit with a plus (+) sign. If it isn’t present, we use (-) minus sign. • /p/ [-Voice, +Bilabial, +Stop] • /k/ • /v/

10. PhonemesandAllophones • Thephoneme is an abstractunitorsound-typein themind, therearedifferentversions of thatunitregularlyproduced in actualspeechin themouth. /t/ –phoneme (t-ness) [tʰ] [t] – allophones tar star • Thefirstsound in thewordtar is pronounceswith a strongerpuff of airthan is present in thefirstsound in thewordstar. Youshouldfeelsomephysicalevidence of aspiration(puff of air)……

11. PhonemesandAllophones (cont’d) • The crucial distinction between phonemes and allophones is that substituting onephoneme for another will result in a word with a different meaning as well as adifferent pronunciation. • [b] ban, bat, robe [v] van, vat, rove • Substitutingallophones only results in a different andperhaps unusual pronunciation of the same word. • pot [pʰat] - [pat] spot [spat] - [spʰat]

12. PhonemesandAllophones (cont’d) • Exercise: Look at the data fromThaianddecidewhether [t] and [tʰ] aredifferentphonemesorallophones of thesamephoneme? [paa] ‘forest’ [pʰaa] ‘tosplit’ [tam] ‘to pound’ [tʰam] ‘to do’ [kat] ‘to bite’ [kʰat] ‘tointerrupt’ Answer:

13. Minimal pairs and sets • Phonemic distinctions in a language can be tested byway of minimalpairs and sets of words. • When twowords such as pat and bat are identical in form except for a contrast in one phoneme,occurring in the same position, the two words are described as a minimal pair. • fan–van /f/ - /v/ bet–bat /ɛ/ - /æ/ site–side /t/ - /d/ rich – ridge/ʧ/ - /ʤ/ ban – pan /b/ - /p/

14. Phonotactics • Phonotactics is the linguistic term for possible phoneme combinations in a language. • big, rig, dig,fig • Therearenosuchwords as ligandvigin English. However, they could be viewed as possibleEnglish words. • Ourphonological knowledge of the pattern of sounds in Englishwords would allow us to treat these forms as acceptable. • Solig andvigcouldexistin English but theyhappen not to = accidentalgap.

15. Phonotactics (cont’d) • It isno accident that forms such as [bizm], [fsɪɡ] or [rnɪɡ] in English do not exist or areunlikely ever to exist. • There are sounds that appear at the end of a wordbut never at the beginning. • ________________ • Knowledge of sound distribution or phonotactics: • Whichonesounds ok? /glark/ or /tlark/ /ʔip/ or /mip/ • Thewords /tlark/ and/ʔip/ wereformed without obeying some constraints on theposition of English phonemes. Such constraints are called the phonotactics(i.e. permitted arrangements of sounds).

16. Syllables • A syllable is composed of one or more phonemes and it must contain avowel sound. Every syllable has a nucleus, usually a vowel, or a syllabifiedliquid ornasal. • The basic elements of the syllable are the onset (one or more consonants) precedingthenucleusand the rhymethatincludes a nucleusandany following consonant(s) calledthecoda.

17. Syllables (cont’d) • Therearegenerallytwotypes of syllables: • The syllablethatdoes not havecoda is known as an opensyllable. • see [si], I [aɪ], too [tu] • Ifthecoda is present, it is called a closedsyllable. • cup [kʌp], grace [grejs], child [tʃaɪld] ConsonantClusters • Both onset and coda can consist of more than one consonant known as a consonantcluster. • Thecombination /st/ is a consonantcluster (CC) used as an onset in thewordsteam[stim], and as coda in thewordbest [bɛst].

18. Syllables (cont’d) • Therearemany CC onsetcombinationspermitted in English phonotactics as in: • black, bread, trick, twin, play, clean, crayon • What can we say aboutthefirstandthesecondconsonant of thesewords? _________________________________ • English can actuallyhavelargeronsetclusters, as in thewords: • stress, splat, spring, splash(consisting of threeinintialconsonants) • Do youthinkthephonotactics of theseconsonants is difficulttodescribe? • /s/ + (/p/, /t/,/k/) + ( /r/, /l/, /w/ )

19. Coarticulationeffects • Our talk is fast and spontaneous and it requires our articulators tomove from one sound to the next without stopping. • The process ofmaking one sound almost at the same time as the next is called coarticulation. • Therearetwowell-known articulation effects: assimilationand elision Assimilation • When two phonemes occur in sequence and some aspect of onephoneme is taken or ‘copied’by the other,the process is known asassimilation. • This process is occasioned by ease of articulation ineveryday talk.

20. Coarticulationeffects (cont’d) Assimilation (cont’d) • Think of thewordhave [hæv] and how it is pronounced in thesentenceI havetogo in everydayspeech. • As we start to say the /t/ sound in to, which is voiceless, wetendtoproduce a voicelessversion of theprecedingsound. • What is thevoicelessversion of thesound /v/? • [aɪhæftəgoʊ] • Think of thephraseI missyouand how it is pronounced in rapidspeech. • [aɪmɪsyu] [aɪmɪʃyə] • How aboutthesentenceI can playandmight be?

21. Coarticulationeffects (cont’d) Elision(theomission/delition of a sound) • Omission of a sound segment which would be present in the deliberatepronounciationof a word in isolation is technically described as elision. • In consonants clusters, especially in coda position, /t/ is acommon casualty in this process, as in the typical pronunciation for: • Hemust be[himʌstbɪ]  [himʌstbɪ] • Handbag[hændbæg]  [hænbæg] • He passed his exam[hipæsthɪzɪgzɛm]  [hipæstɪzɪgzɛm] • How aboutthewordaspectsandthephraseyouand me? __________________